UBITECH participates in the kick-off meeting, in Athens, Greece (October 31, 2018) of the ENDORSE Greek research project, officially started on September 6th, 2018. The project is co-funded by the action “Researching-Creating-Innovating” (under the instrument “Partnerships of Enterprises with Research Organizations”) of the operational programme for Research, Technological Development and Innovation of the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religion Matters (Grant Agreement No. T1EDK- 03695) and spans on the period September 2018 – August 2021. The ENDORSE project aims at the design, implementation and evaluation of a prototype integrated platform based on advanced and emerging gamification technologies and biofeedback mechanisms facilitating self-management of health in children and adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) and/or Obesity. ENDORSE will focus on the development of a pervasive environment able to deliver applications and services with the ultimate goal to raise awareness, to train, to monitor, to comply, to promote healthy lifestyle behavioral changes and to support decision-making by placing the target groups (children and adolescents with T1DM and/or obesity) at the center of their healthcare.
Heterogeneous data from multiple sources (dynamic and static) will be taken into account in order to monitor the childrens’ and adolescents’ health status and lifestyle: (i) sensors (recording glucose, physical activity, sleep quality, heartbeats and pressure), (ii) Electronic Medical Record (Somatometric, clinical, metabolic, treatment, demographic), and (iii) self-reported announcements (diet, physical activity, insulin injections, family history, socio-economic level). In order to attract the interest of the users of this age range (6 to 14 years old) the ENDORSE platform will incorporate a bouget of “serious games” which will transmit important messages in an experiential manner and provide motivations for effective lifestyle behavioural changes (diet, physical activity, sedentary habits).
In addition, an innovative multi-stakeholder ecosystem will be created empowering the improved interaction and facilitating co-decision between individuals (family, medical and nursing professionals, school tutors), supported by information exchange and utilization. Particular emphasis will be given on preventing/treating acute episodes (severe hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia with a risk of diabetic ketoacidosis episodes), providing personalized insulin and lifestyle recommendations, and promoting socializing in order to prevent/treat depressive symptomatology. Due to the high prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus and obesity, the ENDORSE platform is expected to benefit healthy children as well, particularly those at increased risk of developing DM and/or obesity (e.g. genetic predisposition), for prevention purposes by raising their awareness and promoting healthy lifestyle and wellbeing. In order to materialize this vision, the consortium will take advantage of advanced and emerging technologies for data harmonization and security, modeling of T1DM and obesity, business intelligence and decision making systems, gamification mechanisms and “serious games”, and mobile applications.
The project will conduct pilots and clinical trials in various environments (home, school, hospital) in order to evaluate the ENDORSE integrated platform in terms of performance, accuracy and user acceptance. The obtained outcomes are expected to have great socio-economic impact and increased exploitation opportunities. The consortium as a whole is complementary and includes a wide range of scientists and professionals (clinicians, physicians, engineers (software, biomedical technology), IT, developers, educators, business management, serious games develpoment) and has the capacity to successfully carry out the required interdisciplinary activities.
Within ENDORSE, UBITECH undertakes the overall integration and security enhancement of the ENDORSE platform that will allow the self-management of health in children and adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) and/or Obesity as well as the delivery of a pervasive environment accompanied with a set of mobile applications with the ultimate goal to raise awareness, to train, to monitor, to comply, to promote healthy lifestyle behavioral changes and to support decision-making.
