Karmele Acedo is CEO of Grupo Servicios Sociales Integrados, a cooperative group that works in the field of care for the elderly, especially those living at home. For the last 14 years, they have been working to explore the possibilities that R&D&I can generate in this field.
Do older people have real access to or knowledge of available technology?
For 12 years we have been part of the Basic Network of Science, Technology and Innovation. Throughout this long decade we have worked with many technology-based projects. We believe that technology has a lot to do with care, with making it easier for people to be at home, but there are some keys that have to be resolved.
Time goes by and we see that older people do not approach technology, they are not autonomous in its use. In the last three years we have been working on a project, also R+D+i, in this case for the Department of Employment of the Basque Government, and we have worked on the design of a figure that we have called Social Technologist.
The main mission of this Social Technologist is to support the elderly in the use of technology, because it is not easy to use, even though we are saying that the elderly are retiring with the use of technology, technology goes beyond the skills that we have acquired.
So it seems fundamental to us to think about figures that accompany these transitions, which we say are not easy, and above all to incorporate competencies to the figures that we are already working with in social intervention.
Our bet is from that Social Technologist, but we are also working on a training of technological skills training, in the field of social services. Those of us who already have competencies in working with the elderly believe that we can add a layer of digitalization to work with the elderly.
SSI is an organization characterized by innovation, with a workshop where you test and validate technology. Is technology going to be a key factor in serving the elderly at home?
Technology already has many solutions; what we have to see is how we incorporate it, especially in the domestic environment. But I think there have been great advances, especially in home automation, which is starting to arrive. And care supported by technology is a reality.
Karmele Acedo and Felipe Rebollo.
In the silver economy sector, what else is needed to provide quality service to our seniors?
This world, the world of care, is very much affected by public intervention. What space is there for entrepreneurs, for startups? There is an interesting dialogue there, but we must also accompany the entry of technology with a cultural change, that is to say, to put the expense in our care, the care of the elderly, of our own family.
There is a thinking that care is public and that it is the administration that has to pay for it. I think this is hindering the entry of a solid technology-based enterprise. I think there is a debate: who pays for this? And still, culturally, we are very used to thinking that care, in a broad sense, has to be provided by the administration, and we know that this is unsustainable.
I think that right now, there is this pulse of knowing what role startups are going to play in the development of care.
Distinctions, awards, companies… What are you most proud of at Grupo SSI?
Our mission as a public initiative entity that we are, a social initiative and of public utility, is to contribute to the improvement of the elderly or people in vulnerable situations. I believe that in almost 40 years, which we will soon be completing, we have sought solutions that allow us to improve the quality of life of the elderly and people in vulnerable situations..
We are aware that transformations, especially social transformations, are slow, but I believe that in recent years we have been an important player that has collaborated, especially with the administration, which is our main client, in the evolution of care. I believe that we have contributed our grain of sand and have made isolated contributions. There are also city councils that support us, that hire us and that allow us to test and improve all this innovation, until we get to things that are implemented.
We often talk about R&D&I being a black box where things are produced that never go anywhere. I have to say that our experience is not exclusively that. That is to say, yes, there are things that are not mature enough to take off, because the whole business logic is not well put together, but there are things that are already a reality. They are part of the public portfolio of social services, for example, in Bilbao. There are projects that came in from R+D+i, and today they are in the portfolio of the Bilbao City Council and other city councils. So, I believe that we have helped, contributed, to the advancement of the whole ecosystem of care. And I think it is making a lot of progress.
What future project or action do you have in mind?
Technology-based care up to that point, of course, but we are also working with new profiles, new roles in the field of care. And now we are working in health, in terms of musculoskeletal health prevention. We are a sector where people get injured because we work with the body.
What is happening with other professions, where care is provided with our own bodies, is happening. We are incorporating a figure of musculoskeletal health promoter. There is an agreement with the University of the Basque Country.
In this whole area of health, we also work in the key of prehabilitation, that is to say, to anticipate those injuries that may occur. I believe that this is a field to be explored in an environment such as the home. In other words, we are not working in a structure, in a nursing home, where it is easier to control the interventions, what the workers are doing and what they are doing.
It is a challenge where there is already a result, that is, having the university behind us, which is fundamental for what we do, helps us to measure impacts. And well, I think we have a lot to do there. And here too, technology has a lot to say.
I believe that exoskeletons, which are still in those formats that are perhaps not yet on the market, will have a lot to do with our own self-care, that of working people. That is to say, the absenteeism we have at work, which is very similar to the absenteeism in the health sector, I think it is a major challenge. And when I talk about caregivers, I am talking about professionals, but I am also talking about families.
