Information Society Technologies (IST) Persons with special needs, including the disabled and the elderly 6th IST Call 2nd February 2001 DG Information Society European Commission

Session outline The latest round of proposals has produced 18 new projects which will commence this Fall/Winter. Innovative proposals address visual impairment e.g. by proposing to research an implantable visual prosthesis, to develop highly interactive and extensible virtual reality systems and to build a haptic virtual environment. For people with hearing impairments, advanced assistive listening systems will be developed and, for elderly persons, efforts focus on prolonging autonomous living at an affordable cost. The wide range of interesting proposals, from those enabling blind children to use the same computer games as their sighted friends, to many proposals with serious medical intent, including one offering direct stimulation of the optic nerve, showed clearly that many consortia had taken proper notice of the key objectives stated in the Call for Proposals. Most proposals aimed straight for the target of developing intelligent assistive systems in order to help elderly people and those with disabilities to make full use of the new technologies expected to become available during the period of the projects and beyond. Proposals were received to develop systems to help with mobility, orientation, transportation, vision and hearing as well as those directly related to making home life easier for disadvantaged groups.

Introduction Towards an Information Society for All, focusing on... Persons with special needs, including disabled and elderly persons IST Workprogramme “strategic requirements” for the sector Four areas of work addressing the need for accessible, user-friendly technologies; from personal aids to societal systems advanced solutions in Assistive Technology / interfaces systems to promote and maintain independent living systems for the social inclusion (work, education, mobility…) Design-for-All for an inclusive Information Society The latest round of proposals has produced 18 new projects which will commence this Fall/Winter. Innovative proposals address visual impairment e.g. by proposing to research an implantable visual prosthesis, to develop highly interactive and extensible virtual reality systems and to build a haptic virtual environment. For people with hearing impairments, advanced assistive listening systems will be developed and, for elderly persons, efforts focus on prolonging autonomous living at an affordable cost. The wide range of interesting proposals, from those enabling blind children to use the same computer games as their sighted friends, to many proposals with serious medical intent, including one offering direct stimulation of the optic nerve, showed clearly that many consortia had taken proper notice of the key objectives stated in the Call for Proposals. Most proposals aimed straight for the target of developing intelligent assistive systems in order to help elderly people and those with disabilities to make full use of the new technologies expected to become available during the period of the projects and beyond. Proposals were received to develop systems to help with mobility, orientation, transportation, vision and hearing as well as those directly related to making home life easier for disadvantaged groups.

IST systems for persons with special needs, including disabled and elderly persons Design-for-All Intelligent systems for social inclusion Intelligent systems for Independent living The latest round of proposals has produced 18 new projects which will commence this Fall/Winter. Innovative proposals address visual impairment e.g. by proposing to research an implantable visual prosthesis, to develop highly interactive and extensible virtual reality systems and to build a haptic virtual environment. For people with hearing impairments, advanced assistive listening systems will be developed and, for elderly persons, efforts focus on prolonging autonomous living at an affordable cost. The wide range of interesting proposals, from those enabling blind children to use the same computer games as their sighted friends, to many proposals with serious medical intent, including one offering direct stimulation of the optic nerve, showed clearly that many consortia had taken proper notice of the key objectives stated in the Call for Proposals. Most proposals aimed straight for the target of developing intelligent assistive systems in order to help elderly people and those with disabilities to make full use of the new technologies expected to become available during the period of the projects and beyond. Proposals were received to develop systems to help with mobility, orientation, transportation, vision and hearing as well as those directly related to making home life easier for disadvantaged groups. Assistive Technology - intelligent interfaces Person . . . . Home . . . . Community . . . . Society

Previous calls 5FP Action Lines, projects and funding: IST-1999-I.3.1 Independent Living IST-2000-I.2.1 Intelligent assistive systems & interfaces IST-1999-CPA3 Design-for-All The latest round of proposals has produced 18 new projects which will commence this Fall/Winter. Innovative proposals address visual impairment e.g. by proposing to research an implantable visual prosthesis, to develop highly interactive and extensible virtual reality systems and to build a haptic virtual environment. For people with hearing impairments, advanced assistive listening systems will be developed and, for elderly persons, efforts focus on prolonging autonomous living at an affordable cost. The wide range of interesting proposals, from those enabling blind children to use the same computer games as their sighted friends, to many proposals with serious medical intent, including one offering direct stimulation of the optic nerve, showed clearly that many consortia had taken proper notice of the key objectives stated in the Call for Proposals. Most proposals aimed straight for the target of developing intelligent assistive systems in order to help elderly people and those with disabilities to make full use of the new technologies expected to become available during the period of the projects and beyond. Proposals were received to develop systems to help with mobility, orientation, transportation, vision and hearing as well as those directly related to making home life easier for disadvantaged groups.

Results of previous calls 5FP Action Lines, projects and funding: IST-1999-I.3.1 Independent Living IST-2000-I.2.1 Intelligent assistive systems & interfaces IST-1999-CPA3 Design-for-All Projects Cost EC funding Independent Living 14 39.1 M€ 23.7 M€ Assistive Systems 6 14.2 M€ 9.9 M€ Design-for-All (incl. 2 AMs) 3 3.5 M€ 2.9 M€ Accompanying Measure 1 1.5 M€ 1.5 M€ The latest round of proposals has produced 18 new projects which will commence this Fall/Winter. Innovative proposals address visual impairment e.g. by proposing to research an implantable visual prosthesis, to develop highly interactive and extensible virtual reality systems and to build a haptic virtual environment. For people with hearing impairments, advanced assistive listening systems will be developed and, for elderly persons, efforts focus on prolonging autonomous living at an affordable cost. The wide range of interesting proposals, from those enabling blind children to use the same computer games as their sighted friends, to many proposals with serious medical intent, including one offering direct stimulation of the optic nerve, showed clearly that many consortia had taken proper notice of the key objectives stated in the Call for Proposals. Most proposals aimed straight for the target of developing intelligent assistive systems in order to help elderly people and those with disabilities to make full use of the new technologies expected to become available during the period of the projects and beyond. Proposals were received to develop systems to help with mobility, orientation, transportation, vision and hearing as well as those directly related to making home life easier for disadvantaged groups. Total 24 59 M€ 38 M€ (Approx. figures)

5FP current projects Average consortium size 8 partners (range from 1 to 12) Average project cost 2.4 M€ (range from 400 K€ to 5.9 M€) Average EC funding 1.6 M€ (range from 400 K€ to 3.8 M€) The latest round of proposals has produced 18 new projects which will commence this Fall/Winter. Innovative proposals address visual impairment e.g. by proposing to research an implantable visual prosthesis, to develop highly interactive and extensible virtual reality systems and to build a haptic virtual environment. For people with hearing impairments, advanced assistive listening systems will be developed and, for elderly persons, efforts focus on prolonging autonomous living at an affordable cost. The wide range of interesting proposals, from those enabling blind children to use the same computer games as their sighted friends, to many proposals with serious medical intent, including one offering direct stimulation of the optic nerve, showed clearly that many consortia had taken proper notice of the key objectives stated in the Call for Proposals. Most proposals aimed straight for the target of developing intelligent assistive systems in order to help elderly people and those with disabilities to make full use of the new technologies expected to become available during the period of the projects and beyond. Proposals were received to develop systems to help with mobility, orientation, transportation, vision and hearing as well as those directly related to making home life easier for disadvantaged groups.

Results of previous calls Project synopses (4th FP and 5th FP draft) including: Acronym, title, duration EC Funding Keywords (technologies and users) Project contact details, partners Project summary (aims, approach, exploitation etc.) The latest round of proposals has produced 18 new projects which will commence this Fall/Winter. Innovative proposals address visual impairment e.g. by proposing to research an implantable visual prosthesis, to develop highly interactive and extensible virtual reality systems and to build a haptic virtual environment. For people with hearing impairments, advanced assistive listening systems will be developed and, for elderly persons, efforts focus on prolonging autonomous living at an affordable cost. The wide range of interesting proposals, from those enabling blind children to use the same computer games as their sighted friends, to many proposals with serious medical intent, including one offering direct stimulation of the optic nerve, showed clearly that many consortia had taken proper notice of the key objectives stated in the Call for Proposals. Most proposals aimed straight for the target of developing intelligent assistive systems in order to help elderly people and those with disabilities to make full use of the new technologies expected to become available during the period of the projects and beyond. Proposals were received to develop systems to help with mobility, orientation, transportation, vision and hearing as well as those directly related to making home life easier for disadvantaged groups. Check your ideas and intentions against those of the projects. AVOID OVERLAP!

Systems & services for Independent Living Objective: To develop and demonstrate new tools, systems and services to enable people with special requirements to live independently. The work will address personal care, mobility and communication, and will enable improved access to a wider range of services, and greater participation in social and community activities for people with reduced mobility or impaired functions, including extending employment and learning opportunities. Support for independent living will include personal devices for tele-support, the design of systems for the home environment, and advanced solutions for professional and informal carers. Within this Action Line, design-for-all tools and methods are to be further developed and applied to provide a focus on affordable, universal access to mainstream products and services. Particular improvements are sought in user modelling so that systems and user interfaces can be more easily configured to and by the individual, and to the tasks being undertaken and the environment. Call 1999-2000

Systems and services for independent living new tools, systems and services for independent living personal care, mobility and communication access to a wider range of services greater participation in social and community activities reduced mobility or impaired functions employment and learning opportunities personal devices for tele-support the design of systems for the home environment advanced solutions for professional and informal carers design-for-all tools and methods are to be developed and applied to affordable, universal access to mainstream products and services. user modelling Addressing...

Systems & services for Independent Living Projects CONFIDENT DOC@HOME GRAB IRIS MAPS MEDICATE PLAY2 SAID SENIORTECH21 SILC TELECARE VISICAST WISDOM WWWAAC Keywords (examples) UMTS, 3G mobile phones access to systems and services tele-assistance for elderly haptic technology biometric sensors, robotics cognitive / language impairment sign languages digital television

Systems & services for Independent Living VisiCAST Development of realistic virtual humans (avatars) generating and recognizing European deaf sign languages Building applications for Television, Multimedia and the Web

Intelligent Assistive systems and interfaces Objectives: To enable citizens with specific impairments, especially those related to ageing, to benefit as fully as possible from intelligent assistive systems Focus: The work will cover innovative assistive systems for supporting mobility, orientation, transportation, manipulation, vision and hearing and secure home and living environments. This work will capitalise on recent advances in intelligent user-interfaces and personal devices, both capable of self-adaptation and/or easy customisation (the application domains will also cover interfaces for improved ease of access to common IST and non-IST devices). Longer-term research, based on an improved and detailed understanding of the nature of cognitive and sensory processes, is also required into how advanced interfaces can increasingly compensate for the effects of impaired functionality on human performance. Significant industrial participation is required to ensure commercial exploitation. Proposals will be expected to address industrial consensus on common specifications as well as establishing or enhancing standards where appropriate. Furthermore, consensus building between the relevant authorities should be addressed. Call 2000

Intelligent assistive systems and interfaces... citizens with specific impairments, especially related to ageing assistive systems for mobility, orientation, transportation, manipulation, vision and hearing and secure home and living environments personal devices with self-adaptation and/or easy customisation interfacing with common IST and non-IST devices longer-term research on cognitive and sensory processes, to examine how advanced interfaces can increasingly compensate for the effects of impaired functionality on human performance significant industrial participation to ensure commercial exploitation industrial consensus on common specifications as well as establishing or enhancing standards where appropriate consensus building among sector actors Addressing...

Intelligent Assistive systems and interfaces Projects BLUEEAR ENORASI FASTY MEDIATE OPTIVIP TIM Keywords (examples) BluetoothTM technology communication support haptic interfaces virtual reality predictive typing system multi-sensory interface implantable prosthesis computer games, visual impairments

Intelligent Assistive systems and interfaces OPTIVIP Making the blind see Optical implant: Stimulating the Optic Nerve Expected results: Pattern and landmark recognition and grasping (visuo-motor interaction)

Cross Programme Action: Design-for-All Objective: To apply and demonstrate design-for-all principles in the development and piloting of mainstream IST-based products and services to ensure that they better address the needs of the widest range of user categories. The work should consider human factors related to the transition from an interaction paradigm that is computer-centric to novel interaction environments, and focus on methods and technologies for the provision of high-quality interactivity and accessibility tailored to individual user requirements. It should target the adoption by 2002 of design-for-all principles and practice in the development of consumer devices and on-line services. The work should demonstrate the impact of applying design-for-all principles on the development of usable and acceptable products, interactive applications and services in the information society. The work should be complemented by IST Support Measures, notably for the development of a design corpus containing recommendations, tools and methods; additionally, works should aim to raise awareness on universal design and to promote the establishment and dissemination of best industry practice. Call 1999

CPA Design-for-All... Addressing... application and demonstration of design-for-all principles in the development and piloting of mainstream IST-based products and services needs of the widest range of user categories novel interaction environments methods and technologies for the provision of high-quality interactivity and accessibility tailored to individual user requirements to target the adoption by 2002 of design-for-all principles and practice in the development of consumer devices and on-line services work should be complemented by IST Support Measures, notably for the development of a design corpus containing recommendations, tools and methods raising awareness on universal design and to promote the establishment and dissemination of best industry practice.

Cross Programme Action Design-for-All and IST Support measures Keywords (examples) Design-for-All Multimedia Training Consumer packaging Web accessibility Market research (older persons) Technology watch DASDA (AM) PACKAGE WAI-DA (AM) Projects SENIORWATCH (AM)

CPA - Design for All WAI-DA (Web Accessibility Initiative, Design-for-All) WAI, in coordination with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development. Increase European participation in the WAI activities Increase the use of WAI guidelines for Web Content and Web Authoring tools in Europe Analysis of web sites, Gallery of best practice examples Supporting eEurope: accessibility of public web sites http://www.w3.org/WAI/

6th IST Call: Scope IST2001.I.2.1 Intelligent assistive systems for social inclusion Objectives: To improve IST-based application systems offering new possibilities for full participation in society, including work opportunities by all persons with special needs. Types of actions addressed: Research and Development, Demonstration and Combined projects Links with WP2000: Adaptation of Action Line IST 2000 - I.2.1

Budget Action Line I.2.1 Intelligent assistive systems for social inclusion 17 - 20 MEURO

Projects and partnerships for Action Line IST2001-I.2.1 Anticipated figures Projects’ average size: 1.5 to 2 M€ (EC contribution) Number of funded projects: 10 - 15 Number of partners per project: 3 - 8

6th IST Call I.2.1 Intelligent assistive systems for social inclusion: Focus: “Senior-friendly” applications providing convenient access to services for independent living Intelligent IST-based systems which can support the integration of disabled or disadvantaged persons in the workplace

6th IST Call I.2.1 Intelligent assistive systems for social inclusion: The work will cover innovative assistive systems for supporting mobility, orientation, transportation, manipulation, vision and hearing, as well as secure home, living and work environments. It will capitalise on recent advances in intelligent user interfaces and personal devices, both capable of self adaptation and/or easy customisation (the application domains will include interfaces for improved ease of access to common IST and non-IST devices).

6th IST Call I.2.1 Intelligent assistive systems for social inclusion: Longer term research …on compensation for the effects of impaired functionality on human performance Understanding of the nature of cognitive and sensory processes Significant industrial participation is sought to ensure commercial exploitation Industrial consensus on common specifications Establishing or enhancing standards where appropriate Uptake of successful results by the relevant authorities

Making a proposal... including: Download documents from websites: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/particip.htm http://www.cordis.lu/ist/calls/200101.htm including: The relevant Workprogramme 2001 The Guide for Proposers Part 1 (January 2001 edition) and The Guide for proposers Part 2A “Fixed Deadline Proposals – for RTD” Call part identifier IST-01-6-1A and, in particular, The IST Guidelines for Evaluators,including the IST annex.

What happens to your proposal? Main steps 1. Receipt of proposals 2. Eligibility check 3. Evaluation 4. Evaluation summary reports and recommendations 5. Priority lists of proposals 6. Financial/administrative checks, Decision by Commission 7. Selection decision 8. Contract signature

Eligibility check Objectives: proposed work addresses the objectives of the Action Line Partners: include at least two legal entities, independent of each other and established in two Member States, or one member State and one Associated State. Proposal Identification: Action Line IST 2001-I.2.1 Anonymous: Part B of the proposal must be anonymous. It should contain no references to the identity of proposers. Any proposal which has clearly disregarded the anonymity rule in Part B will not be evaluated further.

See Workprogramme for details Proposal eligibility Types of Actions for the Call IST 2001 - I.2.1 R & D Demonstration Combined R & D and Demonstration Take up measures are not open for this action line See Workprogramme for details

Evaluation procedure Proposals will be evaluated on a scale 0-5 by three independent experts, according to five specific evaluation criteria, as described in the Guidelines for Evaluators. No. Criteria themes Threshold score* 1 Scientific/Technological excellence and innovation 3 2 Community added value and contribution to EU policies 2 3 Contribution to Community social objectives - 4 Economic development and S & T prospects 3 5 Resources, partnership and management 2 * The threshold scores shown here apply to shared-cost R & D projects and demonstration projects. Other thresholds apply to other types of projects. See the “Guidelines for Evaluators” for further details.

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 1: Scientific/Technological excellence and innovation Quality Is the proposal sound? Does it meet the scientific / technological needs of RTD for the target groups of persons? Have you chosen the most relevant approach for the targeted objectives? Have you addressed possible alternatives? Are checks and balances present to measure and verify progress of work?

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 1: Scientific/Technological excellence and innovation Innovation and risk Does the proposed work go beyond “state-of-the-art” Is the proposed system novel (or does it already exist in the EU market)? Have you described the innovative aspects: - Innovative technologies, OR innovative application, OR an innovative service using leading-edge IS technologies and systems

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 1: Scientific/Technological excellence and innovation Innovation and risk (continued) Have you demonstrated awareness of the limits of current knowledge and/or solutions, and justified which direction(s) for development may be plausible? Will the proposed work be feasible in relation to the application environment? Does previous work clarify the risk or support the likelihood of success? Have you shown details of how you will conduct risk analysis or assessment?

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 1: Scientific/Technological excellence and innovation Adequacy Will your approach, methodology and workplan meet the Scientific & Technological objectives? Will the proposed IST system solve the real problems of disabled and elderly people, which are addressed?

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 2: Community added value and contribution to EU policies European dimension Does the proposal address European-wide issues? European added value Will the proposal will have impact at the European level? EC policy Have you shown which EU policies are addressed, e.g. the Amsterdam Treaty (“non-discrimination” clause), employment, eEurope, ageing policy and “mainstreaming” of disability issues? See: http://www.dg5b.cec/units/e/4/Policies.html http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-prot/ageing/index_en.htm If relevant, are regulation and standardisation issues described?

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 3: Contribution to Community social objectives Does your proposal address one or more of the following? Quality of life Have you shown how the proposal will improve the quality of life, and health and safety for the target groups of users? Employment Will the proposal improve general employment prospects and/or develop the skills of individuals? Conservation Will the proposed project contribute to the EU policy relating to preserving and enhancing the environment and the minimum use or conservation of natural resources?

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 4: Economic development and S & T prospects Exploitation Have you described a plan for (Europe-wide or global) exploitation beyond the end of the project? Are partners genuinely committed to exploitation of the results - and capable of ensuring this exploitation ? Can the results be exploited by others, beyond the partnership? Strategic impact Will the proposed work improve competitiveness and/or create new markets? What is the size and value of the intended market? Dissemination How will the proposal contribute to Scientific & Technical progress? How will the information be presented - and for which target groups?

Evaluation procedure Evaluation criterion 5: Resources, partnership and management Quality of management Have you described the management tools and coordination methods? Quality of partnership, involvement of users and other actors Have you chosen partners with complementary expertise and roles? Do you have industrial partners or others who can deliver the intended product or service to the users? Appropriateness of resources Are the resources you request in balance with the objectives and tasks? Legal and ethical issues Have you shown how legal and ethical aspects - if any - will be addressed throughout the life of the project?

Pre-register your proposal The IST programme strongly encourages pre- registration of proposals. Please use the pre-registration form in the Guide for proposers part 2. The deadline for pre-registration for call 6 is: 11 April, 2001.

Making a proposal FINALLY… Read the Guide for Proposers and Guidelines for evaluators Check that the area to be addressed and the type of action (shared-cost R&D, Demonstration, Concerted Action, etc.) is open in the "call". Present the specific project objectives and the potential results in the context of the Key Action's Work programme. Explain why the proposed approach is the best way of meeting the Key Action's objectives. Establish the state of the art ( - a description is of much more value than a list of references), and substantiate the advance that the proposed innovation would make beyond the state of the art. Justify claims for socio-economic impacts and clearly explain links to EU policies, if relevant.

Persons with special needs, including disabled and elderly persons Include the relevant stakeholders in your proposal (industry, researchers, end users, public authorities etc.) Show that the approach to be followed in achieving the project goals is convincing and credible. (Be precise). Avoid just repeating the words of the Workprogramme. Define clear deliverables and strategies to ensure real impact at European level. Ask somebody not involved to critically evaluate the draft proposal before deciding to send it in. O.K.

Persons with special needs, including disabled and elderly persons Unit web site: http/www.cordis.lu/ist/ka1/special_needs.htm including... documentation from this Information Day project documentation