Forever Living Homes Industry Day Advances Home-based Solutions to Support Safe, Independent Living

A cohort of innovative SMEs met with major housing association Places for People at a Connected Places Catapult Industry Day on 10th March, to help develop a vision for homes that support safer, more independent living. The event is part of a project the Catapult is delivering in partnership with Places for People to develop the organisation’s “Forever Living Homes” concept – identifying, refining and implementing interventions to help tackle key housing-related challenges that impact the health and wellbeing of residents as they get older.

What Did We Achieve?

Working closely with Places for People to understand and prioritise challenges that Forever Living Homes could help tackle, the Catapult helped to agree an exemplary intervention, and the social and economic benefits of implementation. Through an open call, we selected a cohort of 15 SMEs whose solutions aligned to the Forever Living Homes intervention that had been identified, and invited them to participate in an Industry Day on 10^th March. The aim of the Industry Day was to allow Places for People and potential solutions providers to explore the challenges and opportunities of delivering on the proposed intervention, through small-group roundtable discussions for the cohort and Places for People. The Industry Day also provided a platform for individual business pitch sessions, where SMEs showcased their solutions to Places for People. 

In preparing SMEs for the Industry Day, the Catapult also delivered a masterclass on 1^st March, where the CPC team presented some findings from our user research and intervention opportunities, and shared top tips in creating a quality pitch for the day.  The SME cohort gained valuable insight to support their business pitches, and via the Catapult team were provided 1-to-1 connections to the client Places for People, to explore potential for future collaboration.

See previous blog here of the Forever Living Homes vision and SME cohort.

SME Testimonials

“It was clear to us that Safehouse Technology data could assist in preventing falls, so we’re delighted to be shortlisted. The opportunity to work with Places for People has shown us how our Safehouse can be used to help people live in their homes longer. We’re eager to develop this. Thank you Connected Places Catapult and the Forever Living Homes project team for the clear communications and welcoming support throughout.” – from John Griffiths, Technology Director of Safehouse Technology.

“It has been a great experience to work with the Connected Places Catapult team. The event was well planned and we enjoyed the day. Kraydel would value the opportunity of continuing to work with the Catapult and Forever Living teams to see how Kraydel’s Konnect solution can support isolation and healthy ageing at home” – from Rupinder Singh, Chief Strategy Officer & Co-founder of Kraydel.