Social innovations promoting active and healthy ageing - ICT-based social support for carers of older people (INNOVAGE)

AIMS

The objectives of the INNOVAGE project directly address the current major barriers to innovation and to the achievement of the extension of healthy life years across the EU. INNOVAGE aims to achieve impact in the public, private and third sectors and is built on the closest possible partnership with end users and stakeholders, including older people themselves.The INNOVAGE project is dedicated to developing, testing as well as surveying and cataloguing social innovations that will have a solid impact on improving the quality of life and well-being of older people. Four new innovations will be developed and tested, with the current project focusing on a web-platform for informal carers of older people.

METHODS

Gathering of information on available benefits for informal carers in Austria (e.g. care leave schemes, cash benefits, part-time work).

Dissemination of information (and website validation) by a group of Austrian informal carers.

ACTIVITIES/MILESTONES

The European Centre is involved in INNOVAGE WP3 by developing the Austrian national page of a multi-lingual web platform addressing informal carers' needs, which will be implemented in all 27 EU member states with both common contents and national-specific ones. The platform includes not only contents related to caregiving activities and coping strategies, but also interactive tools allowing informal carers and other target groups (i.e. care professionals and employers of working carers) to communicate, share their experiences and support each other. The national pages will be presented to a group of informal carers in each country before being released in 2015.