An initiative of the Foundation for Internet and Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Institut for Internet and Society (HIIG) in cooperation with the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF)

WHY WE ARE FOUNDING DUCAH

Just imagine …

… that our life, health and aging in a digital society could be more individual, contextual, data-driven, networked, precautionary, dignified and at the same time cheaper.
… that smart health systems that put people first and develop healthy neighbourhoods could enable this.
… that this could be developed using digital and social innovations – between research disciplines, between sectors, and between government, business and civil society.

But there are still many open questions:

Why are so many digital systems being developed without taking the realities of life into account? What can we learn from the many research projects on assisted living applications that could increase future acceptance? Why are people often asked to adapt to technical systems and not vice versa? Is empathic robotics possible and desirable? How can intelligent neighbourhood development influence individual health? Why have previous smart city concepts not been successful? How can we develop a European standard for data sovereignty and information processing and at the same time create an alternative to Chinese or US models?

Digitalization is becoming more and more important to the health and care sector – and it has experienced a major acceleration in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. We work to advance digital urban aging & health: to facilitate healthy citizens in resilient cities with digital support.

What we work on at DUCAH

Digitalization is increasingly reaching the health and care sector – and it has significantly accelerated in the wake of the pandemic. To support a healthy citizenry in resilient cities with digital means, the Digital Urban Center for Aging & Health (DUCAH) intends to be initiated by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society’s (HIIG) governing body, the Foundation for Internet and Society and the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF). It aims to establish an interdisciplinary and interindustrial cooperation platform to develop an innovative, unique interface that links digitalization, urbanization and health.

Contact

Annika Ulich
Contact
E-Mail

Thomas Schildhauer
Initiator
E-Mail

Stephan A. Jansen
Project coordinator
E-Mail

The DUCAH Whitepaper

The white paper sheds light on aging in the digital society, with a particular focus on independent living and aging at home. It provides insights into the promises and challenges of age-related technology, the current state of research into aging in place as well as the range of solutions available to different stakeholders. The white paper’s key finding is the need for a strategic multi-disciplinary approach to research and design of solutions for aging. It presents the DUCAH Learning / Living Lab, a research platform developed by the Digital Urban Center for Aging and Health (DUCAH), that explores and innovates systems that adapt to people and their lives, integrates research processes and innovation processes into real-life living and working settings, and involves the people who live and work there in participatory design and research.

1. The DUCAH Founding Forum (1/3)

The DUCAH intersectoral founding forum for innovations in the healthcare system (DUCAH forum) will facilitate a dialogue between research fields, between sectors (such as real estate, health, technology) and between actors from economy, civil society and the state. Participants will meet three to four times a year to have moderated discussions with input and ideas from DUCAH. This will stimulate research and prototype development in the district and promote close cooperation.

2. The DUCAH Learning District (2/3)

A learning district will be the centre of the project. In this real-life environment, researchers will develop prototypes and conduct comparative analyses in accompanying research projects – together with all interest groups. The aim is to develop and test digital health and care solutions together with local people. This will allow us to develop solutions for age-appropriate communication, care, housing, education and mobility systems on the basis of multifaceted platforms, with human-centred field studies providing well-supported perspectives.

3. DUCAH research (3/3)

Interdisciplinary research on the connections between digitalization, urbanization and health will initially be conducted under the auspices of four professorial chairs. They will be accompanied by a team of over a dozen established researchers in one of the largest research communities – across many Berlin universities.

How we are developing DUCAH

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General Sponsorship

Would you like to support our interdisciplinary research on the connections between digitalisation, urbanisation and health?

Financing

Organigram

Video about the project Presentation

HIIG research ECDF Research

DUCAH Whitepaper

The people behind DUCAH

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Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Schildhauer
Initiator of the Center for Digital Urban Center for Aging & Health | DUCAH
Board member of the Foundation for Internet and Society and research director of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
schildhauer@internet-society-foundation.com

Prof. Dr. Stephan A. Jansen
Project coordinator of the Digital Urban Center for Aging & Health | DUCAH
at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
Head of the Center Philanthropy & Civil Society (PhiCS), Karlsruhe
stephan.jansen@hiig.de

Prof. Wolfgang Hünnekens
Co-Initiator Center for Digital Urban Center for Aging & Health | DUCAH
Honorary professor for digital communication at the UdK Berlin
Managing director of the consulting company von Neuem

Prof. Dr. Dr. Felix Balzer
Co-Initiator Center for Digital Urban Center for Aging & Health | DUCAH
Professor of E-Health and Shared Decision Allocation, Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF) and
Charité – University Medicine Berlin

Contact

Annika Ulich
Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
Französische Straße 9 · 10117 Berlin
T +49 30 200 760 82 · F +49 30 206 089 6
annika.ulich@hiig.de