EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Paul Timmers believes will significantly help those working with AAL and open up new opportunities. “The Silver Economy Strategy was designed to bring together all those with a stake in Europe’s changing demographic from an economic perspective,” he explains. “It acts as an umbrella to bring individual activities together to enhance their impact – for example, elderly people and tourism, the construction industry and the need to upgrade housing to enable older people to stay at home and, of course, health and care at home. Together, we create far more visibility and with that the market grows. “It’s an interesting area, because it is not
only about developing the new technologies and solutions, but also about creating a critical mass that will attract investment. “That is one side of our strategy,” he
continues. “It is very much focused on the market and investment. The Digital Single Market is more focused on enabling the digital economy ensuring things like trust, easy access,
60 | AAL FORUM 2014
proper networking, security, interoperability and standards are all in place. “This is not focused on one particular area,
but it will certainly have a positive impact on the AAL space particularly in terms of standards and interoperability, trust, security and privacy. These are important issues for any consumer in the digital market, but are particularly relevant for the elderly. “In fact, we have just launched a public
consultation on this specific area, so I hope that the AAL community responds actively.” So far then, it all seems rosy for AAL. The
market is expanding, products are making it commercially, the EC is opening digital doors that will provide further opportunities and end users are becoming increasingly familiar with technology. Why then do we need the AAL? Why do we need to fund research into solutions using public money when the market will deliver anyway? While Paul Timmers can see the logic in that
argument, he is also convinced of the value of public money being used to fund development
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63