‘The future of ageing: embracing technology for a fulfilling life’ : Take-aways from eVITA Final Conference
‘The future of ageing: embracing technology for a fulfilling life’ was the topic of the final conference of the e-VITA project that involved more than 215 participants and 37 speakers from renowned researchers, institutions, companies and e-VITA partners.
The event, which took place in Évry, France, from 7 to 8 March 2024, shared insights from this 3-year joint European – Japanese cooperation project aimed to respond to the worldwide demographic change .
e-VITA’s aim was to design a virtual coach to support older people in remaining active and healthy in their home, providing tailored recommendations to personal needs and wishes.
This conference provided new concepts of prevention and smart living solutions to support wellbeing in later life by means of smart technology for older adults in Europe and Japan. It aimed to serve as a platform for dialogue, exploration, and collaboration at the intersection of ageing and technology.
Keynote speakers discussed the latest advancements in welfare systems and technology as for example natural language models, highlighting the cutting-edge developments in both regions. The conference also provided a platform to unveil the main outcomes of the e-VITA project, showcasing the knowledge garnered from its pilot programs in Japan, Germany, France and Italy. The conference concluded with a discussion on the opportunities that an ageing population presents to business and policymakers.
On Thursday, we started the day with a welcoming from Gaia Bottura, Programme officer in the eHealth, Well-being and Ageing Unit at DG CNECT, European Commission. Gaia shared with us all the EU actions on demographic change, namely, the Green Paper on Ageing, the European Care Strategy and the Commission communication on demographic change in Europe: a toolbox for action.
Followed by the first keynote speaker of the conference – Yuzuru Nakagaki, business innovation manager from KPMG in Japan introduced by Dr. Malcolm Fisk, Professor of Ageing and the Lifecourse in the University of Central Lancashire and Toshimi Ogawa from Tohoku Univervisity. This Session intitled “A society that supports the comfort of living, regional revitalization, and smart ageing in regions and communities through the use of technology” enlighten us about the efforts being done from Japan on developing a comprehensive social welfare service system that includes public and private services as well as digital services. Mr Nakagaki shared the Next Welfare Strategy “Health Care Vision 2035″ that was developed by the national government. He also featured how Local Governments and Industry Associations have formulated and implemented these plans to promote digital transformation in Social Welfare using Social Robotics and ICT. (For more information, see the presentation of Mr. Nakagaki here.)
The second block of the first day – 2 – Ageing Well in a Digital World: Europe-Japan Joint e-VITA Virtual Coach – belonged to the e-VITA Team and was introduced by the European coordinator of the project Prof. Rainer Wieching from the University of Siegen. In this section, the team explained the key pillars of the project and the results from the studies done in the Living Labs and in the Proof-of-Concept done in Italy, France, Germany and Japan during three years of project. We could also watch a video from a renown photographer and film director, Yves Gellie, exploring the relationships between humans and robots and how research evolved in the e-VITA Project. All the videos can be consulted in the section “art meets science” on the website of the project. The afternoon was dedicated to exploring e-VITA outcomes, namely some of the robots used in the project and ended with a visit to the Living Lab Evident and a talk regarding the IMT Starter Incubator presentation.
To discover more on e-VITA main results, please consult the detailed presentations of the speakers here.
The second day was more focused on the technology used in the project and how technology can support the policy work on age friendly environments and create new sustainable businesses. The highlight of the day was for our keynote speech Emeritus Prof. Michael McTear of Ulster University intitled “Empowering Older Adults: Unravelling the Potential of Large Language Models in Wellbeing Applications” chaired by Dr. Jan Alexandersson from Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz.
With this session, we learned how large language models work and can be trained as well as their difference from normal search engines. It really showed how, according to our speaker: “these are exciting times – Large language models and their application in interfaces such as ChatGPT that make them easily accessible offer lots of potential for the future development of chatbots in applications such as supporting older adults” (discover more of this presentation here). Keep an eye on the recent book launched by Prof. Michael on this topic: “Transforming conversational AI: exploring the power of large language models in interactive conversational agents”.
In this line, we had our e-VITA team unveiling in dept the technology behind the scenes! If you want to discover the architecture behind our project, consult the presentation here.
Here you will find the main capabilities of e-VITA Platform like connecting and integrating the different typologies of devices (sensors, robots, wearable etc) via a set of standard APIs and dialogue generation and Data Analysis capabilities, based on the devices’ data, provided by specific (AI) modules. It provides also the general capabilities for security and data management and a Web user interface for the usage and configuration of the platform.
We finished the morning with discussions on the business and policy opportunities of this demographic change that took place in two roundtables chaired by Francesco Pillitteri, Researcher in Engineering, and Julia Wadoux, policy manager in AGE Platform Europe, respectively.
In the first roundtable of “Global Perspectives on exploitation and business modelling of AgeTech Innovations”, we got to know the ambitious Japanese company Misawa homes by his CEO Dr. Isamu Ohta to revolutionize Industrialized housing construction sector. Followed by the vision of Alexandre Mazel, entrepreneur and associate researcher in Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and Sorbonne University, on future trends of AgeTech in Europe. Finally, Prof. Aline Hrascinec from IMT shared with us how social robots like e-VITA can be an asset and really make a difference in the life of people with disabilities, opening a new world for the project. Moving on to policy, we got to know several good practices coming from Germany with Prof. Dr. Johannes Schädler, from the Centre for Planning and Development of Social Services (University of Siegen), Italy with Dr. Giovanni Gorgoni, past chair of EUREGHA-European Regional and Local Health Authorities, and Japan with Yuji Sakai, Executive Director, General Affairs & Planning Department, Public Welfare Bureau, Fukuoka City Government. All of them shared the vision of ageing and longevity being an opportunity and of the need of empowering older people in their regions. We also heard some good reflections on ethics from the renowned gerontologist Dr. Gerard Cornet. According to this speaker, it might be difficult to have policies that open the way for old people to have good life in their virtual and real local daily environment while at the same time, improving global and local policies with ethical innovations.
In the afternoon, we had the pleasure of having a satellite workshope on Knowledge Graphs and Large Language Models that counted with more than 10 speakers sharing their knowledge from around the world (check all the materials here).
Lastly, our coordinators – Dr. Rainer Wieching, Universität Siegen, Germany and Toshimi Ogawa, Tohoku University, Japan – closed the whole conference with a message of hope for the future: We aim to contribute knowledge, technology, and experience to design a society that empowers individuals of all ages to lead lives rich in fulfillment, health, and independence, regardless of their age.
In conclusion, the e-VITA Final Conference illuminated the path towards a future where ageing is not a barrier but an opportunity for innovation and empowerment. With a collaborative spirit spanning continent, the conference showcased groundbreaking initiatives aimed at leveraging technology to enhance the quality of life for older adults. From the unveiling of e-VITA’s virtual coach to discussions on large language models and policy implications, the event underscored the importance of embracing technological advancements to address the challenges posed by an ageing population.
With gratitude to all participants, speakers, and partners, we embark on a collective journey towards a future where ageing is not just a stage of life but a vibrant chapter filled with possibilities.
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