Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions An evaluation of the Bridge Phase of TIDE (Technological Initiative for Disabled and Elderly people)"
Date: 2001-06-13
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU programme, disabled person, elderly person, facilities for people with disabilities, research and development, technological change

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14.12.2001

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Communication from the Commission to the
Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the
Regions “An evaluation of the Bridge Phase of TIDE (Technological Initiative for Disabled and
Elderly people)”’

(2001/C 357/06)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — An Evaluation of the Bridge Phase
of TIDE (Technology Initiative for Disabled and Elderly People) (COM(2000) 727 final);

having regard to the European Commission Decision of 20 November 2000 to consult it under
Article 265(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

having regard to its President’s decision of 7 February 2001 to instruct Commission 5 (Social Policy,
Public Health, Consumer Protection, Research and Tourism) to prepare the Committee’s work on the
subject;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 65/2001 rev.) adopted by Commission 5 on 19 April 2001
[rapporteur: Mr Pella (I/EPP)],

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 39th plenary session of 13 and 14 June 2001 (meeting
of 13 June).

1. General comments

2. Evaluation of the results of the Bridge phase of TIDE

1.1.
The technology initiative for disabled and elderly
people (TIDE) was a Community technology promotion and
application initiative with the main objective of stimulating
the creation of an internal market in rehabilitation technology
in Europe to facilitate the socio-economic integration of
disabled and elderly people.

1.2.
The part of the initiative known as the ‘Bridge phase’
covered the period 1993/1994. It was intended to act as a link
between the pilot action of TIDE which began in 1991, and
the research and development activities that were anticipated
in the Telematics Applications Programme which started in
1994.

Fifty-five projects were selected by the Commission
1.3.
in November 1993 and in April 1994, following a call for
proposals which was published in the Official Journal on
21 April 1993.

The 55 projects taken into consideration concern the

2.1.
following technology application areas:

a) Access to technology and related services

b)

Life at home and remote care

c) Mobility and transport

d)

Control and manipulation

e)

f)

Restoration and enhancement of function

User and market issues.

The evaluation paid particular attention to the five
in

2.2.
principles to which the project work had to conform,
accordance with the Council Decision:

1.4. When the projects were completed, an evaluation of
the whole initiative took place in 1999/2000.

— User-focused principle

— Market-oriented principle

1.5.
A team of independent experts carried out an evalu-
ation of the Bridge phase of TIDE, based specifically on an
evaluation of the outputs, results and impacts of the activities,
in accordance with the provisions of the Council Decision of
21 September 1993, which constitutes the legal basis for the
initiative.

— Innovation and technology adaptation principle

— Multi-disciplinary approach principle

— Technology verification principle.

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2.3.
In examining the results, the evaluation panel found
wide variations in the output of the projects and the degree to
which they conformed to the five principles.

2.4.
There were considerable differences between the six
application areas in the overall success of their achievements
in terms of exploitation and market take-up.

3. Overall recommendations of the evaluation panel

3.1.
The evaluation panel for the Bridge phase of Tide
concluded its assessment with three overall recommendations:

— ‘The European Union should continue to support a broad
and integrated range of measures addressing older people
and people with disabilities, in order to promote the
development and take-up of rehabilitation technology
products and services for different kinds of users.’

— ‘As an integral part of this, there ought to be convincing
and well-funded research and technological development
activities for the benefit of elderly and disabled people,
both within the Information Society Technologies area
and in other research areas.’

— ‘These research and technological development activities
should be complemented by a strong European Union
social policy framework allowing the dissemination and
take-up of new Information Society Technologies systems
and services to meet the needs of elderly and disabled
persons in the spirit of “access for all”.’

4. Specific recommendations of the evaluation panel

The evaluation panel also made thirteen specific rec-

4.1.
ommendations (cf. Commission Communication).

4.2.
The Commission has responded in detail to all the
recommendations made by the evaluation panel experts, and
explained that many of them have been acted upon in specific
Commission programmes in the years following the Bridge
phase of TIDE.

5.2.
The Committee is particularly pleased to see that a
significant number of these recommendations — not least the
three overall recommendations — which provide important
guidelines for all later initiatives in this area, were taken up in
Commission projects and initiatives which were launched
before the TIDE Bridge phase report was drafted.

5.3.
The first of the overall recommendations (‘The Euro-
pean Union should continue to support a broad and integrated
range of measures addressing older people and people with
disabilities, in order to promote the development and take-up
of rehabilitation technology products and services for different
kinds of users’) was followed up in the Fourth Framework
Programme (1994-1998) and continues to be taken into
account in the Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002).

5.4.
The second overall recommendation (‘As an integral
part of this, there ought to be convincing and well-funded
research and technological development activities for the
benefit of elderly and disabled people, both within the
Information Society Technologies area and in other research
areas’) was taken on board in the parallel activities of the
Fifth Community Research, Technological Development and
Demonstration Framework Programme (RTD) (1998-2000).

5.5.
The third overall recommendation (‘These research and
technological development activities should be complemented
by a strong European Union social policy framework allowing
the dissemination and take-up of new Information Society
Technologies systems and services to meet the needs of elderly
and disabled persons in the spirit of “access for all”’) was
incorporated directly into the Commission initiative ‘eEurope
— An Information Society for All’, and the Commission
Communication ‘Towards a Barrier Free Europe for People
with Disabilities’.

The thirteen specific recommendations are also being

5.6.
implemented under the Fifth Framework Programme.

The Committee concurs with the Commission’s obser-
5.7.
vation that the recommendation on the multi-disciplinary
approach principle has not been followed up in any current
initiatives, and calls on the Commission to take effective action
to remedy this.

6.

Final comments

The Committee of the Regions

5.

Implementation of the recommendations made by
the evaluation panel

6.1.
reiterates the stance it took in its recent draft opinion
on ‘Towards a Barrier Free Europe for People with Disabiliti-
es’ (1), and would extend it to cover the elderly: the pursuit of
in the fields of employment, education and
synergies

The Committee of the Regions welcomes the Com-
5.1.
mission’s responses to the recommendations made by the
evaluation panel experts.

(1) (COM(2000) 284 final) CdR 301/2000 fin — OJ C 144,

16.5.2001, p. 67.

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vocational training, transport, the internal market, the infor-
mation society, new technologies and consumer policy, will
help to promote equal opportunities;

6.2.
appreciates the emphasis on the importance of the
modern mass media in disseminating information on all the
initiatives intended to promote and apply the technologies to
stimulate ‘the creation of an internal market in rehabilitation
technology in Europe to facilitate the socio-economic inte-
gration of disabled and elderly people’;

notes, however, that if this information is to reach
6.3.
elderly people, traditional media (radio, press) must continue
to be used, given the small percentage of people from this age
group who are familiar with the new information media
(Internet);

6.4.
hopes accordingly that this will be taken into account
when determining the strategies for disseminating the results
of the projects, as these must be tailored to each target
audience;

6.5.
notes moreover that stress should be placed on the
importance of technology to secure social and housing con-
ditions tailored to the specific needs of the elderly and people
with disabilities;

6.6.
believes it is essential to envisage financial aid for those
wishing to obtain such equipment, as well as co-funding
arrangements for production activities involving innovative
products which are expected to draw on the new technologies
resulting from Community projects and research;

hopes the Commission will encourage all initiatives to
6.7.
develop synergies between Community actions, university
research and stakeholder involvement, drawing on the cooper-
ation of local and regional authorities, the Member States,
NGOs and all other players in the sector;

6.8.
notes that the evaluation report on the TIDE Bridge
phase brings to light shortcomings in the specific programmes
for technologies intended for elderly people; calls therefore on

Brussels, 13 June 2001.

the Commission to prepare for the implementation of specific
initiatives in this area, while recognising the inevitable difficult-
ies in attempting to familiarise elderly people with new
technology and win them over to it; in view of this difficulty,
efforts must not just focus on the provision of new technology,
but particularly on improving services for elderly people;

underlines that the local and regional authorities are
6.9.
vital intermediaries in any attempt to familiarise elderly people
with new technology, since they are able to offer local
initiatives suited to the task, building on the relationship of
trust which small-scale local
institutions often manage to
establish with people in this age group;

points out that, because of their grassroots contacts and their
responsibilities in the social field, local and regional authorities
are the best placed to provide essential support to elderly
people since they normally finance a large share of assistance
to elderly people.

6.10.
calls on the Commission to take on board the TIDE
Bridge phase evaluation panel’s recommendations on the
modernisation and integration of passenger transport within
the Union, particularly as regards air transport, which still has
to fully address the needs of people with disabilities, and the
issue of free access to some forms of public transport for
elderly people;

6.11.
notes that local and regional authorities in attractive
areas from the point of view of geography and climate,
implement specific policies in order to respond as fully as
possible to the needs of this type of population;

6.12.
returning to initiatives to enable people with disabilit-
ies and elderly people to move more freely within the EU,
underlines the crucial role of the local and regional authorities
in modernising services in old town centres and suburbs,
particularly as regards removing architectural obstacles;

stresses, finally, the need for building design to take
6.13.
into account the requirements of elderly people or people with
disabilities, not just in public building projects — which are
already subject to effective regulation — but especially in the
private construction industry.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT