130755How Can Smart Home Data and Systems Improve Assisted Living ServicesClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKThis project carried out a review of the current situation in the Assisted Living and Smart Home markets and asked key questions about how these could be improved through embracing Internet of Things concepts in terms of data sharing and application development. A critical assessment of potential benefits to users, service providers and businesses was carried out. Our study indicates that users recognise the value of convergence between smart homes and assisted living technologies and that the industry around assisted living can see clear opportunities for improving their social care offerings. The technology for convergence between smart homes and assisted living is starting to emerge in the current market as smart homes offer promising solutions in the realm of assistive living; convergence is definitely an inevitable part of the future. There will be reluctance to adopt technology amongst a significant part of the potential user community and we will need to find ways to overcome this. Users recognise the value of their data but seem open to the principle of sharing data if a useful personal or social benefit can be demonstrated. This open minded attitude diminishes significantly as soon as we talk about releasing data to companies who may use it for commercial advantage with concerns relating more to the nuisance aspects such as spam and cold calls rather than any more deeply rooted issues, a closed approach to such opportunities may stand in the way of reducing costs to a level where the uptake of technology increases. Given the biggest issues are around data and security, we believe that any business model for taking advantage of the opportunities presented by an internet of things would need to be based on a cloud based trusted data brokerage. This would store data and information from a variety of sources centred on the user's consent which ultimately controls and has the ability to specify who has access to their personal data. The strength of this data brokerage will depend on trust but also on genuinely useful applications around which it could be launched and/or demonstrated. There is a real need of cooperation with applications and content providers for this business model to work.