The collaborative cluster Αgeing@home, coordinated by CERTH/ITI, with the participation of the Digital Community of Central Greece Municipalities of the 5th Health District of Thessaly and Central Greece  (through Cities Net and e-trikala), the Municipality of Pylaia-Chortiati, the Hellenic Society for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders and the Hellenic Network of Carers “EPIONI”, received by the European Commission the distinction of “Reference Site 3*” within the framework of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA), based on European digital health and care programs in Northern and Central Greece in the previous years.

The EU brings together public and private actors across Europe to develop innovative services to meet the needs of the aging population, in the framework of the European Innovation Partnership for Active and Healthy Aging. Several agencies in Greece are already active in this field: http://www.eiponaha.gr/.

The most important initiatives towards this purpose are selected every 3-4 years by the EU in order to be included, upon their request, among the EIP on AHA as “Reference Sites” and get rated from 1* to 4*.

Especially in Central Greece, the 5th Health District of Thessaly and Central Greece (5th REC), e-trikala SA of the Trikala Municipality and the Cities Net SA of the Central Greece Municipalities (Inter-Municipal Developmental Authority of the Municipalities of Veria, Volos, Grevena, Ioannina, Karditsa, Katerini, Kozani, Lamia, Larissa (chaired by the Municipality of Trikala), are implementing a series of digital health and care services for hundreds of patients over the last 10 years, in collaboration also with the University of Thessaly.

These services were initially developed under the authorization and funding of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Administrative Reform and e-Government and the Region of Thessaly. In addition, these services have been evaluated with clinical, financial and organizational indicators and thus can provide useful information in both central and regional levels, in the context of e-health services expansion in our country: https://www.moh.gov.gr/articles/ehealth/6090-programmata-ehealth-kai-apotelesmata

The Information Technologies Institute (ITI), is part of the Centre of Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), and is one of the leading Research Institutes in Greece, engaged in conducting research particularly in the field of Informatics, Telematics and Telecommunications. ITI is one of the largest research centers in Greece and holds a prominent position among research centers at European level also. More specifically, in the field of health, CERTH/ITI is actively involved in a variety of research projects (Horizon2020, NSRF etc.); the most representative ones are Activage (https://www.activageproject.eu/), and Ageing @ Work (https://ageingatwork-project.eu/), which provide innovative solutions in the fields of electronics and tele-medicine, with direct provision to assisted living for vulnerable social groups (i.e. elderly). CERTH/ITI supports, through its activities, hundreds of homes across Greece to be equipped with digital technologies and cutting-edge services in order to improve citizens’ daily living, while in particular in the Region of Central Macedonia, where CERTH/ITI is located, systematic actions and programs are implemented.

In addition, the cluster is supported by CERTH/ITI Digital Innovation Node “nZEB Smart House”, which provides the necessary infrastructure for the prior evaluation and verification of developed innovative solutions in real time, before their use to end users, while also supports the networking and promotion across a broad ecosystem of key players and companies.

The EIP on AHA Reference Sites award ceremony took place at 25/9/2019, in Aarhus, Denmark, as part of the AAL Forum/EIP on AHA CoP 2019 conference (https://www.aalforum.eu/cop2019/).