COMFORTage advances towards real-world deployment and sustainable exploitation of its solutions for frailty and dementia prevention

The TIC Salut i Social Foundation participated in the COMFORTage General Assembly, which brought together project partners in Rome, Italy, for two days of intensive collaboration, strategic alignment, and knowledge exchange. Hosted at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, the meeting marked an important milestone in advancing the project from technical development towards real-world implementation.

Partners reviewed progress across work packages, aligned on next steps, and reinforced their shared commitment to delivering impactful and sustainable digital solutions for healthy ageing across Europe. The project is increasingly translating technical developments into practical applications within pilot environments, while maintaining a clear focus on user-centred innovation.

Over the past months, the artificial intelligence team at theTIC Salut i Social Foundation has contributed to the development of models capable of integrating and preparing clinical data for subsequent analysis stages. These models are designed to process different types of data, including medical imaging and biomedical signals, and FTSS is specifically focused on the analysis of physical activity data. The objective is to support the extraction of insights that can assist clinical decision making.

In parallel, the Foundation has provided technical support to the Barcelona pilot, led by Fundació ACE, a specialised Alzheimer centre. The team collaborated in preparing the pilot database through the REDCap tool to facilitate its integration into the project platform, acting as a bridge between the technical and clinical teams. In addition, work has been carried out on explainable artificial intelligence approaches to enhance the transparency of the algorithms developed within the project and improve the understanding of their recommendations by end users, including healthcare professionals, caregivers, and patients.

2nd Ageing Deal Conference

Following the General Assembly, the Ageing Deal Conference brought together European projects, experts, and policymakers to address one of the most pressing societal challenges: how to support healthier, more inclusive, and sustainable ageing across Europe. The event gathered initiatives such as COMFORTage, STAGE, and SmILE, creating a space for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and alignment across EU-funded projects working on innovation in ageing, health, and care systems.

The conference discussions highlighted the urgent need to rethink how societies address ageing, moving from reactive care models towards prevention-focused and person-centred approaches. Speakers stressed that ageing should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a burden, requiring stronger prevention strategies and a transformation of health and long-term care systems.

Participants also emphasised the importance of designing care systems around population needs and community support to create more responsive and sustainable models for ageing societies. International frameworks and initiatives promoting age-friendly and dementia-friendly environments were presented as key drivers for ensuring that older people remain active participants in society.

Another major topic was the growing gap between lifespan and health span, which was identified as a central challenge for public policy. Discussions underlined the need to reinforce prevention and primary care, while recognising that the challenge lies not only in responding to increasing demand, but also in transforming healthcare systems to better support healthy ageing.

Overall, the Ageing Deal Conference reinforced a shared commitment across Europe to promote prevention, develop inclusive environments, and transform health and care systems to better respond to the needs of ageing populations.