Telia Company has launched a €7.2 million international research and development project into IoT self-care solutions for the elderly.
The three-year project, called FRONT-VL, aims to empower elderly people, in an aging population, to take charge of their healthcare, and remain in their homes for longer.
It will look specifically at developing IoT solutions for rehabilitation, mental health, palliative care and nutrition monitoring. The healthcare industry will be closely involved in development and testing, it said.
Telia will lead the research and development, and work with 21 partners from the fields of academia, research and technology, from Austria, Finland, Hungary, Norway and Sweden.
Niklas Sundler, Business Director at Telia Company’s Swedish healthcare unit, said: “The vision is to increase the growing aging population’s influence over their own situation and being able to stay longer in their own home with the help of IoT technology.
“This comprises both technology for independent living and the possibility to handle chronic diseases through remote monitoring and self-care.”
Telia said it will create open solutions, built on a modular design, where devices, platforms, motors, apps and analytical tools can be combined and substituted.
“The idea is that any company can contribute with their own version of the module as long as it has the agreed interfaces. This creates an opportunity for competitors to develop different, and competing, solutions fulfilling the same functional needs,” said Telia in a statement.
The project is being jointly funded by its participating organisations and country governments.
Separately, Telia has been active in the automotive IoT space. Its new connected car solution is aiming to be a springboard for second-hand cars to take advantage of full mobility, it said last month.