More funding granted to independent-living aids project

The Coventry University Health Design & Technology Institute has announced that the amount of funding they have been given towards the creation of new products designed to help people live independently at home has increased. This extra funding has meant that the project has been extended, which could see further developments made to useful products such as curved stairlift solutions and washing aids for disabled people.

The Assistive Technologies and Community Healthcare Development Project which the university is running has already been very successful - so much so that the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has now awarded more funding to the project. This increase in funds will see the ERDF grant total £341,500, bringing the total value of the project to £683,000.

The project is aimed at individual entrepreneurs and inventors, as well as small and medium-sized businesses, with the funds and support given to qualifying companies and people to cover the cost of product development and testing. This funding from the Assistive Technologies and Community Healthcare Development Project provides assistance at the crucial stage of creating a prototype and testing its usability, which can improve a product and ensure that it is the best it can be before being made available to the public. 

This extra funding has meant that the Assistive Technologies and Community Healthcare Development Project can now be extended for a further 18 months, within which time a number of new independent-living aids and improvements to existing mobility aids have the potential to be developed. The project could significantly improve the lives of those who already use aids such as stairlifts and mobility chairs for the elderly in their homes or may need them in the future, as people could find new and better ways to retain their independence at home with the products that are produced as a result of the project.

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