One of the greatest challenges today is the assurance of our well-being in this world influenced by new technologies and science. How can we increase our well-being on the long run rationally using the latest technologies and scientific knowledge without becoming their slaves?
It is also interesting to ask how we can develop the technologies, products, services and methodologies in a way that their primary goal is not a technical bravoure or an unlimited money making opportunity. We have to find a way to use these new technologies to help us assure and increase our well-being. Even though increasing our well-being is important for all of us, as far as we know, there are relatively few research & development (R&D) and innovation activities that focus on this priority.
This discovery led TREBAG Intellectual Property & Project Management and Net-MEX Innovation and Education Ltd. to establish the Nagykovácsi Innovation Lodge and operate the Well-being Living Lab in it.” The Living Lab closely cooperates with local stakeholders including the local sport clubs, the Municipality and the Rákospalota Elderly Club. We have an extended network in Europe, too.
The Living Lab is active in initiating and encouraging programmes which contribute to the wellbeing of people with special focus on older adults as well as promoting ways for innovation and innovative solutions in the business sector. It is engaged in developing solutions and training materials involving the end-users and relevant stakeholders, and exchanging practices in the topic with partners throughout Europe.
Unique/special characteristics of Nagykovácsi Wellbeing Living Lab:
→Previous Projects:
The Innovation Lodge, being a physical entity, provides great infrastructure such as a state of the art info-communication system, several well equipped meeting rooms and a kitchen, in addition to car parking facilities and a nice garden.
Areas of work: Health & Wellbeing, Social Innovation, Rural, Culture and Creativity.
ENoLL
Pedagogues, psychologists, designers, engineers, innovation managers, youth workers, project managers, financial managers.
Nagykovácsi Wellbeing Living Lab stakeholders population includes healthy adults, 55+ with no severe healthy conditions, mostly retired women. For the JRAs, a group of 50 people will be involved at first and other activities will be carried out with about 20 people. In the settlement of Nagykovácsi Wellbeing Living Lab there are about 8000 people living, with the number of elderly people being around 400 (of course, not all of them are ready to get involved in research activities at any time).
Nagykovácsi Wellbeing Living Lab offers the following services:
→Networking and capacity building: Capacity building; Equipment and facility rental service; Expert opinion, and advisory services; Grant writing and funding application support service; Temporary research funding; Innovation network orchestration; Stakeholder (and partner) analysis and mapping.
→Project planning and management: Expert opinion, and advisory services; Temporary research funding. Planning to offer: Intake and matching; Living lab project planning and management.
→Market and competitor intelligence services: Expert opinion, and advisory services; Legal, regulation and safety standard support.
→Co-creation: Stakeholder (and partner) analysis and mapping. Planning to offer: Co-creation session; Expert opinion, and advisory services.
→Testing and validation: Expert opinion, and advisory services; Idea selection and testing. Planning to offer: Impact assessment and validation test; Small-scale real-life testing and experimentation; Usability testing.
→Advisory services: Expert opinion, and advisory services; Legal, regulation and safety standard support.
Visit our Living Lab Harmonisation Wiki Page for detailed descriptions of the Research & Development services that Living Labs offer.
The following technologies and devices are available for research purposes at Nagykovácsi Wellbeing Living Lab:
→Activity Tracking/Monitoring
→Assisting Technology: Engaged Users (Motivation tests)
→Biometrics: heart rate (Fitbit Flex)
→Cognitive function: Cognitive training (Online platform (Menta, Mindwellness))
→Physiological monitoring: Weight BMI (HealthForYOu scales)
→Other: blood- grease%, Muscle weight, bone weight, body water% (HealthForYOu scales)
Visit our Living Lab Harmonisation Wiki Page for more details regarding Living Lab technologies and devices.
Researchers from the following domains have been identified as the most suitable for Transnational Access to Nagykovácsi Wellbeing Living Lab (the list is non-exhaustive):
→Experts in communication studies: Defining written, oral, visual and digital communication within a certain workplace. Evaluating (multi professional) healthcare team collaboration, communication and debriefing in various healthcare situations in simulated environments (especially in Simulation lab)
→Social workers/researchers: Conducting an investigation in accordance with the scientific methods and tools, studying the impact of new care models and/or care innovations on society, developing models for a caring and inclusive society
→Experts in sport science: Experimenting novel training methods, and their effectiveness in various dimensions such as safety, engagement, and physical capabilities. Studying the impact of physical movements in various functions and wellbeing features
→Experts in performing arts: Creative health improvement (e.g., for cognitive decline) through music and dance (example: redesigning public spaces into healthy spaces: test and validate Smart methodologies, products and services through folk dance)
→Pedagogues/educators: Evaluating different pedagogical approaches and their impact learning performance (especially in Simulation lab)
→Innovation and design management researchers: Ecosystem and innovation management research, social network analysis. Evaluating how health and wellbeing ecosystem operates between different actors at local, regional, national and international level, including also scaling and commercialization