EDUCAT – Empowerment of Disabled people through the User Coproduction of Assistive Technology
EDUCAT is a European funded project to develop and deliver adaptive, open and modular technology to promote independence and improve quality of life for people with motor impairment and neurological disorders.
Project duration: 01-09-2016 to 31-08-2021
Project funding: Total budget: € 2,997,871; ERDF amount: € 1,798,722
Project Objectives
The project aims to promote a user-centred assistive technology design using co-design methods involving service users, engineers, clinicians, researchers, user-support networks and companies. A key element of the project is to incorporate monitoring of equipment usage patterns. It is anticipated that analysis of this data will provide diagnostic information on user condition and changes in that condition. This information will improve the prescription of assistive technology, inform the ongoing adaptation of that technology to meet user needs and increase the success rate for the long-term provision of assistive technology. The outcome will be to improve the user’s quality of life. The development is supported by clinical trials throughout the project.
Expected Outcomes
The expected benefits are cost and time savings for companies (for developing technologies) and hospitals (for care) as well as a higher efficiency of use of the technology. The long term goal is to deliver affordable technology through cross-border collaboration and facilitate uptake on the market.
University of Kent Contribution and Team
The University of Kent leads WP3: Bottom-up development of a modular adaptable assistive technology for empowering the elderly and infirm towards a higher level of mobility independence.
Team members:
Gareth Howells, Kostas Sirlantzis, Michael Gilham, Steve Kelly, Sanaul Hoque, Gianluca Marcelli, Xinggan Yan
Partners
Groupe HEI-ISA-ISEN (Lead partner), The University of Kent, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Sussex Community NHS Trust, East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, Voka – Kamer van Koophandel Oost-Vlaanderen