Vision
The way we as a society deal with dementia is changing. Someone with dementia is much more than her pathology 'dementia'. In technology development and implementation, you must also pay attention to factors that are important for the well-being of every person: dignity, the freedom to make your own choices, and feeling comfortable and safe.
We do this by, on the one hand, putting the wishes and input of people with dementia and their loved ones first when developing technology and services. Too often it happens to them, instead with thought of them. By doing this, we arrive at technology that is user-friendly and non-stigmatizing. We call this Warm Technology, and it builds on the emancipation slogan: 'Nothing about us, without us' a source of inspiration.
Within the Dementia & Technology Expertise Center (ECDT) we have conducted a national exploration to determine our course, read more about this in our “exploration ECDT 2021”, see below.
Theme lines
Based on the exploration, we have determined the following four directions for the ECDT to focus on in the coming years:
- Contribute to the development and visibility of Warm Technology
- Contributions to designs and research in practice
- Contribute to the business case for Warm Technology
- A widely distributed knowledge network
Alzheimer Netherlands & TU/e
In cooperation with Alzheimer Netherlands en TU Eindhoven we will be working within the ECDT in the coming years. Warm Technology has been put in place, a national network is being built, and we are working to develop products and services together with people with dementia and their loved ones. Through collaboration with companies and healthcare institutions, the joint networks are connected and more resources are released for research. Within the collaboration, the partners want to change thinking about the use of technology in the Netherlands.
Dementia
Dementia refers to a cluster of symptoms that affects memory, thought process, language, motor and social skills. Dementia is mainly caused by various neurodegenerative diseases of increasing severity. Would you like to learn more about dementia, or find more information about it? Then you can visit the website of Alzheimer Netherlands.
Further cooperation
The ECDT is a meeting place of designers, academics, entrepreneurs, informal caregivers, nurses, healthcare administrators and others who can and want to help Warm Technology further. Connected in an open community and meeting each other at different locations. Interested? Sign up for our newsletter or send us an email.