BlockChange #4

These Dutch innovators put emotion in sync with technology, when it comes to elderly care

Tom Janssen
Jul 28, 2017 · 4 min read

By Tom Janssen.

The Dutch company Qwiek from Heerlen, has become a household name in elderly care innovation in The Netherlands. Five years ago, Qwiek started out with a small team, existing of three college friends, with a passion for industrial design with a focus on developing interactive products. Now, Qwiek has grown into a full force company, with over 14 employees and plans for taking on foreign markets. And that all because of a visit to an elderly care center, some years ago.

Director Paul Voncken got a call from the management of an elderly care center, who asked if he and his colleagues Chris Rameckers and Tom Frissen could do some research into the development of a ‘care robot’: A device or entity that could improve and innovate the care of elderly people. When visiting the center itself, Paul and colleagues discovered that patients were not stimulated enough to be active, neither physically nor mentally. Patients laid in bed and simply waited to receive the care that they needed.

And thus rose the challenge that Qwiek has taken on: Transform the traditional eldery care into a more emotion oriented kind of care. Therefore, they have designed three different products: Qwiek.play, Qwiek.melody and Qwiek.up. The latter is the most successful product in their catalogue. The Qwiek.up is a device that projects images and video on the ceiling, so that patients who are confined to their beds, are able to relive memories, by viewing family photos, or even enjoy the pleasures of music, by watching an Andre Rieu concert.

“The Qwiek.up stimulates the senses of a patient”, Paul explains. “It creates a dynamic environment for people that suffer from, for example, dementia. Instead of only giving them the care and attention that they need, just to keep them in good health; they now are also stimulated to be active as much as they can, within the boundaries of their illness.”

In The Netherlands, emotion oriented care is becoming a well-known term. Qwiek is even the protagonist of a movement, that has to give emotion oriented care a definite and even more prominent place in the world of elderly care. Therefore, Qwiek has launched a nationwide award contest for the most emotion oriented care center in The Netherlands, which saw its climax during a large award show, last May.

The next level in the challenge that Qwiek embarked upon, is to get ground abroad. Qwiek is now trying to build a name for themselves in Germany, where elderly care is still very traditional. “The German market is somewhat unfamiliar with our vision on elderly care”, says PR-manager Mandy Meys. “In Germany, there is a strong emphasis on the scientific and medical approach of elderly care. We would like to add emotion oriented care as another important aspect, because the positive examples in The Netherlands strengthen our beliefs in this vision. But first we have to build credibility and authority, so that emotion oriented care will get broader support in Germany.”

Meanwhile, Qwiek also works on product development and researches the latest developments in tech. For example Artificial Intelligence, always a sensitive topic, especially in such a human centered business as healthcare. “We would like to discover what AI could to for elderly care”, Paul says. “But we don’t want to replace humans in the process of care giving. Our current and future products always have the intention to support the people that work in elderly care and to help the people who need that care. It’s all about the interaction between technology and their users.”

Qwiek is based at the Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen, where startups, small digital service companies and some larger corporates are working together on stopics like blockchain, AI, data science and climate change. “An interesting environment for us to work in”, Paul feels. “It’s easy to get in touch with other companies and to get connected to a broader network.” Paul thinks it could be even more interesting, when the Campus and the region in general, will invest in attracting talent for companies like Qwiek.

“We need more nerds, so to speak”, Paul jokes. “I think there are a lot of creative, skillful young people out there, who’s vision on what we do and we want to establish, could make a real difference. The Campus could play role in organizing meet-ups, where it’s possible to discuss interesting topics, like for example AI or blockchain.”

BlockChange

Blog about innovation and entrepreneurship in the Euregion Meuse Rhine. With a special focus on new developments in smart services, like blockchain, data, life sciences and tech. Contact, news, leads: info@tomcommunicatie.nl

Tom Janssen

Written by

Schrijver || Journalist || Media Junkie || http://www.tom-janssen.nl || The Netherlands

BlockChange

Blog about innovation and entrepreneurship in the Euregion Meuse Rhine. With a special focus on new developments in smart services, like blockchain, data, life sciences and tech. Contact, news, leads: info@tomcommunicatie.nl

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