Keynotes

Prof.dr. Habib Chaudhury

Designing for people living with dementia – Principles, evaluation and education

Dr. Habib Chaudhury, Chair and Professor in the Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University has extensive research experience in the field of Environmental Gerontology. He conducts research in the following areas: role of physical environment for people with dementia in long-term care facilities, community planning and urban design for active aging, and dementia-friendly communities. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Aging and Environment. He also serves as member on the Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia with the Government of Canada, and on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Aging Advisory Board.

Dr. Evdokimos Konstantinidis

Health and Wellbeing living labs

Dr. Evdokimos I. Konstantinidis is the Chairperson of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) with more than 170 members worldwide, coordinator of the Health and Wellbeing Living Labs Working Group and postdoc researcher at the Medical Physics and Digital Innovation Lab, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He coordinated the Research Infrastructure H2020 project, VITALISE – aiming to harmonize the procedures of Health Living Labs. He is currently the coordinator of the RAISE Horizon Europe funded project on services for the European Open Science Cloud and the Horizon Europe project Engaging the Value Of Living Labs to Innovate Care And Regulatory Environments as a response to the call for experimentation frameworks.

Prof. Ian Spero

Lifetime Neighbourhoods That Care

Honorary Professor, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture and Founder, Agile Ageing Alliance (AAA), a campaigning social business, advocating for a future of inclusive, multigenerational neighbourhoods, designed to boost health and wellbeing, leading to a reduction in the financial burden on Citizens and State.

Ian Spero will introduce a future where age is not a barrier, but a gateway to new horizons. A future where technology enables people to maintain their health, their independence and their dignity, well into later life. This is the vision of ISO 25553, a new global standard framework, relating to the design, creation, operation and maintenance of mixed tenure ‘Smart Multigenerational Neighbourhoods’, where young and old, disabled and able, can co-exist in technologically enabled housing.

Join this session to learn more about ISO 25553; the new Centre of Excellence and find out how your organisation can get involved.

Prof. Dr. Nico Van Meeteren

Continuation of success: get future-savvy ín the box!

Van Meeteren fulfills his main role as Executive Director and Secretary General of the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (LSH), known under the name Health~Holland. Furthermore, Van Meeteren is Professor of Perioperative Health at Erasmus Medical Center.  

In this keynote, Van Meeteren will point out that in the Netherlands we innovate to move prevention and care as much as possible to one’s own living environment and applicated as much as possible by the people themselves. For this all a combination of social and technological innovation, as well as the cooperation between governments, companies, and knowledge institutions and, last but certainly not least, citizens’ initiatives and cooperatives, is crucial.This twenty-year transformative mission driven approach is substantiated by nationwide programs of amongst others: medical, biotech, build environment and digital companies, from start-ups to global players, that in joint coalition with research institutes and municipalities are bursting with ground-breaking innovations. It’s our collective conviction that this mission driven approach will help the societal and economic success that the Netherlands has had the last 150 years to continue and even be enlarged.

Prof. Milan Petkovic

AI & Healthy living

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach healthy living. This talk will explore the opportunities and challenges presented by the integration of AI into smart living environments. We will discuss the latest developments in the field of AI and their potential applications in promoting healthy lifestyles.

 

AI-powered health services, such as those developed by Philips, offer a glimpse into the future of healthy living. These services can provide personalized recommendations for oral hygiene and pregnancy, among other things. Smart living environments equipped with AI technology can monitor vital signs and even create a digital twin of a human being.

 

However, there are also challenges to be addressed. The integration of AI into our daily lives raises questions about data privacy and security. There is also a need for collaboration between academia and industry to ensure that the technology is developed and applied in a responsible and ethical manner.

 

This talk will also provide an overview of the current state of AI in the context of healthy living, as well as a discussion of the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. We will also present examples of practical applications, that demonstrate the potential of AI to improve our health and wellbeing.

 

Prof.dr.ir. David Abbink

Shaping a meaningful, just and viable future of physical work – spaces for transdisciplinary research and innovation

 

Mounting labour shortages pose a major challenge for many sectors that include physical work. Innovations in technical assistance could contribute to solving this complex challenge, but that is easier said than done. Even if innovations are successful and embraced by the workfloor their impact on the work is not clear in advance. For example, some robots generate efficient profits, but also make work more boring or meaningless, causing staff to disappear. How should we as a society shape the future of work so that it is meaningful, just and viable?

 

It is very important to integrate different perspectives: innovation experience, academic knowledge (technical sciences and social sciences) and the expertise of professionals on the work floor and from the organizations. This is what the FRAIM research and innovation center aims to achieve: shaping the future of work, with and for professionals. I will share our experiences in projects involving repair & maintenance, baggage handling and nursing, and try to reduce the impact on the manufacturing industry. Specifically, I will talk about the lab spaces that need to be created in order to bridge disciplines and practices, by facilitating conversations, productive conflicts, the co-creation of robotic capabilities and other design processes. 

Prof.dr. Luis Salvador-Carulla

Current challenges of aged reserach and planning

Prof.dr. Luis Salvador-Carulla will speak about the current challenges of aged research and planning. Specific details regarding the content will be announced later.

Dr. Christina Fang Dai

Standardization Strategy in the Space Construction of Institutional Aging Care Facilities- A Case Study for China

China population is aging at an unprecedented rate, with 297 million people aged 60 or above by the end of 2023, accounting for 21.1% of the country’s population. By 2035, this percentage is estimated to exceed 30%, making China one of the most aged countries globally. The Chinese government, from the central to municipal level, have been striving to adopt appropriate policies and allocate adequate resources to meet the growing elder care needs. One such policy stipulates that the number of beds in senior care facilities should reach a certain percentage of the senior population. Consequently, various cities have established their models, such as 9073 (Shanghai), 9064 (Beijing) or 9055(Wu Han), with the last digit representing the estimated percentage of seniors residing in care facilities.

Encouraged by government initiatives and attracted by the immense market potential, numerous companies diversified into the senior care industry in the last decade, initiating a wave of constructing senior care facilties. While adhering to government regulations and guidelines, many companies have struggled due to their lack of experience and knowledge in senior care facility operations. Designing spaces and environments that cater to senior residents’ needs while facilitating efficient service operations has posed a challenge. Moreover, companies must balance property investments with future returns. One strategy adopted by companies is standardizing their design systems and processes to ensure quality, enforce cost control, and enable iterative improvements.

This presentation delves into the stardardization strategy adopted by the case company, Joru Elderly Care Industry Group, a comprehensive senior care service provider in China. It will focus on the motivation, implemtation, and impact of the strategy, offering insgihts into the challenges and opportunities within China’s emerging senior care industry.

Prof. dr. ir. Masi Mohammadi

Designing happiness: key indicators of empathic and caring living environments for ageing well

Dr. Masi Mohammadi, is a smart living scientist. She heads two chairs—Smart Architectural Technologies at Eindhoven University of Technology and Architecture in Health at HAN University—in the Netherlands. Her research program, Empathic Environments, explores the mechanisms of how socio-technological developments influence our living environment and how these are shaped by architecture. Additionally, she serves as a member and chair on several editorial boards and research networks. She is also the Scientific Director of the DEEL Academy, a national joint venture among several universities, housing, and care organizations, focusing on integrated strategies for healthy and inclusive living environments.