SOCIALCARE - SOCIALCARE - A Social Care Network for Citizen Empowerment and Care Support in Local Communities

In the current economic climate with cutbacks in care and social wellbeing, we are witness of a social innovation process where citizens and older people are taking control of their own community and neighborhood and support each other to provide for wellbeing and care services. When older people are becoming frailer and are in need of care, they can receive extensive support from these communities. At the same time, older people (65+) are often the most active contributors to their community, as they see the imminent need for a more sustainable care and wellbeing system.

This project aims to support and promote these social innovation processes of citizen empowerment by bringing innovative technological solutions (state-of-the-art mobile devices, body sensors, etc.) together and providing for a toolkit with best practices and blue prints for implementation. The project will test and pilot the social and technological solutions in two pilot countries, adapting them to country-specific situations and areas. The result will be a set of guidelines, best practices and technological tools for a sustainable social care network by empowered citizens in local communities that supports older people.

The SOCIALCARE platform will be based on open source software that is flexible and can be adjusted to the specific needs of the community. It will be a central digital meeting point, where all stakeholders in a local community can come together.