In any given project we need researchers, designers, users, experts and makers. A person may accumulate two or more roles, for instance by researching, designing and implementing the solution. A user can also be a maker, and so forth.

We rely on people.

Our teams at Fraunhofer AICOS rely on several years of accumulated expertise in researching, designing, testing and implementing solutions for older adults. We have also a long track record of working with end-users all throughout the design process. Because of our continuous need to interact with users and because the centre runs a large number of projects, we created the user network COLABORAR.

COLABORAR is a network involving several types of institutions (such as day-care centres, senior universities or hospitals) and individual users (from health care professionals to caregivers and older adults) who freely engage with Fraunhofer AICOS’s project activities. This network is what allows us to adopt a holistic approach in each project, follow a rich process and reach outstanding results.

Beyond the primary users, we also work with leading specialists in different fields to help the team achieve the best possible results. Examples are neurologists, psychologists, cardiologists, dermatologists, physical therapists or speech therapists.

The team is composed of researchers with a design, social sciences and engineering background. Together, we combine skills in communication design, interaction design, industrial design, anthopology, software engineering, biomedical engineering and electrical engineering.