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Official estimates put the number of Europeans with disabilities at 10% - or 37 million in the EU and 80 million in Greater Europe. Giving an accurate figure is hard, since the term “disability” covers a very wide range of situations, but six out of ten EU nationals say that their immediate or less immediate circle includes someone who has a disability or is an invalid, and one in four has a family member with a disability. Demographic change, and in particular the ageing population of the EU, is leading to increased financial pressure on health and social care systems: people live longer and therefore might develop minor disabilities in later life.

There is consequently a clear need to use Person Centred Technology (PCT) to provide an enhanced service to end users at a lower unit cost per person. New types of social and health care service provision e.g. telehealth, call centres, Assistive Technology for the promotion of health and safety in the home and at work, are becoming increasingly popular across the EU.

Policy makers and practitioners of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Assistive Technology know that PCT can drastically improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, whether physical or intellectual and increase their chances of living independently. Yet, producers of PCT (industry) and service commissioners/ providers are often working too far away from the end users of the PCT. There is a clear need for greater collaboration and an exchange of views and experiences.

The current Disability Action Plan of the Council of Europe and of the European Commission (2008-09) as well as the newly adopted UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, stress the importance of the role of Assistive Technologies in improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.

In 2005, the European Commission launched a study to measure the degree of accessibility of ICT products and services across Europe. Following this, in 2006, eAccessibility became part of the eInclusion pillar of the "i2010 – A European Information Society for growth and employment" initiative which aims to address the main challenges and developments in the Information Society and media sectors up to 2010. eAccessibility is one of the pillars of e-Inclusion. While the latter aims at preventing the so called “digital divide”, e-Accessibility deals mainly with access to Information Society by people with disabilities and older people.

In 2008, the European Commission issued a new European e-Inclusion policy (e-Inclusion – Be part of it!) encompassing both inclusive ICT and the use of ICT to overcome exclusion. The first step was the adoption of the Communication “European i2010 initiative on e-Inclusion – to be part of the information society" in November 2007 which warned that, if current trends continue, it will be very difficult to achieve most of the 2006 Riga Ministerial Declaration targets at the overall EU level.

The European i2010 initiative on e-inclusion “to be part of the information society” (COM 2007 694 final) has established as one of its key objectives “accelerating the effective participation of target groups at risk of exclusion and improving their quality of life”. The ImPaCT in Europe network will assist in achieving this objective by stimulating the effective use of ICT-enabled services and providing competence building opportunities for the end users of PCT via education and training services.

The ImPaCT in Europe network will draw on the resources of EASPD to share existing knowledge of the use of Person Centred Technology in member organisations and develop the network further to enable the sharing of good practice.

Building on evidence drawn from national and transnational project work and the experience of the partner organisations, the ImPaCT in Europe Network has been created for the mutual exchange of good practice and ideas on the development of Person Centred Technology for the benefit of staff and end users in health and social care across the EU.  PCT brings together the use of ICT, Electronic Assistive Technology (EAT), telecare, telehealth and telemedicine and involves the user first and foremost in designing the technological solution to meet that individual’s needs.  The network will perform the following important functions:

•    Facilitation of exchange and mutual learning between education and training providers within the health and social care sector  regarding the development and exploitation of PCT for the benefit of staff and end users;
•    Provision of advice and support to organisations and practitioners in the field of ICT on strategies to develop user-led PCT for the benefit of individuals;
•    Identification of current good practice in regard to the use of PCT for the promotion of innovative training systems;
•    Engagement in publicity and awareness–raising activities using an existing EU-level network to disseminate information to service providers across Europe.

•    A sustainable network embedded within the working structure of the European Association of Service Providers for People with Disabilities (EASPD);
•    Stakeholder meetings consisting of panels of experts in each of the key technological areas of PCT as they relate to education, training and lifelong learning; at home, at work and in ICT training;
•    An ethical framework for the implementation and use of PCT;
•    A report mapping the current state of play in regard to the use of PCT for the promotion of independence for the individual and the training of social care staff, including models of good practice;
•    A training needs analysis for staff within health and social care provider organisations;
•    A website to act as a knowledge centre for PCT in Europe

The ImPaCT in Europe network will create a long-term sustainable platform for the exchange of information, development of innovation and the mainstreaming and dissemination of good practice in the deployment of PCT throughout Europe.

The overall project objective is to set up a network to facilitate the development and implementation of Person Centred Technology (PCT) for the benefit of key stakeholders in the health and social care sectors, such as service providers, commissioners, care staff and, most importantly, service users.

All activities promoted by the network will involve end users of the technology to properly evaluate the effect of PCT on their daily lives.