The Eurecat technology centre is taking part in the ‘PECT Mataró-Maresme: innovation ecosystem for caregiving towns and cities’ Territorial Competitiveness and Specialisation Project. It is to be led by Mataró Town Council and run in conjunction with the Maresme Healthcare Consortium, the TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme Foundation, the Sant Jaume i Santa Magdalena Hospital Foundation and the Maresme Foundation to unlock specific measures in care and support for active ageing.
Mayor David Bote and Cabinet Officer for Social Welfare and Health Promotion Laura Seijo unveiled the initiative which was chosen in April in the second call for funding for this kind of project. Mireya Saludes, head of Eurecat’s Innovation and Strategy Management Department, also spoke at the presentation where she pointed out that the project is “relevant, useful and the seed of everything we have to do to meet the need to improve care, especially preventive care, and thus enhance people’s wellbeing, in this case by targeting healthy ageing.”
“Improving people’s health and social wellbeing is a key area at Eurecat,” commented Miquel Rey, Eurecat’s Corporate Director of Business Development. “So we are constantly investing in a multi-technology and multi-sector approach by innovating in the digital and biotech fields along with other areas such as robotics for the health, social care, mobility and smart cities sectors.”
“We’ve been working on this for quite a while with our partners in this PECT and that’s going to continue. It’s a no brainer as it addresses the needs of local people and the priorities set by leading organisations such as the EU and the WHO.”
Eurecat’s input to the project has a €465,257 budget and is designed to deliver knowledge and technology transfer to enhance the quality of life of senior citizens in el Maresme. The tech centre is to conduct systematic technology watch and innovative strategic foresight research while it will also draw on a study of 150 people to roll out precision nutrition strategies for the elderly to add to their wellbeing and health. It will additionally analyse and develop a mobile app-based recommender system to improve older people’s sleep habits.
The presentation was also attended by members of the Maresme Healthcare Consortium, the TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme Foundation, the Sant Jaume i Santa Magdalena Hospital Foundation and the Maresme Foundation as partners who will undertake actions as part of the project. They were accompanied by el Maresme County Council and the TIC Salut Social Foundation who are supporting it.
The ‘Mataró-Maresme: innovation ecosystem for caregiving towns and cities’ project seeks to devise and put in place innovative models and solutions to support active ageing and care for people who are frail, dependent, chronically ill or disabled. This involves research, technological development and knowledge generation and transfer between the stakeholders involved as the basis for job creation and high added-value business activities.
The project has a €4,612,992 budget for an initial two-year term, half of which is provided by the Catalan Government under the Catalonia ERDF Operational Programme 2014-2020. PECTs are projects featuring highly innovative initiatives and measures geared towards economic transformation in their region. They support the priorities and objectives of the RIS3CAT and the Catalonia ERDF Operational Programme 2014-2020, draw on input from the social and economic community and make their local areas more competitive.
