Early April 2016, the European Commission, in collaboration with Utrecht University and Creative Skills for Life, hosted a ‘meeting of minds’ that took a fresh look at innovating smart new build and retrofit home environments, with a view to empowering an ageing population to live more meaningful, independent, connected lives with dignity and autonomy. More than 70 participants from various sectors gathered to share their views on smarter homes, new financing models and urban retrofitting.
The meeting was the starting point of a European roadshow designed to involve key stakeholders in an ongoing and sustainable dialogue on a Europe wide approach to age-friendly digital homes and Smart Neighbourhoods of the Future. The dialogue will inform a European Reference Framework for Age-friendly Housing aimed to identify the key features which make homes suitable for ageing well in terms of future-proof ICT infrastructures/services combined with required physical construction/adaptation. This reference framework will provide recommendations for a set of complementary actions at EU, national and regional level to increase the number of age-friendly homes (both new build and retrofit) and neighbourhoods in Europe.
For more information, please consult: https://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?section=active-healthy-ageing&pg=smart-home-roadshow
The event has been registered and can still be viewed online following this link: https://scic.ec.europa.eu/streaming/neighbourhoods-of-the-future
