Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions – AICOSThe user-friendly smartphone that results from the work of scientists and developers of Fraunhofer AICOS and the Dutch company Gociety – the GoLivePhone – 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 which is taking place from the 22nd to the 25th, in Ghent (Belgium), and consists of an annual platform for the increasing European AAL community to meet and discuss several topics, relevant for the adoption of AAL solutions in the market.
Developed in partnership by Fraunhofer AICOS and Gociety, the GoLivePhone® is an Android customization that was specially designed to address seniors’ and their Caregivers’ goals and needs. It aims to be a very user-friendly smartphone, which takes away the normal complexity of the smartphone and is intended as a permanently available companion to support seniors in their daily activities, through a number of tools from messaging to medication reminders and from activity monitoring to fall detection support. In addition, other features, such as voice to text, were added to support seniors with different characteristics. Regarding user interface design, this project uses: larger fonts, to provide legibility; strongly sequential workflows, to reduce confusion caused by too many options; icons and labels in accordance with seniors’ mental models to avoid misunderstandings; and buttons for every gesture action available for less dexterous fingers.
Nevertheless, the GoLivePhone goes way beyond a smartphone solution as it includes a platform, the GoLiveAssist, which allows caregivers to monitor remotely and provide support to the user of the GoLivePhone®. GoLiveAssist is the webapp that provides a connection between the caregiver and the GoLivePhone user. In addition, the caregiver will always be connected to the person they feel responsible for, and will be aware of their location and activity at all times, providing the necessary peace of mind.
The award for “Excellent Smart Health Innovation – Entrepreneurs with guts and spirit” by Coral is a recognition of the effort and dedication of dozens of researchers and professionals.
Coral is an informal community of regions, aiming to improve regional policies for Active and Healthy Ageing. Above all Coral is a learning community working on the implementation and upscaling of innovative solutions for Active and Healthy Ageing. It is a network of mutual learning and co-creation in a process of open innovation. The strength of Coral is the trust between partners that invest energy and creativity in this valuable collaboration.
Coral is about strengthening connectivity between the regions and their innovation clusters in Europe. The member regions of Coral consist of – quadruple helix – clusters of stakeholders in the sectors of research, entrepreneurship, government and civil society. Coral also connects the regions to other European counterparts and networks. It gives the regions a position in the fast growing European community of innovators in the field of Active and Healthy Ageing.