Centrica Innovations: a year of Active Ageing
Summary
The panel was made up of Centrica judges, as well as representatives from Bupa Customer Lab and Aviva Ventures.The judging panel chose three teams to win a share of the \xa3100k pot: MINUT, Sweden-based creators of a complete home alarm in a single device, took away \xa350,000 EchoCare, a company founded in Israel, was awarded \xa325,000 to help develop its non-wearable, self-learning personal emergency response system American start-up, Pillo Health, an intelligent care assistant for the home, received a \xa325,000 prize.Our relationship with these companies didnt end after the pitch day. Centrica Innovations invested $300k this month to help the start-up further develop its emergency response system, ECHO (elderly care home observer).Falls are a major concern and a common cause of injury amongst the over 60s, a demographic which is expected to double by 2050. Not only are falls a major cause of physical injuries, they can also trigger the start of an individuals decline, often resulting in increased care requirements or periods of time in a nursing home. This means it works silently in the background and can alert loved ones and carers when it detects a fall or a potential emergency.The investment will help EchoCare further develop its hardware. One such challenge is the growing role of individuals taking on caring responsibilities for their loved ones an area that were proud to be supporting through our new partnership with Carers UK, which aims to improve the lives of the 6.5 million carers in the UK.There are no easy answers but we believe that smart technology has a key role to play to support independent living, health and wellbeing in the home and alleviate the caring pressures often put on work and family life.