Opportunity to work with a Living Lab to help develop or evaluate your TEC

01 November 2024

Co-chaired by the TSA, the TEC Action Alliance (TEC AA) has identified that one of the major reasons for the slow uptake of TEC in the UK is the lack of high-quality evidence, both of the benefit to individuals and of cost-effectiveness for organisations and commissioners. TEC AA has proposed the development of a common approach to TEC evaluation so that a trusted and consistent body of evidence can be built up. Initial recommendations for the components of this common evaluation framework have been made by Dr Steve Ariss and the team at the University of Sheffield Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Healthcare (CATCH).

In parallel with this work for TEC AA, CATCH is working on a ground-breaking new development to provide a means to build the evidence base for TEC, in partnership with Johnnie Johnson Housing and Astraline. Funded by Dunhill Medical Trust, the project has developed a Living Lab for TEC co-production where the team, led by Prof Mark Hawley and Dr Stephen Potter, work with potential TEC users – in this case, older people in independent-living residential schemes – to rapidly but rigorously evaluate selected TEC services. Participants in the Living Lab will incorporate the services into their daily lives and use them over an extended period. This will provide independent, real-world evidence of the benefits they provide. The Living Lab can also work with TEC developers to provide user input to guide co-development of new products. This is an exciting new approach to TEC co-production, which promises to fill the evidence gaps in conventional R&D by engaging directly with potential users in ways that are mutually enriching and rewarding.

The project to develop the Living Lab, which has been dubbed TELLAB (Technology-Enabled Living Lab for Ageing Better), will complete in 2025 and the team are currently testing its processes. Following the completion of the TELLAB seed project, the team aim to continue the TELLAB Living Lab as a sustainable facility providing development and evaluation support to the TEC sector.

The TELLAB team are looking for expressions of interest from developers, manufacturers, providers and commissioners of TEC to work with them to help develop their concepts or evaluate their services in the TELLAB Living Lab. Please contact TELLAB-enquiries@sheffield.ac.uk if you are interested.