The Netherlands is not the only country facing the challenges of extended independent living. Policy makers worldwide ask themselves how to deal with increases in the number of seniors, the need for care and availability of supportive technology. European parties are looking for ways to cooperate and share knowledge. Recently, the Kent County Council, responsible for care for the elderly in Kent, put in a request with Impuls to support them with setting up an innovation environment on this subject.
Kentish Living Room
The project proposal was sent to the INTERREG IVA 2 Seas programme and got the green light under the umbrella of Biz4Age. Kent will take the same approach as the Zeeland Living Room. The project will start soon in Folkestone. So, after a Zeeland living Room, there will now also be a Kentish Living Room. Anne Tidmarsh, Director Older People and Physical Disability of the Kent County Council has indicated that she does not just want to use the collaboration in order to develop a project in Kent; she also wants both regions to exchange knowledge, since this will help them both onwards. During the project, a cooperation model will be developed for this purpose.
Biz4Age
Business Opportunities for Healthy Ageing (Biz4Age) is a cluster project, financed by the EU INTERREG IVA 2 Seas programme. The project wishes to continue and further develop the lessons learned from two previous projects: CURA-B and 2 Seas Trade. These wee means for the Biz4Age partners try and support care institutions, authorities, housing corporations and SMEs in meeting the challenges of extended independent living. The cluster consists of partners from the United Kingdom, Flanders, France and the Netherlands and is managed by the Anglia-Ruskin University from Cambridge.
cooperation
Aside from the innovation environment in Kent, the Zeeland Living Room will also start a cooperation with university of applied sciences VIVES from Bruges. A researcher from this knowledge institute will do research on the living environment for the Zeeland Living Room.
