February 2016: The partners in the MyMate consortium met in Valencia at the home of project coordinator Brainstorm. Partners from Spain, Romania, The Netherlands and the UK came together in order to create the basis for the work to be done in Work Package 1. Specifically, the focus for the meeting was primarily on developing a coherent process for engagement with primary, secondary and tertiary users in order to inform the design and build of the MyMate technology.
Through our discussions, we identified that the principle beneficiaries of the MyMate technology should be elderly people living either in residential care or independently in their own homes; we will look to address individuals with a compromised wellbeing and with explicit or implicit needs; this will exclude seniors with moderate to severe dementia but may include Parkinson´s patients. Our main focus will be to support individuals who are in need of social interaction and we will explore the potential that the MyMate technology has to improve social and psychological wellbeing and capabilities. Part of this may relate to helping seniors suffering with mild depression, anxiety and apathy. The approach may involve activities that address executive functions, cognitive functions and physical activity as well as social interactions. User consultations will be launching in each participant country at the start of March with the results available towards the end of April.