On the 5th of June, the follow-up meeting of the REVITAL project, Socio-economic revitalisation of low population density areas through clinical telecare, took place. The meeting of the 9 members of the consortium in charge of implementing the project was held at ESTIA – École Supérieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancées de Bidart (France) taking advantage of the event held the day before, which brought together various entities and companies related to Biomedicine, support and rehabilitation systems, and the higher education sector, with the aim of promoting collaboration and innovation in the field of health and rehabilitation.
The meeting served to continue with the activities that have been planned to meet the need to provide specialised health care and physical and neurological rehabilitation services (especially for dependent and elderly people), using technological tools to offer tele-assistance and tele-rehabilitation services, which will also help to create qualified employment and establish a new population that will boost the rural economy.
The multi-regional consortium, made up of 9 entities from the health and social-health sectors in Spain, France and Portugal, are:
- Clúster Soluciones Innovadoras para la Vida Independiente (SIVI)
- Gerencia de Servicios Sociales de Castilla y León
- Fundación San Cebrián
- GOGOA Mobility Robots
- École Supérieure des Technologies Industrielles Avancées (ESTIA)
- Universidad de DEUSTO
- Etablissement Public de Santé de GARAZI
- Associação Empresarial da Beira Baixa (AEBB)
- Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco (IPCB)
The first activities, which are part of the WG1 Planning and Implementation of pilot experiences, are already underway and aim to improve health care and long-term care for the elderly and/or chronically dependent people in areas with low population density, introducing technological tools that enable the provision of advanced health services of specialised telecare and tele-rehabilitation. In this way, we will demonstrate the technological and social viability of these services in 3 pilot cases with differential characteristics: Castilla y León (Spain), Central Portugal and Nouvelle-Aquitaine (France).
The consortium has agreed that, following this meeting, the necessary technical staff will be recruited and trained for the implementation of the service in the pilot cases. In the coming months, therefore, each executing entity will have professionals specialised in physiotherapy and tele-rehabilitation who will be trained in the technological tools selected in the project.
Both the objectives and the expected results of the REVITAL project are considered of great interest for the SUDOE regions, because the common challenge and need of these inland rural areas is to revitalise their economic and social fabric, promoting employment opportunities that solve social challenges from the perspective of innovation, combining social needs with development opportunities.