IMPACT -seminar is organized in collaboration with the following partners:
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DART PROJECT (Declining, Ageing and Regional Transformation) -
http://www.dart-project.eu/about-the-project.html
Project is implemented within the Interreg IVc programme, financed by the European Regional Development Fund and administrated by the Regional Council of North Karelia
Declining, Ageing and Regional Transformation (DART) are challenges for many regions across Europe. For this reason 13 regions – all affected by declining and ageing – are co-operating to benchmark, identify and transfer appropriate solutions for dealing with demographic change.
The answer to declining population can no longer be shrinking infrastructure and decreasing services. Declining and ageing regions need qualitative solutions and innovative answers both for citizens, authorities and the business world. This overall objective will be reached through the exchange of experience, identifying good practice and political solutions, interregional co-operation and successfully transferring good practices. This will contribute to improving the effectiveness of regional development policies.
Within the DART regions there are several projects dealing with demographic and economic change. However, most of them are only insular solutions. The purpose of DART is to achieve an adjustment of policies relating to demographic change through the implementation of
- good practices from previous partner projects,
- new products and services to maintain quality of life, especially in new business fields for SMEs and
- a set of standards and indicators to benchmark regions.
DART aims to develop an integrated approach for policy recommendations to adapt regional policies and public services. In this way the project raises awareness of demographic change, increases knowledge and assesses the critical role of public services in measuring success in declining and ageing regions.
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HILIMA PROJECT (www.isak.fi)
Business models for good senior housing – appropriating development environments and user information
Development of the housing and living environments for the elderly requires new operation model and a new angle of incidence between the end users, companies and development organizations. The results based on this development model are expected to enhance the satisfaction of the customers, producers and public economy.
User need: safe and accessible home environment for elderly people. Solution: collaborative model and platform for senior housing development. Benefits: new products and services available for seniors as well as multiproducer business model and opportunities for companies.
The project is directed towards the elderly inhabitants in their own living and home environments, as well as to companies, R&D organizations and branch associations.
Hilima is administrated by the North Karelian University of Applied Science (Centre for Design and International Business) and financed by TEKES – the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation).
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LIFE 2.0 PROJECT (Geographical positioning services to support independent living and social interaction of elderly people) – http://www.life2project.eu/
The Life 2.0 project aims at generating new opportunities for social interactions by creating new services for elderly people, based on the use of tracking systems and social network applications. The objective of the project is to build product/service solutions that increase the opportunities for
- social contacts between elderly people in their local area,
- acquiring knowledge about people living in the areas and events occurring close by
- getting knowledge about services and assistance available in their area
- offering their residual capabilities and skills to friends, family and other people of any age, living in their area.
LIFE 2.0 is not just a virtual community; it is the support to seniors independent life and to their social life in their neighborhood. It is as well a platform of services to allow elderly to come in contact with the people living in their area or with the people they care about. It is a way to keep elderly active, support each other and feel they are important. The project is also directed to social care providers and Associations for elderly. LIFE 2.0 offers the opportunity to link to existing online services, thus creating a seamless link between senior people using the Life 2.0 platform and service providers that can propose relevant services for them. Moreover, local administrators will be able to use LIFE 2.0 to
increase social cohesion in the local area and to ensure that senior people have an active, healthy and independent life. Last but not least the project offers an added value for the local business as it creates an opportunity to SME’s to be more visible to seniors living in their local area and to offer them their services.
The Life 2.0 consortium consists of 13 core partners in 5 European member states (Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain). It involves Living Labs, SMEs, large ICT companies, municipalities as well as research partners. Through a close co-operation with the European Network of Living Labs, wide dissemination and involvement of the Living Lab community is ensured. At this stage, Life 2.0 has already established a large community of interest, not only within the consortium itself, but also by involving a large number of supporting partners and elderly people.
The project is co-financed by the European Commission under CIP ICT-PSP program. Funding scheme: Pilot Type B – CIP-Pilot actions
Duration: 36 months
Strategic Objective: 4.1 Open Innovation for future Internet-enabled services in ”Smart” Cities”
In Finland the project is implemented by the North Karelia University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the City of Joensuu.
http://life2projekti.wordpress.com/ (in Finnish)
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AKI living lab
Everyday users as innovators in companies’ development processes – project
AKI’s target is to develop Living lab- ecosystem in Joensuu area by two pilots: mobile event guidance for rock festival Ilosaarirock and mobile target and route guidance for Russian tourists “Explore Karelia shopping”.
The project is part of Joensuu Living Lab for Design and Services, which is a member of European network of living labs. It focuses in creating and improving suistanable product-service concepts with user-driven methods to achieve global competitive advantage through user value and engagement.
About the project (in Finnish): http://aki.pkamk.fi
About the Living lab for Design and Services: http://www.dart.fi/default_en.htm
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TOURAGE – Dveloping Senior Tourism in Remote Regions
Project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG IVC programme. It is coordinated and administrated by the Regional Council of North Karelia.Tourage project has grown from the idea that although demographic change and ageing bring new challenges, they can also create several opportunities to the regions. This is because they challenge many EU member countries to think about the new innovative ways to organize services and to maintain regions’ competitiveness.Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in Europe and relatively remote regions have both a lot of unexploited and unknown development potential in this regard.
The project aims
- to identify and share good practices connected to senior tourism
- to develop clear understanding of the possibilities and challenges of senior tourism in the regions
- to collect data directly from senior citizens
Through these activities tourism services and products can be developed to meet the needs of senior tourists. The overall objective is to enhance regional economy by the means of senior tourism development and to promote active and healthy ageing. The results will help the project regions and other EU regions to develop and support the creation of the “Senior Tourism Model”. They will also offer tools for improving existing policies.
Timescale: 1.1.2012 – 31.12.2014
The project consortium consists of 12 partners from 10 EU member countries.
www.tourage.eu
Contact information:
Ulla Äänismaa, Project Manager
Regional Council of North Karelia
Phone +358 40 594 2601
Email: ulla.aanismaa@pohjois-karjala.fi
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SECRE – Social Enterprises in Community Renewable Energy
SECRE is a transnational network of expertise in renewable energy business and it aims to create new social business in Northern Periphery. It is funded by the Northern Periphery Programme and administered by North Karelian University of Applied Sciences.
The project is implemented in cooperation with twelve organizations from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The SECRE mission is to bring new and effective solutions to renewable energy production in rural communities. This joint initiative challenges renewable energy businesses and communities to find and define social goals in the field of renewable energy. During the next two years SECRE will be a strong consortium, which allocates knowledge and resources of the powerful network for needs of Northern European communities in renewable energy production.
SECRE works for Social Enterprises, as they have a different approach on business. That particular approach means that great deal of Social Enterprises’ net profit is used for fulfilling social goals or as an investment to own business to enhance social impact.
More information concerning the project can be found at: http://secre.eu/index.php
