There are currently around 320,000 people living with dementia in the Netherlands. Alzheimer Nederland expects that number to increase rapidly in the coming years, reaching at least 500,000 people by 2040. A large proportion of these people are continuing to live independently at home for longer periods of time. Technological tools can increase the independence of people with dementia while also reducing pressure on healthcare professionals and informal caregivers.

But, TU/e professor Henk Herman Nap emphasizes, increasing the value of such tools requires them to align with the abilities, wishes, and experiences of people with dementia. Since September 2024, he has combined his role as a Digital Care expert at healthcare organization Vilans with a part-time professorship in the TU/e research group Human Technology Interaction and the Expertise Center Dementia & Technology (ECDT).

Since the beginning of this year, the TU/e Expertise Center Dementia & Technology (ECDT) has been recognized as the sixth official expertise center of Alzheimer Nederland. A unique recognition, emphasizes Sandra Suijkerbuijk, strategic coordinator at the ECDT.

“The other Alzheimer centers are connected to academic hospitals and focus on research, diagnosis, treatment, and support. We aim to improve the quality of life of people with dementia through technology.”

The designation provides structural funding for innovative research and strengthens collaboration with national and international dementia researchers. “We want to develop new technology together with our target group. The university faces different challenges than everyday practice, but this way we make sure we don’t lose sight of real-world needs.”

That is why ECDT researchers can be found every Wednesday at the Eindhoven community center De Meerpaal, where they have set up a social afternoon for people with dementia, Suijkerbuijk explains. “We play games and sing songs, but we also discuss new technology and experiment with it there. Co-design is central to warm technology.”

Finding your own way home

“Warm technology can make the lives of people with dementia more pleasant, easier, and more social. Thinking in terms of possibilities should be central to that approach.” From his work bag, he takes out a compass developed by TU/e spin-off Aumens in close collaboration with the ECDT.

“An elegant tool that perfectly symbolizes what we strive for as an expertise center. Giving someone the ability to always find their own way home, instead of equipping them with sensors and GPS trackers to monitor them constantly.”

According to Nap, developing this kind of non-stigmatizing technology requires a new, process-oriented approach to design. “An approach that does not start from limitations, but from what people are able to do and who they want to be. We focus on technology that has value in people’s daily lives, rather than technology that only works in theory.”

Value is created together

Over the coming years, Nap’s chair will focus on determining the added value of care technology in long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities. “That value is not embedded in the technology itself, but emerges through the interaction between people, technology, and context.”

But how do you assess the value of being independent? Or the ability to take care of yourself? Nap wants to investigate which factors play a role in the development, implementation, and adoption of technology for care and support. And he will not be doing that alone, Nap stresses.

“We need to tackle the issue of determining value in long-term care together. With universities, healthcare providers, knowledge organizations, and developers. Entirely in line with TU/e as a fourth-generation university, we are searching for concrete solutions with societal impact.”

According to Nap, this will ultimately also lead to a more sustainable design process. “Too many products are still being designed that appear promising on the surface, but for which there is ultimately no funding to actually bring them to market. By considering the wishes of different stakeholders in advance – from users and informal caregivers to health insurers – we can ensure that people gain access to suitable tools. So they can live lives they themselves experience as meaningful and valuable.”

On Thursday, May 21, the ECDT will organize the Warm Technology 2026 symposium. Speakers from healthcare and academia will discuss the valuation of warm technology for people with dementia. There will also be an inspiration market, and the winner of the Warm Technology student challenge will be announced. TU/e professor Henk Herman Nap will close the symposium with his inaugural lecture, “Valuing Care Technology.”

More information about the program and free registration can be found on the ECDT website.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.