On 24 September 2019, Carlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation awarded the ‘Horizon prize for social innovation’ at the EU Research and Innovation Days in Brussels (Belgium). The purpose of the contest is to support innovative and sustainable mobility solutions for older people (65+).
The three winners are:
- Walk With Path (Denmark): Best solution: €1 million
The Walk With Path company developed Path Finder: a shoe attachment to help people with an unsteady and irregular gait. It creates automated visual cues using lasers and is hands-free. The device is particularly helpful for people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, who commonly suffer from Freezing of Gait (FoG). FoG is when a person feels as if their feet are suddenly frozen to the ground when trying to take a step.
- MyoSuit (Switzerland): Runner-up €250,000
MyoSwiss AG developed Myosuit – a lightweight garment-like device that combines robotics with functional textiles, acting as a wearable muscle. Myosuit uses intelligent algorithms and sensing technology to deliver continuous force assistance when needed, in an e-bike-like manner. Using these algorithms, MyoSuit detects the user’s movement patterns and provides optimal support to the lower limbs across everyday activities such as walking, stair negotiation and sitting transfers.
- Mob4Seniors (France): Runner-up €250,000
The Municipality of Toulouse developed the MonToulouse Senior card as part of its Mob4seniors project to boost the number of seniors taking part in municipal activities. The intelligent personalised card offers a broad and scalable range of cultural, leisure, digital and sports services for senior citizens in Toulouse and its surrounding rural areas. This card also gives access to the Allô Seniors service, which provides hand-in-hand individual physical support to older residents in Toulouse.
The 3 winners have been selected out of 10 finalists. Find them here
More information on the Horizon Prize for Social Innovation
AGE had been involved in the preparatory work of the awards.
