Welfare technology

Welfare technology is technology that can help and assist users in their daily lives. Examples of welfare technology are intelligent aids such as cleaning robots, sensors in clothes, smart homes, etc. The concept of a welfare technology should be seen in a new discourse created in 2007 in Denmark [http://www.denmark.dk/en] .

Welfare technology is closely linked to Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) but whereas AAL focuses on "addressing the needs of the ageing population" [http://www.aal169.org/] , welfare technology addresses not only the elderly but also other users of public services such as the handicapped, schools, day care centres, abusers, etc.

The discourse were created during a debate meeting [http://www.tekno.dk/subpage.php3?article=1339&toppic=kategori7&language=dk] in the Spring of 2007 hosted by the Danish Board of Technology, where new technologies in care were discussed.

The European Union has become increasingly focused on finding new ways to reduce the burden of the elderly boom that is expected in the future. One example of this is the AAL-169 programme [http://www.aal169.org/] - a new European technology and innovation funding programme.

The programme is intended to address the needs of the ageing population, to reduce innovation barriers of forthcoming promising markets, but also to lower future social security costs.

[http://www.aal169.org/]

An example of a project that focuses on welfare technology is the EU-funded project called PERSONA [http://www.aal-persona.org/] .