Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions – AICOSThe AAL Forum is the annual platform for the increasing European AAL community to meet and discuss several topics, relevant for improving the Active and Assisted Living Joint Programme (AAL JP) as well as the adoption of AAL solutions in the market.
More than 600 registered participants, 27 stands and around 50 presentations. This is the wrap-up of the AAL Forum 2015 which took place from the 22nd to the 25th September, in Ghent (Belgium).
With one of the largest stands of the event this year, Fraunhofer Portugal included not only the AAL JP funded projects as SmartBEAT and ChefMyself, but also the following projects: Colaborar; Smart Companion; KneeGraphy and EyeFundusScope. Also, the GoLivePhone®, developed in partnership by Fraunhofer AICOS and Gociety, was seen as a good example of technology transfer and was well commented. Moreover, the project has been awarded for “Excellent Smart Health Innovation – Entrepreneurs with guts and spirit” by the Community of Regions for Assisted Living (Coral). The award ceremony occurred during the AAL Forum 2015.
The event was an opportunity to have high interactivity and real hands-on experience on the ultimate technology that the AAL world can offer today. It combined interactive sessions and workshops with an interesting exhibition area.
The presence of Fraunhofer Portugal was highly noticed, namely because almost all the projects included demonstrations performed live by researchers that also provided in-depth information. For instance, show cooking sessions were performed with the ChefMyself solution, finalist of the AAL Award, preparing healthy meals for visitors. Smart Companion and the other projects developed internally were also very appealing to the community, including policy makers, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) developers, manufacturers, health professionals, commissioners, businessmen, venture companies, technologists, academics, and end-users. The forum resulted in the highest number of contacts ever collected in the AAL Forum.