e-VITA · Project

AI Virtual Coach That Keeps Elderly Independent at Home Longer

healthPilotedTRL 6

Imagine a smart assistant that lives in your grandparents' home — it watches for signs of declining health through simple sensors, chats naturally using voice or even holograms, and gently coaches them to stay active and social. It picks up on mood changes, tracks physical activity, and spots early warning signs before problems get serious. A European-Japanese team built and tested this across real homes in 4 countries, making it work without being creepy or intrusive.

By the numbers

consortium partners across Europe and Japan

countries in the partnership (BE, DE, FR, IT, JP)

countries where the system was tested with real elderly users

total project deliverables produced

working demonstrators built

EUR 3,998,220

EU research investment

SMEs in the consortium

The business problem

What needed solving

Europe's ageing population is straining care systems — there aren't enough caregivers, costs are rising, and elderly people want to stay independent at home rather than move to institutions. Current smart home and health monitoring tools are either too intrusive, too generic, or too difficult for older adults to use, leaving a gap between what technology promises and what actually works in a real living room.

The solution

What was built

The team built a complete virtual coaching system with 3 key demonstrators: a use cases configurator that finds the best sensor setup without redundancy, a privacy dashboard designed for elderly users, and a multimodal data fusion engine that combines speech, facial expressions, gestures, and mood signals. The system interacts through voice, 3D holograms, and robotic interfaces — all tested in real homes across 4 countries.

Audience

Who needs this

Senior living operators and assisted living chains looking to reduce staff burden while improving personalized careHealth insurers wanting to cut hospitalization costs through early risk detection in elderly policyholdersSmart home and IoT companies wanting to enter the ageing-in-place market with a proven, privacy-compliant solutionTelehealth and remote patient monitoring platforms seeking to add AI coaching capabilities for elderly usersMunicipal and regional governments investing in technology-enabled home care to reduce institutional care costs

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Senior Living & Care Homes

mid-size

Target: Residential care providers and assisted living operators

If you are a senior living operator dealing with rising staff costs and the challenge of personalizing care for each resident — this project developed a virtual coaching system tested in real living environments across 4 countries that monitors cognition, mobility, mood, and social interaction through non-intrusive sensors. With 13 consortium partners contributing 26 deliverables, the system provides individualized profiling and recommendations that could reduce the need for constant human monitoring.

Health Insurance & Digital Health

enterprise

Target: Health insurers and digital health platform companies

If you are a health insurer looking to reduce hospitalization costs for elderly policyholders through early risk detection — this project built a data fusion engine and multimodal dialogue system that detects preventive potentials and risks in daily living. Tested with real elderly users in France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, the system uses FIWARE-based interoperability and a federated AI platform that respects data privacy regulations.

Smart Home & IoT Technology

any

Target: IoT device manufacturers and smart home solution providers

If you are a smart home technology company wanting to expand into the ageing population market — this project created a use cases configurator demonstrator that identifies the optimal configuration of sensors and coaching systems while avoiding measurement redundancy. With 3 industry partners already involved and a privacy dashboard specifically designed for elderly users, the technology is ready for integration into existing smart home ecosystems.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or integrate this virtual coaching technology?

The project received EUR 3,998,220 in EU funding across 13 partners over 3 years. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated directly with the coordinator (Universität Siegen) and relevant consortium members. Based on available project data, no commercial pricing model has been published yet.

Can this scale to thousands of homes or care facilities?

The system was deployed and evaluated in living environments across 4 countries (France, Germany, Italy, Japan), proving it works in diverse real-world settings. The use of FIWARE standards and a federated data AI platform suggests the architecture was designed with interoperability and scaling in mind. However, large-scale commercial deployment has not yet been demonstrated.

Who owns the intellectual property and how can we access it?

IP is shared among the 13 consortium partners across 5 countries, including 3 industry partners and 2 SMEs. The project produced 26 deliverables including 3 demonstrators. Licensing discussions should start with the coordinator, Universität Siegen in Germany.

Does this comply with healthcare data privacy regulations like GDPR?

Yes — the project specifically built a high-fidelity AHA Privacy Dashboard demonstrator and uses FIWARE-based interoperability with a federated data AI platform designed to guarantee data privacy. The system was tested with real elderly users in EU countries where GDPR applies.

How long would integration take for an existing care platform?

The project ran from January 2021 to March 2024, producing working demonstrators by month 21-26. The use cases configurator helps identify optimal sensor configurations, which could streamline integration. Based on available project data, a realistic pilot integration would likely take several months depending on existing infrastructure.

What types of sensors and hardware does this require?

The system uses non-intrusive sensors for data collection and supports interaction through 3D-holograms, emotional objects, and robotic technologies with multimodal spoken dialogue. The use cases configurator was specifically designed to identify optimal sensor configurations while avoiding redundancy, meaning it can adapt to different hardware setups.

Was this actually tested with real elderly people?

Yes. The coaching system was deployed and evaluated in the living environments of healthy older adults in France, Germany, Italy, and Japan to assess feasibility and efficacy. This was real-world testing, not just lab conditions.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a well-balanced consortium of 13 partners from 5 countries, notably including Japan — giving it a unique cross-cultural validation advantage. With 4 universities and 4 research organizations providing the science, 3 industry partners (including 2 SMEs) ensure practical grounding, though the 23% industry ratio is moderate. The mix of European and Japanese partners means the technology has been tested across very different cultural expectations around elderly care, which strengthens its case for global deployment. For a business buyer, the key question is which industry partners hold commercialization rights — the coordinator is a German university, so technology transfer offices will likely be involved in any licensing deal.

UNIVERSITAET SIEGENCoordinator · DE
INSTITUT FUR EXPERIMENTELLE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGIE GMBHparticipant · DE
ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE HOPITAUX DE PARISparticipant · FR
INSTITUT MINES-TELECOMparticipant · FR
AGE PLATFORM EUROPEparticipant · BE
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION TOHOKU UNIVERSITYparticipant · JP
ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI RIPOSO E CURA PER ANZIANI INRCAparticipant · IT
ENGINEERING - INGEGNERIA INFORMATICA SPAparticipant · IT
UNIVERSITA POLITECNICA DELLE MARCHEparticipant · IT
INSTITUT FUR ANGEWANDTE INFORMATIK (INFAI) EVparticipant · DE

How to reach the team

Universität Siegen, Germany — reach out to their technology transfer office or the e-VITA project lead

Order a report on this consortium See UNIVERSITAET SIEGEN profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how e-VITA's virtual coaching technology could fit your elderly care business? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the right consortium partner for your use case.

Order a report on this topic More in Health & Biomedical