Yesterday, as reported by iTWire, the government touted the decision by ICT solutions company, Data#3, to open its new integration centre in the Melbourne suburb of Braeside, creating an additional 25 new jobs in Victoria.
And, today it announced new initiatives to exploit the opportunities offered by broadband and the NBN, trotting out projects designed to bring a range of e-services to special groups like the elderly or to communities in regional areas of the state.
As reported in our earlier story, the government today launched its tele-health project to deliver medical diagnosis to patients in regional areas of Victoria, and has also announced its ‘Ageing Well at Home with Broadband’ project to enable health and well-being for the elderly. Both programs have been initiated with funding provided by the government through its broadband-enabled innovation program.
The Minster for Technology, Gordon Rich-Phillips, says the Ageing Well at Home with Broadband project involves online delivery of an exercise program that will “promote health and well-being among elderly people, enabling them to stay in their homes longer and promote social inclusion.”
The Minister announced that the project is underpinned by a high-speed broadband capability provided by Australia’s Academic and Research Network, AARNet, that will connect the 20 homes involved in a trial to the Australian Broadband Applications Laboratory at IBES over the AARNet3 network and the NBN.
In two separate announcements, both AARNet and IBES outlined their involvement in the Ageing Well at Home with Broadband initiatives, and the benefits offered by new generation broadband services.
AARNet CEO, Chris Hancock said, the project demonstrates the value of high speed networks in delivering next generation broadband services to benefit the wider community. “This launch marks an important step forwards in realising the potential of broadband services and we look forwards to working with IBES to implement further initiatives.”
Hancock said the technology will be developed for the Microsoft Kinect platform and will be initially trialled with 20 elderly residents in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, which is Victoria’s first NBN release site.
Kate Cornick, Executive Director of IBES said “broadband-enabled technologies can support people to retain their independence and maintain their health as they age. This trial will develop active gaming technologies for use by older people in their own homes.”
The18 month trial of the program will assess the effectiveness of broadband-enabled interactive gaming technology to assist the elderly in maintaining independence in their home through improved social connectedness, and physical and mental wellbeing.
And, the CEO of NBN Co, Mike Quigley, weighed in, saying that “as the percentage of people aged 65 and over increases - ultimately predicted to be more than 25 percent of the population by 2047 - fall-related injuries are expected to place an increasing burden on Australia's health systems and aged care facilities, including those in Victoria.”
“Advances in technology, combined with the prospect of a national broadband network should encourage the implementation of new approaches to help reduce the incidence of falls among older people. To this end, a reliable, high speed broadband network makes it possible to deliver interactive therapy to older Australians in their homes using engaging video gaming technologies,” Quigley said.
As well as AARNet, IBES and NBN Co, other organisations collaborating on the project are Moreland City Council, the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), Infoxchange, Microsoft, the Council on the Ageing (COTA) and Merri Community Health Services.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Peter Dinham
Quelle/Source: iTWire, 03.11.2011
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