The Centre for Affective Solutions for Ambient Living Awareness (CASALA) is an applied research centre on the Dundalk Institute of Technology campus.

We are working with industry in applied research, helping to achieve product innovation and to bring products to market in the emerging ambient assisted living (AAL) sector. We also act as the commercialisation arm of the Netwell Centre, who are transforming communities, environments and technologies for ageing-in-place.

CASALA was established in October 2009, by the Netwell Centre 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 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 projects, particularly in relation to the EU action plan on "Ageing Well in the Information Society".

CASALA is actively seeking commercial exchanges with industry, consumer and commercial organisations, interested in technology and the "Silver Market"; these collaborations can be in the form of technology testing and validation, AAL software and hardware development, market evaluation, workshops, or can be tailored to the needs of an individual project or organisation.

For further information or to discuss a potential collaborative project, please contact: Andrew Macfarlane, Commercialisation & Centre Manager on +353 87 051 6705 or email firstname.lastname@casala.ie.

Keywords:

Product Innovation; Ambient Assisted Living; Commercialisation; AAL; Ageing Well