Biel Digital Glasses has been awarded with the 2022 Prize for social integration through ICT, which annually convene the GrausTIC association and the iSocial Foundation, as part of the ICT Diada in Catalonia.

This year the Diada was held on November 10 in the auditorium of the Telefonica Tower in Barcelona, and was dedicated to “Metaverse and new realities”. Toni Codina, director of the iSocial Foundation, has delivered the award to Jaume Puig, promoter and CEO of the Catalan start-up Biel Digital Glasses.

Biel Digital Glasses are glasses that use a combination of new technologies such as 3D vision, artificial intelligence and augmented reality to adapt reality to the visual capacity of people with low vision. In addition to improving images, they identify obstacles and warn of possible dangers, such as steps and traffic lights. In this way, these glasses allow these people to reduce their social isolation and improve their mobility and personal autonomy.

The project arose in 2017 to respond to the needs of Biel, a child from Barcelona who suffers from low vision. Seeing that there was no conventional treatment for this disability, his parents (an engineer and a medical doctor) decided to be the ones to develop a solution, both for Biel and for all those other people who suffer from low vision. With this goal in mind, they created a company to design, develop and market this technological solution.

.

.

The Barcelona Aging coLLaboratory (BALL) aims to create innovative solutions, involving end-users, to improve the quality of life and health and social care of older people. The first project of the BALL, presented today in the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park, is a humanized robot that will help patients who cannot feed themselves, offering them a solution adapted to their needs.

Barcelona, September 26th, 2022.- Aging with the highest quality of life and the best health and social care. This is the main objective of the Barcelona Aging coLLaboratory (BALL), the first Living Lab focused on providing innovative solutions for the elderly that are launched in Catalonia and that has been driven by a wide representation of the estates of civil society.

Today there has been a presentation to the media, in the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park, of the physical headquarters of the DANCE and of its first project: a humanized robot that will help those who cannot feed themselves. This robot is co-creating with end-users, who are instrumental in knowing what they need and thus being able to offer them a solution that fits their characteristics.

In addition to providing patients with a custom tool and greater autonomy, the robot will allow to automate one of the most complex tasks of hospital and residential care logistics, thereby reducing the overload of healthcare personnel, optimising the time and quality of service.

The DANCE, a platform of innovation around aging

The ageing of the Catalan population continues to grow at an accelerated rate and it is estimated that by 2050 one in three people will be over 65. Likewise, according to data from the Institute of Statistics of Catalonia, if the current care model does not change, the dependency rate of the elderly will also increase, from 28.9 % in 2021 to 44.3 % in 2040.

The Living Lab has been driven by ten renowned entities that represent the main areas of Catalan society: Health (Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili and Vall d’Hebron Research Institute), robotics (Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics), university (Blanquerna – Universitat Ramon Llull and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), social (Fundación iSocial), private company (Group Efebé, Qida and UniversalDoctor) and associations of the elderly (Fatec – Federation of Associations of the Great People of Catalonia).

This project operates under the innovation model known as the quadruple helix, where different entities and members of a community (city, business, knowledge centers and administration) join together to build together solutions that are capable of promoting the socio-economic growth of the territory.

“The DANCE is a space or methodology of co-creation involving older people, from the outset, in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of products and services intended to promote their autonomy, integrate them into the community and reduce dependencies and chronicities”, explained by Dr. Marco Inzitari, director of Integrated Atention and Research of the Sanitari Park Pere Virgili and professor of the UOC.

Dr. Inzitari, who is one of the project’s ideologists and promoters, states that “at a time when life expectancy is increasing more and more, but not quality, the ultimate goal of the Living Lab is to put people in the centre and to take control of their health and their life”.

A robot that improves the relational autonomy of patients during meals

The first robot prototype to be presented today has been adapted to software and hardware level to assist people with difficulties in feeding themselves. Designed by professionals from the Institute of Robotics and Industrial Computer Science and the Pere and Virgili Sanitari Park, it has involved all the institutions signed by the Living Lab collaboration agreement. In February, participatory sessions were held with professionals and patients from the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park, where they set out the needs to which they believed the robot should respond to make it more human. His contributions served to build this prototype.

Soon, patients in the Sanitari Park with different difficulties preventing them from eating autonomously will participate in the first pilot test of this humanized robot prototype that is done in a real environment, the hospital, which is where the robot will initially apply.

In this test phase, a group of professionals will conduct interviews with patients to check their degree of satisfaction, as well as closely observe nonverbal reactions during the test. Your responses will be very much taken into account in the final development of the project. Now, the robot is very simple, but in the future, among other functions, it will be able to recognize the patient’s facial gestures and even verbally interact with them.

According to its creators, the robot must contribute to improving the relational autonomy of patients during meals, providing greater choice (in rhythm, type and amount of food), a better image of oneself (increasing self-confidence during eating time), and a larger margin in the dialogic sphere (favoring forms of negotiation about how and what is eaten). Another advantage that the use of the robot will have is that care professionals will be able to obtain much more data concerning the patient’s current nutritional state, which will allow health care to be more personalised, adapting it to each person’s needs and characteristics.

It should also be borne in mind that the administration of meals generates a high-pressure environment because of the burden of dependency on older people, and even more so at such a sensitive time as a result of the increase in the number of people in hospital with a higher degree of dependency and the shortage of professionals in the centres. Our goal with the robot is to be able to dispense more careful and personalized treatment to patients, and reduce the stress of health personnel,” said director of Integrated care and Research at the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the project’s goal is for the robot to be a support rather than a substitute for care personnel, so the robot will never be left alone with the patient.

Josep Carné, president of the Federation of Associations of the Great People of Catalonia, a non-profit entity, made up of volunteers and grouping the associations of the elderly of our country, explains that “although the idea of a robot that feeds the elderly initially pushed us back, we cannot turn our backs on technological advances and more, if they are intended to be a help”. Also, Carné considers that the fact that users play a key role in defining the characteristics that the robot must have is very positive.

The physical seat of the DANCE: a House of Thought

Living Lab is located in the same area of the Pere Virgili Sanitari Park and is where several participatory dynamics will be performed. Thus, from brainstorming meetings with all ageing-related actors (patient, professionals, research institutions, public administration, private companies, etc.) challenges will be identified in this area. Sessions will also be held to find innovative solutions to these participatory challenges and dynamics in order to develop them with the end

.

In the week from 4 to 8 October, professionals from 5 iSocial member entities took part in a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, with other European bodies specialising in the care of youth mental health, within the framework of the StepForME project, an Erasmus+ project that began ten months ago and is led by the iSocial Foundation.

StepForME aims to exchange best practices in the use of new technologies in the field of mental health for young people. It aims to learn ways to bring about a more community-based approach to the care of young people with mental and emotional health problems, to find out the role new technologies can play, and to provide training and methodological tools to the professionals that attend them.

For five days the participants of the Joia Foundation, Atra Group, Support Girona, Maresme Foundation and Ampans Foundation were able to share good practices and knowledge with other professionals from ChanceB (Austria), Tenenet (Slovakia), and Aunua (Ireland). In addition to meeting some other Irish entities working in the field of mental health of young people. The meeting was also attended by a researcher from the UAB’s CERSIN- Center for Studies and Research for an inclusive society, who is also part of the project consortium supporting the creation of formative content and managing project research.

Beyond the formal meeting times, the participating professionals were able to enjoy activities related to the mental health and disability world in Ireland, such as attendance at the “No Magic Pill” play, a plea for the right to independent life by actors and actresses with a physical disability; or the presentation of the Jigsaw organization, a pioneer in mental health in Ireland; as well as cultural activities and visits.

.

.

A total of 25 Social Services professionals from the Vegueria of Girona have been following a new edition of the training course “From Person-Centred Care to Self-directed Support” of the iSocial Foundation since 23rd September. The participants are social workers and social educators from the professional teams of the county councils of Alt Empordà, Garrotxa, Gironès and Baix Empordà.

The course consists of 8 workshops taught virtually, and is part of the training catalogue of the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM). During this year 2022, 212 professionals from 27 Basic Areas of the vegueries of Central Catalonia, Terres de l’Ebre, Alt Pirineu-Aran, Ponent and Penedès have already taken the course.

In addition, this September, 27 professionals from the Àuria Group, an important group of social economy entities from Igualada that support people with intellectual disabilities, special difficulties, risk of exclusion or vulnerability, have also taken the course. They design specialised training programmes, itineraries for incorporation into the labour market, day care services, therapeutic occupation, residential care, home care services, leisure services and volunteering.

The course “From Person-Centred Care to Self-Directed Support” aims to raise awareness of the European model of Self-directed Support, which seeks to guarantee and preserve an approach of supporting and accompanying people who turn to basic Social Services in their decision making, so that they have the possibility at all times to make effective choice and control over how the action or support plan is organised to achieve the results agreed with the professionals, based on their wishes and their rights.

In recent years, the approach of person-centred professional interventions, known as PCA, has been consolidated in Social Services. But today we know that it is not so much a question of putting the person at the centre and having professionals make decisions with their interests and wishes in mind, but rather of offering them the support they need to be able to make their own decisions. And this is what the European model of Self-directed Support seeks to guarantee.

.

This September, the Alba Group approved its membership of the iSocial Foundation as a partner-collaborating organisation. With this new incorporation, there are now fourteen third-sector organisations that are members of iSocial, and it is the first time that a social organisation from the Lleida region has joined.

The Alba Group is currently made up of six entities: the Alba Association, the Qualia Leisure Cooperative, the Alba Jussà Cooperative, the Alba Futur Foundation, the Alba Sports Club and the company Alba Inserció. Its origins date back to 1975 in the city of Tàrrega, where it still has its headquarters today. The group’s social services currently benefit 3,891 people, mainly in the regions of Urgell, La Segarra and Pallars Jussà. It has 585 professionals, 79 of whom are people with disabilities, 495 members and 341 volunteers. The group’s services are very diversified, with programmes and activities in the areas of education, day care, mental health, employment, training, guidance, educational leisure and housing.

.

We are now facing a new stage marked by the start of new projects, growth in all indicators, increased projection and visibility, and economic consolidation.

On July 12, 2022, the iSocial Foundation has completed four years. Four years since the foundation was born in a notary’s office on Avinguda Diagonal in the city of Barcelona, ​​at the initiative of six social NGO. They say that start-ups are 4YFN, four years from now: after four years it is known if they have a future and move on to a next stage of growth and consolidation, or disappear forever.

The iSocial Foundation can already affirm that we are part of the 15% of the start-ups that survive. Having overcome the “valley of death” of the first years, which in our case has been made even more complicated by the outbreak of the Covid19 crisis, we are now facing a new stage marked by the start of new projects, growth in all indicators, increased projection and visibility, and economic consolidation.

Numerous indicators support it. In this time we have doubled the number of member NGO, which has gone from six to thirteen: Ampans Foundation ; ABD Group; Support-Girona Foundation; Joia Foundation; ATRA Group; Família i Benestar Social Foundation; Resilis-Plataforma Educativa Group; Síndrome de Down Catalan Foundation; Sant Pere Claver Group; Idea Foundation; Maresme Foundation; Alzheimer Catalan Platform; and Agintzari Cooperative Group.

The territorial origin of the member NGO, initially all from Catalonia, has begun to expand with the incorporation of NGO from the Basque Country. And at the same time we have gained international presence, with our entry into the European Social Network; two of our projects, Flapp! and Insess-Covid19, nominated for the European Social Services Awards; more and more joint projects with partners from other countries; and a growing visibility in congresses and international working groups.

In this period the number of our social media followers has grown steadily, with 1,418 subscribers to our newsletter and 1,593 social media followers at the present time. Participation in the activities has also not stopped growing: during this 1st semester of 2022 we have had 196 participants in the Innobreaks, and 393 social services professionals have participated in our training programs.

In terms of projects, we have reached this 4th anniversary with 10 active projects: three for research, one for knowledge exchange, four for promoting innovation and two for accompanying innovation, in partnership with seven universities, six administrations, four companies and sixteen social entities. Among these active projects we highlight Flapp!, an application for young ex-guardians; Nidus, a digital platform at the service of homeless people; Welcome, a voice assistant for immigrants and refugees; or All by myself, an aggregator of ICT solutions for the independent life of people with intellectual disabilities.

Finally, a positive economic evolution has accompanied this first stage of the foundation as a start-up. On the one hand, the volume of income has grown steadily, with €95,764 in 2020, €186,292 in 2021 and a forecast of €411,978 for this year 2022. And on the other hand, the assets of the foundation have been strengthening year after year, having gone from a negative net worth of €77,714 in 2019, to a positive net worth that is expected to be €80,277 at the end of 2022.

After these first four years, we are now facing a new stage with new activities and projects in preparation, and with new challenges that we are passionate about: launching a Living Lab in social services; publish our 1st report on innovation trends in the social services sector; expand our training offer; or move to a new office in the city of Barcelona.

All this with the ultimate goal of making the mission that led a group of social NGO to create iSocial four years ago a reality: to contribute to transforming, improving and modernizing the social services sector by promoting innovation in the sector.

.