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Avante will showcase the most advanced technology in Europe for improving quality of life
Publication date: 3rd May, 2010
What will adapted housing of the future be like? What new devices will there be to make life easier and more comfortable for people, above all the disabled or dependent? Avante 2010, which will be held from the 2nd to the 4th of June in pavilion 1 of Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via exhibition centre, will showcase the most advanced European products, services and technological projects geared to improving personal autonomy. Its side events will also bring together health professionals, researchers and experts in new technologies and representatives from the European Union and from national and autonomous administrations.
With proposals from around a hundred represented companies, Avante will show professionals and users the latest the sector has to offer in five major areas: Technological solutions and innovations; Care and specialist services; Home and family, with products and equipment for improving autonomy, safety and quality of life at home; Urban accessibility and mobility, with proposals to create unlimited, accessible and more comfortable surroundings; and Life, society and company, with bodies which promote equal opportunities and the participation of the older, dependent and disabled persons.
New Trends Showcase
At its second edition, Avante’s R&D&I Area will house an exhibition of the best prototypes and the most innovative solutions currently being developed in Europe within the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) programmes, financed by the EU and dedicated to research on improving the quality of life of the elderly by means of the new information and communication technologies (ICT).
The exhibition will feature telehealth projects which allow remote medical attention and telesafety projects with smoke, gas or fall detectors; new apparatus that increase mobility and equilibrium; labels for the visually impaired that interact via touch and that, connected to mobile devices, can provide audio information on medication, for example; and dietary control systems.
In this same area, companies, research centres and universities will meet to promote new initiatives and, through different workshops and conferences, analyse the latest technological applications and functions in the health, care and domestic fields.
With this initiative, “we wish to establish the show as a benchmark platform for technological innovations and a forum to debate the challenges, opportunities and difficulties of a market with great growth potential”, stated the show’s director, Josep Antoni Llopart. According to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), Spain will be the European country with the highest rate of population ageing in 2050 –around 36% will be over 65 years old-, which will generate social, care and health needs.
Usable home for all the family
Another main attraction of this year’s show will be Hogar Avante, which will be a home usable by the whole family. It will incorporate equipment and services adapted not only for needs of mobility, but also for leisure and well-being of people with physical, sensorial and cognitive disability, especially children.
Examples are environment control systems using the eyes; telecare services; adapted toys; computers integrated into wheelchairs, and a bed that prevents postural changes, among others. This project, coordinated by BJ Adaptaciones and with the collaboration of GAES, RehaGirona, Toshiba, Vodafone and the ONCE Foundation, will allow visitors to see how the new products work in a real situation, what applications they have and what benefits they provide.
Around 1,000 experts from 23 countries
Avante will also host numerous workshops and congresses with the participation of health professionals, experts in new technologies and environmental intelligence, researchers, companies and representatives from European, national and autonomous administrations and associations. 1,000 delegates from 23 countries are expected to attend.
The side events programme includes the first European Workshop on technological innovation, organised by the Department of Health with the collaboration of the European Commission; the National SATECAV Conference on Technologies for Health and Quality of Life organised by the TIC Salut Foundation and AETIC; the Plataforma E-via round tables; and the sessions of the Unió Catalana d’Hospitals and Associació de Recursos Assistencials.
With the aim of prompting business and contacts, various meetings have been organised between Catalan and French companies, thanks to the collaboration of the French Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona.
The show will also provide the setting for the General Assembly of the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Association with the participation of EU representatives in order to define the subsidies for the development of new technologies to improve care services for the dependent and disabled.
Avante 2010 has the collaboration of the ONCE Foundation, Vodafone, the Departament d’Acció Social i Ciutadania de la Generalitat and the Diputació de Barcelona. It also has the support of important international bodies and associations.
Barcelona, 3rd May 2010
Images available here
Montse García Duque
93 233 35 46
mgarciad@firabcn.es