Market assessment for assistive devices for people with dementia

痴呆症患者经常表现出可能对护理提供者和其他居民构成危险的问题行为。这些问题行为往往导致服用抗精神病药物，从而降低生活质量，并可能损害接受者的健康。在AgeWell国家卓越中心资助的一个项目中，我们开发了一种创新的非药物干预措施，用于缓解问题行为。我们正在构建一种新的平台解决方案(我们称之为Centivizer系统)，涉及自主技术，呈现游戏和活动，人们可以因参与而获得奖励。就像目前市场上的(基于蒙特梭利的)环境活动方法一样，我们的解决方案可以全天候提供，无需员工干预或协助。然而，我们的方法是新颖的，专注于既能提供认知刺激又能锻炼身体的娱乐性游戏和活动。由于我们的技术也是模块化框架，通过添加更具挑战性的模块，可以扩展到认知障碍较少的老年人。我们在15个月的时间里对Centivizer原型进行了广泛的测试，测试对象包括许多痴呆症患者以及包括工作人员、照顾者和管理人员在内的各种利益相关者。需要像Centivizer这样的自主技术，因为员工太忙了，无法提供传统方法所需的一对一互动，而且即使可以雇佣新员工(这通常是不可行的)，他们也不会全天候处理居民在夜间在走廊上徘徊的频繁情况。*这是一份I2I市场评估拨款申请，以确定市场规模、可用的**分销渠道以及可以瞄准的最有前景的细分市场。*

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.********