BMW Briefings

A Series of three Research Briefing Workshops for SME’s on Building Competitive Advantage in the AAL Market.

1st Briefing SessionEurope’s ageing population is a challenge for our job market and its social and health systems. But it is also an economic and social opportunity. By 2020, 25% of the EU’s population will be over 65. Spending on pensions, heslth and long-term care is expected to increase by a factor of three by 2050. However, older Europeans are also important consumers with a combined wealth of over €3,000 billion.

ICT will increasingly allow older people to stay active and productive for longer, to continue to engage in society with more accessible and age-appropriate on-line services, and to enjoy a healthier and higher quality of life for longer.

The Research Briefing Workshop series is designed to stimulate market development and to strengthen competitive advantage for industry participating in the emerging AAL market sector on the Island of Ireland – and particularly in the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region. The three workshops will run over the period from Q4 2008 to Q3 2009, and will take:

Business perspective (Q4 2008), User needs and research priorities perspective (Q2 2009) and, A technology and solution innovation perspective (Q3 2009). Together, the series of briefings will help to inform, challenge, share and grow our individual and collective understanding of the AAL sector to inform national policy development and to grow our industrial capacity to compete in this accelerating global market.

The workshop series is part funded by the ERDF as part of the BMW Regional Programme of Innovative Actions 2006 – 2008, in collaboration with BioBusinessNI.