Stimulating intellectual activity with adaptive environment (SMILE)

© 2017 Association for Computing Machinery. As of 2016, 47.5 million people have dementia worldwide according to the World Health Organization, and it is expected that this number will nearly double every 20 years, reaching 100 million sooner than 2030. The goal of the SMILE concept is to help the elderly to live independently and to prevent/delay dementia. It should improve the quality of life of elderly by introducing healthy habits and a lifelong involvement in mentally and socially stimulating activities. It should reduce social isolation, i.e. high degree of loneliness, dissatisfaction with social contacts, and decreased social network. The focus is on prevention of gradual decline in memory function and planning ability, as well. Applying social network concepts provides easier social interaction for older people. Using stimulating and interactive environment enhances and maintains brain plasticity through social interaction. So far there are no published articles or projects that are targeted at the same goal to develop a self-care social interactive TV system as a Service, which is the aim of the SMILE concept. There are a lot of projects and papers about the relevant technologies, however not the integrated approach, which is the key innovation in this concept.