Smart furniture and accessories for the elderly

New projections on European population have recently shown how quickly the num¬ber of elderly is growing. Promoting active aging and personal autonomy of citizens as long as possible, through education to a healthy and dynamic lifestyle, through prevention, and through the design of safe and friendly urban and domestic environments, requires investment on innovative projects at different scales. Cities, houses, furniture, appliances, and personal products must become safe, easy to reach and to use, smart, inclusive and accessible for all. The development of solutions that enable elders to live safely, comfortably and healthy at home requires the cooperation between many disciplines for developing solutions that integrate ICT, ergonomics, design and health care. Embodying ICT solutions in everyday living environments and improving the design of buildings and furniture will allow elders to live at home for longer, despite the occurrence of cognitive or physical impediments. To create healthier and safer environments for the elderly and to meet future demands on aging populations, scientists, professionals and industries in the design and architecture, ICT, health care, materials scientists, and others who contribute to creating healthy environments, must work together in an organized and open system to share ideas and to improve the results. At the same time it is necessary to promote awareness among potential users (elderly, their relatives and caregivers), involving them into the process of designing new solutions (co-design), which will fit to their needs and expectations. The feedback loop that will be generated through a participatory design approach will encourage the correct development of the conceived solutions.