ELEMENT 2014 - 1st International Workshop on Enhanced Living EnvironMENTs

The first edition of the First International Workshop on Enhanced Living EnvironMENTs, ELEMENT-2014, is dedicated to the dissemination and evaluation of original contributions to the architectures, techniques, protocols, components, orchestration, choreography and development related to the ELE area. Investigations, discussions and exchange of experiences from different stakeholders’ perspective on AAL technologies are welcome. The event is organized in the framework of the ICT COST Action IC1303 Algorithms, Architectures and Platforms for Enhanced Living Environments (AAPELE).
Scope
The increase in medical expenses due to societal issues like demographic ageing, puts strong pressure on the sustainability of health and social care systems, on labour participation, and on quality of life for older people or for persons with disabilities. Enhanced Living Environments (ELE) encompass all ICT technological achievements supporting true Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) environments. ELE promotes the provision of infrastructures and services for the independent or more autonomous living, via the seamless integration of info-communication technologies within homes and residences, thus increasing their quality of life and autonomy maintaining one’s home the preferable living environment for as long as possible, therefore not causing disruption in the web of social and family interactions.
Different ELE technologies are today being developed, aiming to construct safe environments around assisted peoples and help them maintain independent living. Most efforts towards the realisation of ambient assisted living systems are based on developing pervasive devices and use Ambient Intelligence to integrate these devices together to construct a safety environment. The missing interaction of multiple stakeholders needing to collaborate for ELE environments supporting a multitude of AAL services, as well as barriers to innovation in the markets concerned, the governments, and health and care sector, these innovations do not yet take place at a relevant scale.
Many fundamental issues in ELE remain open. Most of the current efforts still do not fully express the power of human being, and the importance of social connections and societal activities is less noticed. And effective ELE solutions requires appropriate ICT algorithms, architectures and platforms, having in view the advance of science in this area and the development of new and innovative connected solutions (particularly in the area of pervasive and mobile systems). The ELEMENT workshop aim to provide a platform for the dissemination of recent research efforts that explicitly aim at addressing these challenges, and supports the presentation of advanced solutions in the context of Enhanced Living Environments.