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Description
ICYGEN Ltd., a seasoned ICT company with nearly two decades of experience in the Bulgarian and international markets, is embarking on a transformative journey into Welfare Technology through its project under the Norway Grants'' call. The TWIL project is poised to introduce groundbreaking digital social and personal assistant services at the national level, catering to the elderly and individuals with disabilities in Bulgaria.
The overarching objective of the Telecare for Welfare and Independent Living (TWIL) project is to pioneer Welfare Technology services that address a critical aspect of the aging and disabled population''s needs—fostering a more independent and secure daily life within the home environment. Simultaneously, it aims to maximize the utilization of necessary medical and social services tailored to individual conditions. TWIL will achieve this by implementing a comprehensive monitoring system for health status and daily behavior, leveraging 24/7 supervision through a set of strategically placed sensors in homes.
These sensors, encompassing movement detectors, smoke detectors, call centers, GPS tracking, emergency buttons, and connections to relevant medical care services (hospitals, general practitioners, relatives, etc.), will communicate wirelessly with a centralized device orchestrating their functions. The back-office system will feature a server communicating with the central devices installed in clients'' homes, an emergency call center, and a comprehensive client information system.
In collaboration with the rapidly growing Norwegian startup Avalia AS, the TWIL project is set to yield tangible outcomes, including a fully operational telecare system and the creation of four new jobs. This venture signifies ICYGEN''s commitment to pushing the boundaries of technological innovation to address crucial societal needs and enhance the quality of life for vulnerable populations.
Summary of project results
The social-care services in Bulgaria are lacking decent operational digital solutions and in parallel the market should be target with budget products and services due to limited coverage in terms of services of the national insurance fund, still reforming pension system, generating low incomes to the elderly people and currently emerging market of private insurance funds. Social-care services are also deployed on the ground by the the municipalities which makes them important partners for the Promoter.
The project resulted in one welfare technology service developed which helps meeting one of the most important social and healthcare challenges of the aging and disabled population - more independent and secure daily life at home environment but at the same time taking maximum advantage of the needed medical and social services in accordance with the individual condition.
The service provides monitoring of health status/condition and daily behaviour based on 24/7 supervision provided by set of sensors installed at homes (movement detectors, smoke detectors, call centre, GPS tracking, emergency button, connection to relevant medical care services - hospitals,. General practitioners, other individuals (relatives), etc.) or electronic devices worn by the individuals. They communicate wirelessly with a centralised device which orchestrates them. The back office system consists of server communicating with the centralised devices installed with the clients, emergency call centre and clients information system. In order to monitor for emergency situations a number of sensors should be installed (door contacts, heat detectors, smoke detectors, motion sensors, fall detection sensors, etc.). Those sensors send indications to centralised device control and management hub wirelessly. The server is responsible for communication with the devices installed in clients’ homes, remote configuration, collecting alarms signals and provisioning of interface to the users of the system. The server keeps user profiles and preferences. Each of the potential clients has the full flexibility to choose which set of monitoring solutions corresponds in the best possible way to their condition and needs.
The project outcomes addressed the need of development of innovative welfare-technology and service that helps elderly and persons with disabilities to become more independent and reliant.
Based on an Internet of Things (IoT) concept, the project provided elderly and people with disabilities the opportunity to stay at home and feel more independent and reliant while at the same time be provided with 24/7 supervision by a trained team. Through the development and the implementation of the project the company also raised awareness to the need of provisioning of proper care and supervision to those people in order to eliminate the social disparity.
Summary of bilateral results
Avalia has experience in building information systems for medical institutions in Norway which is a key factor for the development and the implementation of TWIL. Based on that expertise, Partners’ main responsibilities are involved in building an information system concerning the condition and special needs of the customers. The Partner also provides expertise on the regulations and the security compliance concerning sensitive personal information;