Imagine your grandparents living alone, far from family, with fewer reasons to get out of bed each morning. Feeling useless and disconnected is actually worse for their health than many physical ailments. Researchers from 8 countries built and tested a digital platform that helps older adults — even those who can't leave home — learn new things, interact with others, and contribute to their communities. The idea is simple: people who feel needed stay healthier longer.
Aging populations worldwide face growing social isolation, especially older adults living independently and far from family. This isolation leads to faster cognitive decline, depression, and earlier need for expensive institutional care. Care providers and insurers lack evidence-based digital tools that keep elderly people socially engaged and mentally active from home.
The project built and user-tested ICT prototypes (v1 and v2) for enabling social participation among independently living older adults. Deliverables include a completed implementation with validated persuasive strategies, cognitive measurement tools, detailed interaction designs, and a system tested through usability and acceptance studies and ready for pilot deployment.
If you are a senior living operator dealing with residents who become withdrawn and disengaged — this project developed tested ICT prototypes with persuasive strategies and cognitive measurement tools that keep older adults socially active. The platform was validated through usability and acceptance studies across 8 countries, meaning it addresses cultural diversity in elderly care.
If you are a digital health company looking to add social wellbeing features to your remote care platform — this project built user-tested prototypes (v1 and v2) that combine social participation tools with cognitive measurement. The system was designed for adults who cannot leave their home, making it a natural add-on to existing telecare infrastructure.
If you are an insurer trying to reduce long-term care costs through prevention — this project provides evidence-based ICT tools that improve emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing in independently living older adults. Validated persuasive strategies encourage continued social participation, which research links directly to delayed onset of costly care dependency.
The project was funded with EUR 931,500 under MSCA-RISE, which is a staff exchange scheme — meaning most budget went to researcher mobility, not product development. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated directly with Università degli Studi di Trento as coordinator. Expect early-stage technology requiring further investment to commercialize.
The prototypes were tested through usability and acceptance studies but not deployed at population scale. The deliverables describe a 'completed and tested implementation ready for the pilot,' suggesting the technology reached pilot-readiness but would need engineering work for large-scale deployment.
IP from MSCA-RISE projects typically stays with the institutions that generated it. With 7 universities and 1 other organization across 8 countries, IP ownership may be distributed. Contact the coordinator at University of Trento for clarification on licensing availability.
Yes. The deliverables explicitly mention usability studies and acceptance studies, with prototypes v1 and v2 built to implement experimental conditions for both. The final implementation incorporated feedback from these user studies and validated persuasive strategies.
Based on available project data, no specific regulatory certification (e.g., medical device classification) is mentioned. The platform focuses on social participation and wellbeing rather than clinical treatment, which may place it outside strict medical device regulations in many jurisdictions.
The project focused on research and prototype development rather than enterprise integration. Based on available project data, no specific APIs or integration standards are documented. Any adopter would likely need to build connectors to existing care platforms.
The DREAM consortium is entirely academic — 7 universities and 1 other organization across 8 countries (AU, CH, CR, IT, MN, PH, PL, PY), with zero industry partners and zero SMEs. This is typical for MSCA-RISE staff exchange projects, which prioritize knowledge transfer between researchers over commercial development. The geographic spread is unusually diverse, spanning Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America, which adds cross-cultural validation value but means no single market was deeply explored. For a business looking to adopt this technology, the absence of industry partners means there is no existing commercialization pathway — you would be the first mover, which carries both risk and opportunity.
Reach the coordinator at Università degli Studi di Trento (Italy) — SciTransfer can facilitate the introduction.
Want to explore licensing this elderly wellbeing platform for your care business? SciTransfer connects you directly with the research team — contact us for a matchmaking consultation.
