How much do you know about LQT?
Life Quality Technologies (LQT) are exceptionally significant solutions that can be applied in the worldwide phenomenon of ageing societies and the problem of how to maintain a certain standard of living while simultaneously reducing the engagement of third parties in providing support and care.
Technologies enhancing quality of life (Life Quality Technologies, referred to as LQT) are defined as a set of technological solutions which stem from various industry and scientific areas, which – applied in a proper context – improve the user’s quality of life. In other words, Life Quality Technology is simply an area concerning activity on research, development, innovation and commercialization of scientific and technological advances in order to provide help mainly for elderly, physically disabled, and sick degeneratives. The creators of technologies enhancing quality of life combine in their work knowledge coming from fields such as robotics, ICT, GIS, electronics, medicine and even psychology or sociology.
Why do we need LQT?
The main aims of LQT is providing specific solutions to people that are in their ageing process, including maintaining, developing and improving personal self-management. This is achieved by allowing the recipient to take up actions they could not execute independently before (i.e. robot-shoulder which enables to grasp objects) or by facilitating the completion of difficult activities (i.e. preparing food by diabetics using Mediseb Diabetic’s Mug, produced locally).
Other LQT activities include for example supporting mobility and sensing capacities by the use of health informatics platform, use of robotics, broadband communication, global access to personal health records, mentoring in new design of residences and leisure parks, supporting development of physical, sensorial and cognitive skills maintenance and so other similar services.
More detailed examples of the solutions created by LQT technology area are:
- robots doing house works,
- applications that help to stay in touch with your surroundings and maintain relations with other people,
- smart homes that react to the movements and behaviours of residents and hence make their everyday lives easier,
- microchips integrated with parts of clothing or everyday items (watches, glasses, wallets, jewelry) which monitor vital life parameters as well as the person’s current localisation,
- interfaces and peripheral devices that enable data entry by using gestures or the voice, lips and iris movement,
- hospital robots – doing simple and repetitious activities related to nursing care; aimed at reducing the hospital staff’s stress levels and improving their results (without replacing them),
- and many other solutions, to do with machines and devices, applications or software.
The LQT technology market is now in the phase of initial development, therefore, commencing intensive research and development work at this stage will make it possible to provide finished products when the market absorption is at its highest level.
Having regard, the problem of ageing societies in many regions of the world (especially in Europe) and constant growth of the role of technology, focusing on these kind of technology should be a top priority for the business, social care and administrative organizations. That would be a great solution to lower the costs of the elderly care, mainly through reducing the amount of time needed to provide care by external people and by reducing the number of medical and nursing appointments.
What is more, using LQT
- can increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation or therapy
- contribute to preventing or reducing progressing diseases, characteristic for elder people
- slows down the processes of dementia and helps fight Alzheimer’s disease.
- fights against digital exclusion of elderly people
- highly increases the level of their independence.
We consider this idea as incredibly required to apply more widely. We also hope that with help of the science environment, in a few years, the LQT solutions would be widely in use. We would like to support this social change in reality. Stay tuned, because soon we will tell you much more.
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