About Us

CASALA Mission CASALA was established in October 2009, by the Netwell Centre (Netwell) and the Software Technology Research Centre (SToRC) within Dundalk Institute of Technology with seed funding from Enterprise Ireland under the Applied Research Enhancement (ARE) programme. This innovative programme aims to build applied expertise within the Institutes of Technology and makes this knowledge accessible to local and national industry.

CASALA’s core objectives are:

To provide a centre of excellence and Living Lab for emerging commercial technologies and services that enhance the quality of life and well-being of older people and those who care for them.

To research systems integration and intelligence awareness for the emerging Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) market sector.

To benefit existing businesses in the sector, and stimulate and promote the formation and attraction of new businesses into the sector.

To participate and lead national and international research projects, particularly in relation to technology and ageing.

Population ageing is wrought with challenges, but it also offers many opportunities - by 2020, 25% of the EU's population will be over 65, with spending on pensions, health and long-term care expected to triple by 2050. Extending the opportunity for older people to age in a place of their choosing is a major policy alternative to long term care, thereby enabling older people to stay active, productive and engaged in society, and to enjoy a higher quality of life for longer. There is a huge economic potential related to this the “Silver Economy”, older people are important consumers with a combined wealth in Europe alone of over €3,000 billion and the baby boomer generation will be increasing demands for high quality services.

Source: Ageing Well in the Information Society, EU Action Plan.

CASALA actively seeks commercial collaborations with industry, governmental, non-government and other research organisations, interested in new technology, products and services targeting this silver economy. This incorporates, but is not limited to; ageing-in-place, ageing and technologies, assisted living technologies, home healthcare and intermediate care utilising telecare and telehealth.

These collaborations can be in the form of testing, trialling and validation, user feedback forums, software and hardware development, workshops, market evaluation through to commercialisation, or can be tailored to the needs of an individual project or organisation.