DST seeks initiatives for senior citizens

Mumbai, Sep 17 (UNI) The Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Union Government has asked institutions in the country for development of technological solutions to ameliorate problems faced by the elderly population and improve their quality of life.

The Department had sought proposals from various institutions for S and T interventions right from the stage of conceptualisation, research and development.

''The possible interventions would include design and development of enabling devices, designs of homes, use of ICT in networking, recreation and entertainment, and health and nutritious food,'' according to a DST release here.

Some projects already funded by the DST under this programme relate to development of devices, launching a portal capturing technologies for elders and related matters, instituting fellowships at master's level to attract young minds to work on special designs for elderly.

The DST also welcomed novel/innovative idea/concept related to enablement of elderly people. Projects can be undertaken by academic R &D institutions in collaboration with NGOs or industry, wherever feasible.

The proposals should include clearly defined statement of the problem based on identified needs and state-of-the-art survey, objectives focusing on the proposed solution, project deliverables, market potential and well defined tie up with professional agencies for development/testing/verification/adaptation trials of technologies.

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