This report provides a comprehensive overview of the results obtained within the overall SeniorWatch project and of the methodologies and approaches applied. It summarises the project's aims and objectives and the degree to which these have been reached. The structure of this report follows the guidelines for preparing project reports for IST KA I projects published by the Commission of the European Union (version 1 from 16th October 200). For those readers who wish to follow up any particular issue raised in this report a range of issue-related reports are available below.
This report draws together results from the various methodological approaches applied in SeniorWatch. A comparative analysis of the situation of older people in the European Union and its 15 Member States, of their expectations and needs regarding IST products and services is presented. Information from policy-focused national reports, from technology watch and particularly data and information from EU-wide surveys of older people and of decision makers in the care sector have been drawn together to present a comprehensive picture of the situation in the European Union.
This Report juxtaposes and analyses the European Union situation with that in the United States of America and in Japan. These two countries have been chosen because they are the two of the largest economies in the world; furthermore, the USA is leading in many areas of development and application of ISTs, and the same applies - with respect to general IST applications - to Japan as a prime competitor to the EU in the global market. Also, Japan is faced with challenges similar to Europe regarding the ageing of its society (whereas in the USA the forecasts are less dramatic).
The first analysis step undertaken within SeniorWatch was to draw together an overall European picture about current IST utilisation among older Europeans and about policies pursued in this context. To this end, information from the SeniorWatch user surveys and from EU-wide country studies was utilised to make projections of the likely future penetration of IST applications relevant to the field across Europe. The second step was to take a more global perspective through benchmarking Europe against the leading nations in the field, namely Japan and the USA. The global perspective allowed to apply a "SWOT" approach highlighting strengths and weaknesses of Europe and the opportunities and threats faced here. This report emphasises those factors that constrain or facilitate uptake in order to identify possible fields for strategic actions. To this end, data gathered within the SeniorWatch user surveys and country reports are re-analysed.
This report aims to integrate all relevant policy material from the preceding reports in order to derive strategic recommendations for relevant market players. In this sense, the individual recommendations presented here rely upon data and information provided in previous SeniorWatch reports. The recommendations derived from the various strands of work undertaken within the overall project are organised at two levels. Firstly, some recommendations addressed directly towards current and future EU policy and action in relevant areas are presented. Then, a detailed discussion of the recommendations proposed is presented according to the three IST domains addressed within SeniorWatch (general purpose IST, care-related IST, accessibility-related IST), the issues to be addressed in each domain and the actors concerned with the recommended action.
This report examines which technological possibilities there are - or will be in the near future - to realise concrete ICT-based services or products, which meet the requirements of older people. It first sheds light onto the IST needs and preferences of older people by presenting a collation of information from the SeniorWatch surveys. Against this background the report describes how technology is assessed in the SeniorWatch project. Further, trends in technology as well as the societal meta-trends are examined in order to foresee what the future information society may hold for the European senior. Finally, the report looks into the future through scenarios that give insight at possible directions technological developments may take and the everyday life of European Senior surrounded by information technology.
This document focuses on country-specific IST policy-approaches pursued in the individual countries investigated, as far as they concern older people. For this purpose, country reports were produced for the European Member States, Norway, the USA and Japan by specialised national research organisations. The research is primarily based on readily available documents and data. Overall, the completion of the country reports required a pragmatic approach, and in some cases the most efficient way to gather the required information was to rely upon expert opinions.
This report presents 25 case studies prepared by the SeniorWatch partners. Within the overall research context of the study, they have been selected for two different purposes. On the one hand, the case studies presented here provide input to the overall understanding and analysis of the market for IST relevant for older people. On the other hand, they serve as an example of a success story (or failure) that can guide and motivate others to take actions that will support the diffusion and take-up of IST by or for older people.