Bridging the gap between technology and older adults: insights from a collaborative workshop on R&D methodologies for ambient assisted living solutions

In spite of promising contributions of ambient assisted living (AAL) solutions for independent ageing, a gap between tech- nologies and their uptake by users has been reported. A suboptimal user-centred approach and limited user integration in the innovation process were advanced as influencing factors. This paper presents the results from a collaborative workshop conducted at the AAL Forum 2017 with multiple stakeholders (n = 24). Data were collected on current practices, methods, challenges and solutions regarding user integration in AAL projects, and a content analysis was carried out. A moderate degree of user integration emerged as the most common practice and users are mostly included in the research and devel- opment process providing requirements and testing the solutions, holding minor participation in other innovation phases. Challenges for user integration were associated with users’ health/autonomy status and attitudes towards technology, as well as with obstacles in matching solutions with users’ requirements. The results suggest that a higher degree of user integration may still be some way distant in AAL projects.
esearchers/developers face considerable challenges in user integration, while possessing a limited portfolio of solutions to address them. Insights from this paper can be exploited to design guidelines for user integration in AAL projects.