From 22nd until 25th of September the AAL Forum 2015 took place in Ghent, Belgium. The event combines interactive sessions and workshops with an interesting exhibition area and attracts around 600 attendees from all over Europe every year. Its main purpose is to exhibit ICT solutions for older adults and to encourage networking and discussions upon new developments. During the forum exhibition, Katja Neureiter and Christiane Moser presented two AAL projects: ProMe and GeTVivid. ProMe seeks to provide meaningful opportunities for occupation in the life of older adults, in the transition from work to retirement and beyond. It allows professional intergenerational cooperation and mentoring via an online service platform, bringing together older adults with younger generations. GeTVivid supports older adults with mild impairments to manage their activities of daily living. It provides a support exchange system that allows to offer/ask for support to/from others, who are living in geographical closeness, enables access to professional service providers (e.g., meals on wheels, shopping assistance, house-keeping), and offers support functions like reminders, news, or weather.
Additionally, in cooperation with the Austrian Institute of Technologies (AIT), Katja Neureiter and Markus Garschall organized a workshop that aimed at discussing successful approaches to communicate and transfer stakeholder needs in AAL projects. Overall 30 attendees with diverse backgrounds (e.g., research, industry, care, or funding agencies) participated in the workshop, sharing their experiences, best practices, failures, and lessons learned.
