Introduction by Karim Hadjri

BRAID is currently drawing up recommendations as to how a new approach for an inclusive, open and democratic organisation could support research and development, act as a focal point for e-inclusion, address the market for assistive technologies, help efforts to harmonise legislation, reduce regulatory barriers, implement standards and encourage interoperability of assistive technologies. The vision and the roadmap are currently being disseminated to a wide range of stakeholders in order to promote acceptance and engagement in its implementation.

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BRAID’s Final Consolidated Vision Statement Released

BRAID Deliverable D4.2, the final Consolidated Vision of ICT and Ageing, has been released. This vision is developed applying a systematic approach, consolidating the visions from four feeder projects of BRAID, and creating one holistic vision of ICT & ageing in European society. It constitutes a main input into the BRAID roadmap development, which addresses the implementation of the BRAID’s planned aims.

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BRAID Discussion Paper

In response to requests from stakeholders for a ‘user friendly’ document outlining BRAID’s objectives and work to date, partners at Netwell, Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Tasmania have written a short BRAID discussion paper. The paper was launched last month at the WHO Age Friendly Cities conference in Dublin, Ireland.

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4th BRAID Workshop Dublin/Dundalk

The fourth, of a series of five BRAID Workshops, was held on 29th - 30th September 2011 in Dublin and Dundalk, Ireland. These workshops provide the arena in which key aspects of the BRAID project are discussed and plans for future actions are developed. The structure of the workshops aims at facilitating this process by including a sequence of events (i.e.work-group sessions, presentations, roundtable discussions etc.) to ensure all participants can be actively and effectively involved throughout the workshop.

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Final BRAID Workshop

The fifth and final stakeholder workshop will be held in Budapest on 3rd and 4th of November 2011. The efficient engagement of relevant stakeholder groups is a key ingredient in the BRAID project for successfully addressing pertinent issues relevant to ICT and ageing. The final BRAID workshop will be reaching out to representatives from the Central and Eastern Europe region, in order to share the BRAID vision with key stakeholders and local authorities, as well as to get an insight on the current situation and future prospects in the area of ICT and ageing for countries that have most recently joined the European Union. Overall, the aim of this workshop is to take that extra step towards planning for an effective implementation of the BRAID roadmap, through actively involving all participants of the workshop in a series of activities within the context of an “implementation exercise”. Furthermore, local stakeholders will be invited to address theoretical and practical issues relevant to ICT and ageing in the context of Hungary and the wider region.

Australian Symposium

On Friday 21st October 2011 an Ageing and ICT Symposium is being conducted in Melbourne, Australia. The symposium is co-hosted by the European Union sponsored research group Bridging Research in Ageing and ICT Development (BRAID), the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society at the University of Melbourne and the University of Tasmania. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together thought leaders to explore the current activities in relation to ICT for active ageing being undertaken in Australia, and how ICT can transform the aged care sector over the next decade.

BRAID Final Conference

The BRAID Team is working with the International Federation on Ageing to collocate the final BRAID conference with the IFA 11th Global Conference on Ageing 2012 in Prague 28 May – 1st June 2012 (http://www.ifa2012.com).

FUTURAGE launch conference 18th October 2011 in Brussels

FUTURAGE is a two-year project funded by the European Commission, under the Seventh Framework Programme, to create the definitive road map for ageing research in Europe for the next 10-15 years. Drawing on experts and specialists from Europe and beyond, the road map represents extensive consultation in this field and identifies the main priorities on ageing and health from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Through a chain of events, academic and non-academic stakeholders have engaged in an assessment of research priorities, emerging fields and methods to build consensus on the research priorities in ageing until 2025.

The FUTURAGE Road Map will be published on Tuesday 18th October, in conjunction with a launch conference in the European Parliament and will be available for download from http://futurage.group.shef.ac.uk/road-map.html at that time. Karim Hadjri will be presenting an update of the BRAID Project at this conference.

Join the Wiki Editors

As part of the BRAID website we have set up a wiki and imported the wiki previously produced by CAPSIL. We would welcome contributions to the BRAID Wiki.

If you would like to be included in the wiki editorial team please email info@braidproject.org and you will be provided with secure access.

Call for contributions

We are happy to receive contributions to the BRAID Project Newsletter from other organisations involved in ICT and Ageing. Please send contributions to info@braidproject.org