University of Deusto, Deustotech-LIFE unit: ICTs for Health and Well-being (R&D)

The Deustotech-LIFE (eVida) Research group from the Engineering Faculty at the University of Deusto, created in 2002, is committed to pursuing its innovative activities in the sphere of health (telehealth and SW tools for diagnosis and treatment) and ICTs at the service of society.

This research group is particularly involved the following areas: independent living for disabled people (blind, hearing impaired, intellectually disabled, autism, multiple sclerosis), or elderly people, eHealth in otorhinolaringology, dermatology, oncology, radiology or psychiatrics, TV and mobile technologies for AAL.

Deustotech-Life is a multidisciplinary research group formed by telecommunications, electronics and computer science engineers, physicists, mathematicians and psychologists who work in close collaboration with hospitals, associations, other research groups and ICT companies.

Deustotech-Life (eVIDA) group has extensive previous experience in national and international-scope projects, and the results of its activities have been published in more than 60 scientific articles in international journals and books and presented in more than 150 international scientific conferences. Moreover, Deustotech-Life research team has been awarded with the University of Deusto- Banco Santander Research Award in 2007, the ONCE Euskadi-Solidarios Research Award in 2007 and Best Paper Award in the CGAMES’09 International Conference. The main researcher and some of the research team members are members of the eVIDA research team in the University of Deusto, which is recognized by the Basque Government since 2010, and is part of different research networks such as the European Network of Livings Labs (ENoLL) under the name “Life Living Lab (L3Lab)” and the “Red de Espacios Sociales de Innovación (ESdI)” under the name “LS2TECH”.


SERIOUS GAMES DEVELOPMENT FOR HEALTH AND DISABILITIES

Since 2008, one of the main lines of research of Deustotech-LIFE is oriented towards Serious Games for Health, with several projects funded by the Basque Government and the Biscay provincial government, aimed at children with ADHD, dyslexia and autism, active ageing, and other groups as people with intellectual disability. One of the latest developments, “Kineage”, a Kinect based serious game, was recently selected as one of the finalists of the Social Innovation in Ageing – The European Award 2014.


AGEING AND WELLBEING

The long track of Deusto’s work in the field of Ageing has led to the establishment of an Interdisciplinary Research Platform on Ageing and Wellbeing (see http://www.ageing-wellbeing.deusto.es/). This Platform fosters the collaboration between the University and other important stakeholders, including local and regional authorities. This fruitful cross-sectoral cooperation has been evidenced by the European Commission’s recognition of the Basque Country as a Reference Site for innovation in active and healthy ageing. The University of Deusto is a partner of the Reference Site which has been awarded three stars for an equal number of good practices.
The Basque Reference Site consists of the following good practices:
a) The Basque strategy for chronic conditions (Kronikgune)
b) A pilot programme for person-centred care and case management (Etxean Ondo)
c) The development of age friendly environments (Biscay Provincial Government and University of Deusto)


TELEMEDICINE AND TELEMONITORING

Since 2010, telemedicine and telemonitoring applications have been an important part of Deustotech-LIFE research group, with several projects funded by the Basque Government and the Biscay provincial government related to Multiple Sclerosis / Medullary Disease Physical rehabilitation, Dyslexia children monitoring, Elderly People monitoring (vital constants), Oncology group therapies, etc.


BIOSIGNAL PROCESSING

The biosignal processing involves at least four stages: a) Measurement or observation: signal acquisition; b) Signal’s transformation and reduction; c) Computation of the signal parameters that are clinically significant and d) Interpretation and classification of signals. Deustotech-LIFE research group has extensive experience (more than 10 years) of development biosignal processing algorithms to support human decisions (medical professionals) in several fields such as EEG, fMRI, ECG, lung, skin, or speech diseases.

The University of Deusto and the Provincial Government of Biscay are actively involved in the good practice of development of age friendly environments. The aforementioned strategy draws from the experiences of the cities of Bilbao and San Sebastian as part of the World Health Organisation’s Age Friendly Cities Network, and promotes the development of age friendly environments; of cities and municipalities for all ages.

Currently, the University participates in three of the six Action Groups of the European Innovation Partnership for Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA). We collaborate with Biscay Provincial Government in Action Groups A2 (Personalised health management and falls prevention) and D4 (Age friendly environments), and with the Basque Government in Action Group B3 (Integrated care for chronic diseases).


PREVIOUS RELEVANT PROJECTS

- E-Perion: Intelligent integrated solution for Ambient Assisted Living. Funded by Lead-Era (Era-net) program 2010
The e-perion project aims to develop and market a comprehensive solution based on intelligent technology to assist in-home nursing care for the elderly, disabled, or otherwise fragile individuals. The project proposes an open solution allowing for the processing and integration of data obtained from various actimetric and medical sensors available on the market, in order to offer appropriate services within a comprehensive integrated telemetry system. http://www.multiagent.fr/Eperion

- Kineage: Active Ageing-Healthy Habits with Kinect for the elderly. Funded by Provincial Government of Biscay 2012
Finalist of the Social Innovation in Ageing – The European Award 2014. The solution comprises a serious game in 3D to help the elderly exercise while having fun. The difference of this solution with other products available on the market is that it can be used even in wheelchairs, and it can be adapted to the particular necessities of the user. This way, exercise, rehabilitation and the enjoyment of an accessible leisure is promoted, also reducing the digital divide. https://www.changemakers.com/innovationinageing/entries/kineage-adapted-kinect-game-exercise-and-fun?breadcrumb_type=finalists

- Smartxa-Basic: Technology-based solution for gait monitorization as a parameter to assess health in persons with mobility issues. Funded by Communauté de Travail des Pyrénées 2012.
The main objective of this project was to design and develop a software for mobile devices in order to monitor objectively different gait parameters. The system continuously assess the gait characteristics in quantitative terms (amount, autonomy, chosen route, walking speed, relationship between movement times and pauses, etc. covered up.)

- hSEAT: Healthy Sleep and Exercise Analysis Tool. Funded by Lead-Era call 2013.
The hSEAT project is designed to propose a unique and evolving solution, encompassing a full set of medical devices, which are either fixed or mobile, along with the analysis and interpretation of integrated medical data which will help the elderly’s sleep re-education.
http://www.leadera.net/archive/LEAD ERA success stories HSEAT.pdf