Mobile-Age · Project

Mobile Apps That Help Cities Deliver Public Services to Senior Citizens

digitalPilotedTRL 7

Imagine your grandparents trying to find out which local health services are available or how to get around town safely — but the city's website is impossible to navigate on a phone. This project built mobile apps with and for seniors in 4 European cities, turning messy government data into simple, usable services. Think of it like a translator between complicated city databases and what an 80-year-old actually needs on their phone screen. The trick was designing everything together with the seniors themselves, not just for them.

By the numbers

28%

Projected share of Europe's population that will be senior citizens

Cities where demonstrator apps were piloted (Bremen, South Lakeland, Zaragoza, Central Macedonia)

Consortium partners involved in development

Countries represented in the consortium

Total project deliverables produced

Demonstrator/prototype deliverables

The business problem

What needed solving

Cities across Europe are moving public services online, but 28% of the population — senior citizens — are being left behind because digital platforms are not designed for them. Municipalities waste money building apps that seniors cannot or will not use, leading to duplicate service delivery costs (digital plus traditional). The missing piece is a systematic way to design mobile services with elderly users, not just for them.

The solution

What was built

The project built the OSCPSEP platform — an open-data service creation and publication environment — with both early and final prototype releases. On top of this, they deployed working demonstrator mobile applications in South Lakeland and Bremen, along with a co-creation methodology for engaging senior citizens in service design. In total, 40 deliverables were produced including design mock-ups, prototypes, and impact assessment tools.

Audience

Who needs this

GovTech startups building digital public service platformsMunicipal IT departments managing citizen-facing digital servicesAssisted living and AgeTech companies developing elderly-friendly appsPublic sector consultancies advising on digital inclusionSmart city platform providers expanding to underserved demographics

Business applications

Who can put this to work

GovTech / Smart City Solutions

SME

Target: Companies building digital platforms for municipal governments

If you are a GovTech company struggling to make public services accessible to aging populations — this project developed a full open-data service platform (OSCPSEP) with demonstrator apps tested across 4 European cities. The co-creation methodology ensures services actually match what seniors need, reducing costly redesign cycles. With 28% of Europe's population projected to be senior citizens, this is a growing market segment that most digital platforms still ignore.

Healthcare IT / Assisted Living

mid-size

Target: Companies developing independent living solutions for elderly users

If you are an assisted living technology provider looking to integrate public service data into your offerings — this project created mobile tools that help seniors manage personal health information and access city services independently. Tested with real users in Bremen and South Lakeland, the platform connects open government data with user-friendly mobile interfaces. The co-creation approach produced accessibility insights that took 3 years and 10 partner organizations to develop.

Public Sector Consulting

any

Target: Consultancies advising municipalities on digital transformation

If you are a consulting firm helping cities digitize their services but keep losing the 65+ demographic — this project delivered a proven co-creation methodology for engaging senior citizens in service design, piloted in 4 cities across 6 countries. The impact assessment tools let you measure whether digital inclusion efforts actually work. With 40 deliverables covering everything from design mock-ups to deployed demonstrators, this is a ready-made toolkit for citizen engagement projects.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or adopt this technology?

The project was publicly funded under Horizon 2020 as an Innovation Action. The OSCPSEP platform was built on open government data principles, suggesting open-source or publicly available components. Specific licensing terms would need to be discussed with the University of Lancaster as coordinator.

Can this scale beyond the 4 pilot cities?

The platform was designed as a generic open-data service creation environment (OSCPSEP) with city-specific demonstrator apps layered on top. It was tested across 4 very different contexts — Bremen (Germany), South Lakeland (UK), Zaragoza (Spain), and Central Macedonia (Greece) — which suggests the architecture handles different municipal data formats and languages. Scaling would require integration with each new city's open data infrastructure.

Who owns the intellectual property?

As a Horizon 2020 Innovation Action, IP typically remains with the consortium partners who created each component. The University of Lancaster coordinated the project with 10 partners across 6 countries. Specific IP arrangements for the OSCPSEP platform and co-creation methodology should be clarified with the coordinator.

Is this compliant with accessibility regulations?

The entire project was built around accessibility for senior citizens, with a practice-based understanding of mobility and usability from the elderly user perspective. The co-creation approach with seniors in 4 cities means the solutions were iteratively tested against real accessibility needs. This aligns well with EU Web Accessibility Directive requirements for public sector digital services.

How long would integration take?

The project ran from 2016 to 2019, producing both early and final OSCPSEP releases plus city-specific demonstrator apps. A municipality or GovTech company could potentially deploy adapted versions within months, since the core platform architecture and co-creation methodology are documented across 40 deliverables. Integration timeline depends heavily on the target city's open data maturity.

Does this work with existing municipal IT systems?

The OSCPSEP platform was designed to work with open government data, meaning it connects to publicly available city datasets rather than requiring deep integration with legacy systems. Demonstrator apps were successfully deployed in 4 cities with different IT landscapes. The modular architecture allows front-end services to be developed independently from data sources.

Consortium

Who built it

The Mobile-Age consortium brings together 10 partners from 6 countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, Norway, UK), led by the University of Lancaster. The mix is heavily research-oriented: 4 universities and 1 research organization, plus 4 other organizations (likely municipalities or civic bodies providing the real-world testing grounds). With only 1 industry partner and 1 SME (10% industry ratio), this was primarily a public-sector and academic effort. For a business buyer, this means the technology was developed with strong academic rigor and tested in real municipal settings, but commercialization would likely require a private-sector partner to package and scale the solution.

UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTERCoordinator · UK
AYUNTAMIENTO DE ZARAGOZAparticipant · ES
ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKISparticipant · EL
AGE PLATFORM EUROPEparticipant · BE
UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRIDparticipant · ES
GOVERNMENT TO YOUparticipant · BE
REGION OF CENTRAL MACEDONIAparticipant · EL

How to reach the team

University of Lancaster (UK) — contact via university research office or project website

Order a report on this consortium See UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want an introduction to the Mobile-Age team to discuss licensing their platform or co-creation methodology for your city project? SciTransfer can arrange a direct connection.

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