Imagine your parent has early-stage dementia and keeps forgetting to take their pills or misses doctor appointments. This project built a tablet app that gently reminds patients what to do, tracks how they're feeling, and lets family members and doctors keep an eye on things remotely. They tested it with over 1,100 real patients and carers across Europe, using specially configured tablets that are simple enough for someone with memory problems to use.
Dementia affects more than 6% of people aged 60+, and there is no proven intervention to help patients maintain independence longer. Patients forget medications, carers burn out from constant monitoring, and healthcare systems absorb massive emergency care costs when unsupervised patients deteriorate. The result is declining quality of life and spiraling costs for everyone involved.
The project built a tablet-based mHealth application specifically designed for people with mild dementia, featuring medication reminders, health data sharing with carers and doctors, and carer well-being monitoring. They deployed 600 locked-down tablets configured to prevent improper use and piloted the system with 1,100 users and 1,100 controls across multiple European countries.
If you are a home care provider struggling with patients missing medications and ending up in expensive emergency visits — this project developed a tablet-based monitoring app piloted with 1,100 users that improved treatment adherence by 10 percentage points and demonstrated savings of €1,818 per patient per year in care costs.
If you are a health insurer looking to reduce the cost of dementia care claims — this project piloted a digital tool with 1,100 patients and controls showing that remote monitoring and medication reminders can save €1,818 per patient per year, directly reducing emergency care utilization and unplanned hospital admissions.
If you are a digital health company looking to expand into the dementia care market affecting over 6% of people aged 60+ — this project built and validated a locked-down tablet application with 600 deployed devices, user-centric design validated by patients and clinicians, and a projected revenue model of over €18 million per year by Year 5.
The project data does not specify per-unit licensing or deployment costs. However, the consortium projected over €18 million per year in revenue by Year 5, and demonstrated savings of €1,818 per patient per year for healthcare providers — suggesting the pricing model is built around a fraction of those savings.
The pilot already operated across 7 countries with 12 consortium partners, deploying 600 tablets and enrolling 1,100 users plus 1,100 controls. This cross-border design suggests the app is built for multi-language, multi-country deployment at scale.
The project was an Innovation Action funded under Horizon 2020, meaning partners typically retain IP rights. Anglia Ruskin University coordinated the project. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated directly with the consortium. Based on available project data, 5 SMEs participated, suggesting commercial exploitation was planned.
The application was piloted with 1,100 users and 1,100 controls in a controlled study, making it one of the larger mHealth trials for mild dementia. The project targeted a 10 percentage point improvement in treatment adherence. This is beyond prototype — it has real clinical pilot data.
The app allows patients to share data with carers and doctors, suggesting integration touchpoints exist. Based on available project data, the tablets were configured as locked devices loaded with the SMART4MD application. Specific EHR or hospital system integrations would need to be confirmed with the consortium.
The project closed in November 2019, meaning the technology is mature and pilot-validated. Deployment timeline would depend on regulatory requirements in your market and any customization needed. The 600-tablet deployment during the pilot demonstrates the logistics are already worked out.
The SMART4MD consortium brings together 12 partners from 7 countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain, Israel, Luxembourg, Sweden, UK), with a balanced mix of 4 universities, 3 industry players, 2 research organizations, and 3 other entities. Five partners are SMEs, showing clear commercial intent alongside the clinical research. The 25% industry ratio is moderate but the SME presence suggests the consortium was designed to move the technology toward market. Coordinated by Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, the multi-country setup also means the pilot data covers diverse healthcare systems, which strengthens the case for deployment across European markets.
Anglia Ruskin University (UK) coordinated this project. SciTransfer can facilitate an introduction to the research team.
Want to explore licensing or deploying this dementia care solution? Contact SciTransfer for a detailed brief and introduction to the SMART4MD team.
