Innovative technology-based healthcare and support services for older adults: How and why industrial initiatives convert to the living lab approach

Abstract

To support older adults with age-related or chronic diseases living in the community, suppliers are increasingly turning to Personal Health Systems (PHS) for remote care delivery. Despite the advantages of PHS, implementing these systems brings on several challenges on the technical level, but also related to the diversity of end-users, the characteristics of the ecosystem, the innovation process itself, regulatory and social aspects. To discuss these issues, we study two different PHS currently under implementation and deployment by two French companies: a telehealth service for frail older adults living at home and a GPS-based monitoring service to deal with wandering and disorientation of persons with dementia. We describe and compare problematic situations faced by these companies on three levels - demand, supply, and context- and explain why they decided to evolve towards a Living Lab approach to improve technology acceptance and social and economic return on investment.