Supporting Independent LiVing for the Elderly through Robotics

Background
Name of your initiative: 
Supporting Independent LiVing for the Elderly through Robotics
Short name (acronym): 
SILVER
Website title and address: 
SILVER
Which organization is submitting this initiative?: 
Innovate UK
Please specify in which regions/provinces: 
UNITED KINGDOM›SOUTH WEST (ENGLAND)›Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area›Swindon
City: 
Swindon
Where is this organization located?: 
United Kingdom
Please enter the name of the contact person for this initiative: 
Denisa Naidin
Please enter the email of the contact for this initiative: 
denisa.naidin@innovateuk.gov.uk
Part of larger strategy or programme: 
If you answered "other", please specify: 
Please provide us with more details of this programme or strategy: 
The status of the initiative: 
On-going
Please give a summary of your initiative (in English): 
SILVER is an FP7 project that aims to develop new robotics based technologies to assist elderly people in their everyday lives. It uses a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) process to encourage companies to bring to the market innovative solutions that will enable municipalities to care for 10% more elderly care recipients with the same number of care staff.
The geographical scope: 
European
Type of initiative: 
Public
Environment or setting of the initiative: 
Urban
The economic environment or setting of the initiative: 
Moderate
The most important source of funding for your initiative: 
European funding
If other, please specify your source of funding: 
What triggered this initiative?: 
The 6 municipalities procuring innovative solutions through SILVER expect their elderly populations to grow considerably over the next decade. Moreover, there has been a consistent trend over the past decade for elderly persons to live independently for longer. In a context of public budget reductions, the need for more elderly care is unlikely to be matched by a proportional increase in care provision. Nonetheless, public authorities want to keep providing excellent services to home care recipients. SILVER hopes to bridge the gap between declining local budgets and increasing older populations by using robotic technologies to enable the elderly to remain healthy and active in their own homes.
Objectives
What are the main objectives of your initiative? Choose a maximum of 3 objectives.: 
Community support and health services: increase in client-oriented and -centered made to measure health and social care and services
Please describe any subgoals of your initiative: 
SILVER has several key goals: 1) encouraging their elderly populations to lead healthy and active lifestyles, while living independently 2) providing care to 10% more recipients with the same amount of care personnel 3) boosting public sector innovation by running a transnational pre-commercial procurement process
Target group
Does your initiative target people with a specific impairment or disease?: 
How many people have you reached or do you expect to reach with your initiative?: 
> 100.000
Does your initiative target a specific age group?: 
65 - 7980+
Does your initiative target men or women?: 
Irrelevant
Approach
Please indicate what best describes your initiative: 
Implementation›TechnologyResearch›Innovation/action/applied
What type of intervention strategy is used in your initiative?: 
Living lab/pilotStimulation of SME's (small and medium-sized enterprises)
Please indicate the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of your initiative: 
Prototype and implementation: level 7-9Validation: level 4-6
Who executes the initiative: 
Health service contracters›Public authorityPrivate company›Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)Provider of social service
What is the relevant physical scale of your initiative?: 
City/municipalityEuropean level
Please indicate how you think your initiative could be scaled up (made to reach more people): 
The technologies developed at the various stages of the pre-commercial procurement process can be further developed by the companies and subsequently procured by other public authorities at local, regional or national level. Getting more public authorities interested in these robotic technologies brings these solutions closer to the market and makes them more affordable for all.
Please indicate the type of stakeholders concerned with your initiative.: 
End-usersHealth service contracters›Public authorityPrivate company›Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)Provider of informal careProvider of social service
Please describe how you think your initiative could be transferred to other regions or contexts: 
The PCP process can be applied to any field where innovative solutions are needed and at any scale, from local authorities to regional, national and even at European level.
Is your initiative economically sustainable and does it contribute to economic development?: 
SILVER does contribute to economic development by awarding contracts to businesses who develop innovative robotic technologies in three stages. This provides support for developing concepts, building prototypes and testing a limited series of products in a real life environment.
If you selected "other" neighbourhood, please specify:: 
Impact & outcome
Will you collect or have you collected outcome data for this initiative?: 
Yes
What do you consider the key success factors of your initiative? If your initiative has not yet started, please indicate what you expect the key success factors to be: 
Key success factors have been: - Cooperation among public authorities both horizontally (several municipalities in Europe) and vertically (local authorities working with the regional, national and EU level) - Building relationships with businesses - Relying on expertise at all public authority levels and in several public policy fields
What do you consider the main barriers to overcome in your initiative? If your initiative has not yet started, please indicate what you expect the main barriers to be.: 
- Steep learning curve on PCP - Major differences among Member States with regards to data protection and trial management
What instruments will you use/have used to collect data?: 
Other, namely
If you selected "other" instrument to collect data, please specify: 
If yes, how will you/have you collected those data?: 
Mixed-methods
Will you collect or have collected socio-economic impact data for this initiative?: 
No
Will or are the collected data in the initiative publicly available?: 
No