Focus On Welfare Technology - LINAK And "The Intelligent Bed"

Online, April 12, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Due to an ongoing change in the age composition of the Danish population, a smaller working population must care for an increasing group of elderly people. Therefore, it is important to focus on welfare technology to free resources for elderly care in order to improve the lives of both the elderly and their care providers.

By developing welfare technology, it is possible to support elderly people's desire to fend for themselves for as long as possible. This way welfare technology contributes to increasing the quality of life for the elderly. Additionally, it eases the workload of care providers by relieving the amount of physical hard work and routine tasks and improving their work life.

In 2010, supported by the municipality of Sønderborg, a group of cooperators with the focus on developing the welfare technology was established. The Welfare Tech Region consists of both private and public partners from Southern Denmark who are engaged in furthering business areas and products within welfare technology.

LINAK is also part of this initiative that reflects a dedication to improve people's quality of life - values upon which LINAK was founded.

"The intelligent bed" contributes to the development of technological welfare solutions and is already a very promising project for LINAK. The bed was developed in close cooperation between LINAK, bed manufacturer EC Høng, employees from the elderly care in the municipality of Sønderborg and Lecturer Birthe Dinesen from the University of Aalborg.

The cooperation between these participants ensures a greater understanding of how it is possible to improve the quality of life for end-users of "the intelligent bed".

Employees in the elderly care sector share with LINAK their knowledge and ideas on both the needs and wants of elderly people and care providers. Based on the knowledge LINAK offers features such as an out-of-bed sensor, two-way communication and a wet detection sensor. These features will increase the safety and service level for the elderly while saving time and resources for care providers.

Through the contact at Aalborg University LINAK is also able to use the newest research results. This ensures updated and long-lasting solutions that can meet the demands and needs of the future.

The "intelligent bed" is an example of what is possible when public and private participants with technological insight and knowledge work together - a cooperation upon which the Welfare Tech Region was built.