A consortium of businesses, research groups and public sector organisations including CENSIS has secured support from UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to create three new ‘communities of the future’ designed to help older people in Scotland live longer, healthier, independent lives.
Led by Blackwood Homes and Care and running over three years from 2021-24, the £12.5m ‘Neighbourhoods for Independent Living’ or ‘Peoplehood‘ project will help people stay well and physically active as they age, including exploring the use of new technologies to support them.
The programme has received £6m from the UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Healthy Ageing Challenge while the remaining £6.5m is being contributed by project partners including Canon Medical Research Europe, Carebuilder UK, Cisco, The DataLab and the University of Edinburgh.
New neighbourhoods in Dundee, Glasgow, and Moray will place an emphasis on including residents in designing and testing a range of innovations to support healthy ageing.
Engineering and business development staff at CENSIS will support the project by advising on how best to maximise sensing and IoT technologies to enable better models of community living for older people.
The project will also explore accessible outdoor spaces so that people can remain physically active, supported by secure digital connectivity and infrastructure that respects data privacy. Sustainable energy and transport elements of the project will aim to reduce community carbon footprint and reduce transport costs.
Neighbourhoods for Independent Living is one of five ‘trailblazer’ projects sharing £23m in funding from UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Healthy Ageing Challenge.