The development of services and products for an ageing society has gained substantial attention throughout the last years and is promoted via various national and European projects. For example, the Active Assisted Living Programme (AAL), is co-financing projects in this field since 2008.  Although there are huge efforts in this field there is still a lack of a wide market penetration of AAL solutions. Moreover, there is consensus that user involvement and the integration of various stakeholders during the design and development process is one of the key factors for success on the market. However, an evaluation of the AAL program for 2013 shows that end users are mainly integrated in the requirements analysis and testing phase. A comprehensive overview of the participation of various stakeholders in AAL projects as well as information on methodological approaches and the communication of project results is currently insufficiently addressed [1]. With our research ,we investigate how methods are applied in the AAL context and what kind of different stakeholders are involved. Results to date show that there is the need to enhance knowledge about the different methodological approaches that are available and to increase stakeholder involvement in AAL projects.

[1] Busquin, P., Aarts, E., Dózsa, C., Mollenkopf, H., Uusikylä, P., & Sharpe, M. (2013). Final evaluation of the ambient assisted living joint programme. Brussels: European Commission.