The proposed project promotes the connection between individuals and older people in need, so as to support them in various levels, e.g. daily practical activities, companion, emotional support.

(Pitched: 14/04/2018)

One Page Summary

The proposed project promotes the connection between individuals and older people in need, so as to support them in various levels, e.g. daily practical activities, companion, emotional support. A new unique mobile application will be the new innovation that will be established by this project.

This application will enable older people from Zagreb or anywhere in Croatia (or anyone from all around Europe) to have easy access to a database that will connect individuals (pre-identified and checked helpers) with the elderly in need (e.g. daily practical activities, companion, emotional support).

A new unique mobile application will be the new innovation that will be established by this project. This application will enable older people from Zagreb or anywhere in Croatia (or anyone from all around Europe to its larger extension) to have easy access to a database that will connect individuals (pre-identified and checked helpers) with the elderly in need (e.g. daily practical activities, companion, emotional support). The innovation of the project is based on: 1) the fact that older people and individuals will be “connected” by a simple search in the mobile application database, 2) there is not any similar attempt in European level, which brings together a) the needs of the specific target group (older people) and b) a pool of available people (volunteers) willing to respond to these needs, 3) there are not previous attempts to train all involved parties (personnel, volunteers and users), and 4) the project will raise awareness and enlighten the wider society for the specific needs faced by older people. Finally, 5) the implementation of this project in Croatia could been identified as a “pilot project”, in order to be able to expand it in European level.
The project will be implemented through the following tasks: 1) Task 1 - Review of the literature on smartphone applications targeting supporting older people, 2) Task 2 - Review of existing client/server, peer-to-peer and proximity based techniques/technologies, 3) Task 3 - Requirements and specifications analysis, and 4) Task 4 - Design and development of the smartphone application.

The project impact can be identified in four levels: 1) older people, 2) the Foundation. 3) the volunteers, and 4) the wider society. More specific, impacts on older people can be summarized to the followings: 1) Get empowered with vital tools to respond to their needs, 2) Improve the quality of the services they receive, 3) Multiply the available services that could offered to older people, 4) Find solutions to some major daily issues, such as emotional support, 5) Minimise older people’s marginalisation.

The project is capable of being scaled according to many different variables such as: 1) geographical level, 2) participant level, 3) language level and 4) cost level.

The Social Work Department and the Mobile Devices Laboratory of the Frederick University participate in this project. Social Work Department has been involved in numerous studies since its establishment in 2000. Most of them were funded by EU Solidarity Funds (e.g. EU-European Refuge Fund and EUIntegration Fund) and national organisations (e.g. Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance). The Mobile Devices Laboratory of the Frederick University conducts research in the domains of: Mobile Computing, Smart Systems, Web and Cloud Computing, Computational Intelligence and Multi-Objective Optimization. The Mobile Devices Laboratory will undertake the task of developing an innovative smartphone application, namely CONNEL(CONNecting ELderly) aiming at connecting individuals with elderly in need.

The sustainability of the project can be assured due to the importance of the new innovative technology application that will be launched. The establishment of the mobile application can assure that the project can have a) long-term impact in the provision of support services to older people, b) will enforce the cooperation between parties interested in actions towards the protection of older people, c) there is no cost for retaining these services, and d) the use of the mobile application can be expanded in European level. The outcomes of the above actions will enable involved parties to advance knowledge and experiences in the specific field of services; moreover, this knowledge can inform further research, publication of journal articles and text books. Finally, Frederick University will remain responsible to expand the use of the mobile application to new organisations throughout Europe after the completion of the project.