DECI · Project

Smart Home Monitoring Platform Helping Elderly with Cognitive Decline Live Independently

healthPilotedTRL 7

Imagine your aging parent starts forgetting to eat properly or struggles with daily routines like showering or cooking. Right now, the options are either expensive full-time care or hoping nothing goes wrong. DECI built a digital monitoring system — think of it as a smart safety net for the home — that tracks vital signs and daily activities, alerting caregivers when something is off. They tested it with real patients in four countries to prove it actually works outside a lab.

By the numbers

Pilot countries (Israel, Italy, Spain, Sweden)

EUR 2,921,577

EU contribution for development and validation

Consortium partners across 5 countries

Total project deliverables produced

The business problem

What needed solving

Elderly people with cognitive impairment living alone face serious daily risks — falls, malnutrition, hygiene problems — and the only current options are expensive residential care or inadequate check-in visits. Care providers and insurers are under pressure from aging populations and rising costs, with no scalable way to deliver quality monitoring without proportionally increasing staff.

The solution

What was built

DECI produced a complete digital care system: an IT platform for monitoring vital signs and daily activities of cognitively impaired elderly, an organizational model for care service delivery (both in-home and remote), and a validated business model with economic plans for public and private sectors. These were tested through 4 real-world pilots across 4 countries, resulting in 11 deliverables including a detailed business model document.

Audience

Who needs this

Home care and assisted living service providers scaling their elderly care operationsHealth insurers and social care funds looking to reduce institutionalization costsMedTech and IoT companies developing eldercare monitoring productsMunicipal and regional health authorities managing aging populationsDementia care organizations seeking technology-assisted solutions

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Home Care & Assisted Living

mid-size

Target: Home care service providers and assisted living operators

If you are a home care provider struggling with rising staff costs and growing demand from elderly clients with cognitive decline — this project developed a modular IT platform and organizational model for remote-assisted independent living, validated across 4 pilot sites in 4 countries. It lets you serve more clients without proportionally increasing headcount by shifting from constant in-person visits to smart remote monitoring.

Health Insurance & Social Care

enterprise

Target: Health insurers and public healthcare payers

If you are a health insurer facing escalating costs from institutionalized elderly care — this project created a validated business model showing how digital home monitoring for cognitively impaired patients can replace or delay expensive residential care. The model was tested with real patients across Israel, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, covering both public and private sector cost structures.

Smart Home & MedTech

SME

Target: IoT and medical device companies targeting eldercare

If you are a technology company looking to enter the eldercare market — this project built an easy-to-replicate IT platform for monitoring vital signs and daily activities of elderly people with cognitive impairment. The system was piloted in 4 countries with a ready business model, giving you a tested blueprint to build commercial products on rather than starting from scratch.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to implement this system?

The project does not publish per-unit deployment costs. The total EU contribution was EUR 2,921,577 across 9 partners over 3 years, covering R&D, pilots, and business model development. The project specifically developed business plans addressing cost coverage for both private and public sector implementations.

Can this scale beyond the pilot sites?

The system was designed to be modular, flexible, and scalable from the start. It was validated in 4 different countries (Israel, Italy, Spain, Sweden) with different healthcare systems, which demonstrates cross-market adaptability. The IT platform was built on easy-to-replicate technologies specifically to enable scaling.

What about IP and licensing?

Based on available project data, the consortium includes 9 partners with 2 industry players and 1 SME. IP arrangements would need to be negotiated with the coordinator, Fondazione Politecnico di Milano. The project produced 11 deliverables including a detailed business model document.

Does this comply with healthcare regulations across EU countries?

The project tested its model in 4 EU and associated countries, each with different regulatory environments. The organizational model was explicitly designed for regulators and service suppliers. However, specific medical device certifications or data privacy compliance details would need to be confirmed with the consortium.

How long would implementation take for a care provider?

The project ran for 3 years (2015-2018) including full development and piloting. Based on available project data, the modular design means a care provider could adopt the organizational model and IT platform incrementally rather than all at once. Exact deployment timelines would depend on existing infrastructure.

Can this integrate with existing care management systems?

The IT platform was designed to be modular and flexible. Based on available project data, the system monitors vital signs and supports daily activities, which suggests standard health data interfaces. Specific integration protocols would need to be discussed with the technology partners in the consortium.

Consortium

Who built it

The DECI consortium brings together 9 partners from 5 countries (Spain, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden), led by Fondazione Politecnico di Milano in Italy. With 2 industry partners, 2 universities, 2 research organizations, and 3 other entities, the mix leans toward research and public-sector expertise — the 22% industry ratio is moderate. There is 1 SME in the group. The geographic spread across Southern Europe, Northern Europe, and the Middle East is a strength for a healthcare solution, as it was tested against very different national care systems and regulatory environments. A business buyer should note that commercialization would likely require additional industry partners to handle manufacturing and distribution at scale.

FONDAZIONE POLITECNICO DI MILANOCoordinator · IT
MACCABI SHEIRUTEI BRIUT FOUNDATIONparticipant · IL
ROESSINGH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BVparticipant · NL
SERVICIO MADRILENO DE SALUDparticipant · ES
VASTRA GOTALANDSREGIONENparticipant · SE
POLITECNICO DI MILANOthirdparty · IT
FONDAZIONE DON CARLO GNOCCHI ONLUSparticipant · IT
ALTEN ITALIA SPAparticipant · IT
CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA ABparticipant · SE

How to reach the team

Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (Italy) — reach out to their technology transfer office or project coordination team for licensing and partnership inquiries.

Order a report on this consortium See FONDAZIONE POLITECNICO DI MILANO profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want an introduction to the DECI team? SciTransfer can connect you with the right people and prepare a tailored brief for your specific use case. Contact us to start the conversation.

Order a report on this topic More in Health & Biomedical