Market assessment for assistive devices for people with dementia

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People with dementia frequently exhibit problem behaviours that can be dangerous to care providers and other residents. These problem behaviours often lead to administration of antipsychotic drugs that reduce quality of life and may damage the health of the recipient. In a project funded by the AGEWELL National Centre of Excellence we have developed an innovative non-pharmacological intervention for alleviating problem behaviours. We are building a novel platform solution (that we call the Centivizer system) involving autonomous technologies that present games and activities where people are rewarded for their participation. Like the (Montessori-based) ambient activity approach currently in the market our solution can be available 24x7 without the need for staff intervention or assistance. However our approach is novel in focusing on entertaining games and activities that provide both cognitive stimulation and physical exercise. Since our technology is also a modular framework, it can be extended to elderly people who have less cognitive impairment by adding more challenging modules. We have tested Centivizer prototypes extensively over a 15-month period with a number of people who have dementia and with a variety of stakeholders including staff, caregivers, and administrators. Autonomous technologies like Centivizer are needed because staff are too busy to provide the one on one interaction that is needed for traditional approaches, and even if new staff could be hired (which is typically not feasible) they would not be available 24x7 to handle the frequent cases where residents are wandering the hallways in the night time hours.** **This is an application for an I2I Market Assessment grant to identify the size of the market, available**distribution channels, and the most promising market segments that can be targeted.********