“The general background to this study derives from the trend towards accelerating population ageing as it has been observed across Europe and beyond for some time already. For Europe and many other countries around the world, the ongoing demographic development has significant socioeconomic implications: in the future, there will be more older people in absolute as well as relative terms, there will be considerably more old people particularly in the upper age range, there will be fewer family carers providing informal support to these, and there will be a smaller productive workforce to contribute to the creation of economic wealth in general and to the financing of health and social services in particular.
During recent years, the social and economic challenges that tend to be connected to these developments have received increasing policy attention, and the potential offered by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for better coping with them as well. Recently, the European Commission has adopted an Action Plan on Information and Communications Technology for Ageing in the framework of its i2010 initiative. In this context, it is highlighted that better leveraging of the potential generally provided by ICT for independent living in an ageing society represents both a social necessity and an economic opportunity. More specifically, it is emphasised that ICT holds considerable potential for more efficient management and delivery of health and social care, as well as increasing opportunities for community care and self-care and service innovation more generally.”
Report
Empirica & WRC, for the European Commission, 2008
