Andrzej Klimczuk

Social Aspects of Ageing - Selected Challenges, Analyses, and Solutions, focuses on the key challenges underlined by the United Nations during the Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). The authors introduce studies in areas crucial for older people, their families, and communities, such as combatting ageism, age-friendly environments, and care provision. The volume also examines issues linked to the global, national, regional, and local implementation of age-specific and intergenerational solutions, initiatives, and programs towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The collection contains chapters representing research and practical recommendations from various disciplines, such as critical studies, geographical gerontology, legal studies, public health, and sociology. This volume is an asset to academic and professional communities interested in theories of ageing as well as public services and ageing policies. In addition, the book aims to help students, practitioners, and people working in government, business, and nonprofit organizations.

Intergenerational Relations - Contemporary Theories, Studies, and Policies, concentrates on actual discussions around various aspects of interactions that occur between people from different age groups and generations. The authors present studies related to four sets of challenges crucial for relationships between children, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. These challenges include social and cultural challenges, economic and technological challenges, environmental challenges, and political and legal challenges. The volume also addresses issues important for the global, national, regional, and local application and performance of intergenerational solutions, projects, and programs focused on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The collection includes chapters encompassing research and practical recommendations from various disciplines such as demography, economics, ethics, management, gerontology, public health, pedagogy, social work, political science, and sociology. This book is an asset to academic and professional communities interested in theories of intergenerational relationships as well as public services and age-related policies. Moreover, the volume is a useful resource to help students, practitioners, and people working in government, business, and nonprofit organizations build positive and harmonious interactions between generations.

The concept of Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments (SHAFE) emphasises the comprehensive person-centred experience as essential to promoting living environments. SHAFE takes an interdisciplinary approach, conceptualising complete and multidisciplinary solutions for an inclusive society. From this approach, we promote participation, health, and well-being experiences by finding the best possible combinations of social, physical, and digital solutions in the community. This initiative emerged bottom-up in Europe from the dream and conviction that innovation can improve health equity, foster caring communities, and sustainable development. Smart, adaptable, and inclusive solutions can promote and support independence and autonomy throughout the lifespan, regardless of age, gender, disabilities, cultural differences, and personal choices, as well as promote happier and fairer living places. The New European Bauhaus initiative gathers “beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive projects and ideas” to inspire a positive transformation around us. The New European Bauhaus 2024 Festival took place between 9-13 April. “Designing the perfect New European Bauhaus neighbourhood: New European Bauhaus meets SHAFE” was a Satellite Event of the Festival, held as an online workshop, organised by the SHAFE Foundation on April 9th, 2024. At the event, a group of 50 participants with a multidisciplinary background discussed how to meet the challenges of the European Garcia family to enable them to live in a perfect neighbourhood. The White Paper presents the findings of the participants with the New European Bauhaus inspiring projects and ideas to house the European Garcia family in their neighbourhood. The White Paper recommends developers, designers, planners, and policymakers to include person-centred design of social and physical environments and technologies. Although awareness of person-centred design is growing, many initiatives still hamper the inclusion of citizens or end-users throughout the development of products and services.

This Research Topic addresses the eleventh Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which is to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.” Several individual targets and indicators measure progress toward this goal. Researchers study, among others, urban inclusion, the influence of urban policy on socioeconomic disparities, and gentrification. This Research Topic primarily addresses the challenges and complexities of sustainable urban planning and development concerning decent work, economic growth, and associated crises due to their significant impact on urban living.

A number of experiences have demonstrated how digital solutions are effective in improving quality of life (QoL) and health outcomes for older adults. Smart Health Age-Friendly Environments (SHAFE) is a new concept introduced in Europe since 2017 that combines the concept of Age-Friendly Environments with Information Technologies, supported by health and community care to improve the health and disease management of older adults and during the life-course. This chapter aims to provide an initial overview of the experiences available not only in Europe, based on the research work of the participants of the International Interdisciplinary Network on Health and Well-being in an Age-Friendly Digital World (NET4Age-Friendly), which could be of interest to preventive, health and social authorities. The chapter reports good practices, pain points, and bottlenecks that may require a collaborative, interdisciplinary research approach to facilitate the transformations towards smart, sustainable, health and age-friendly cities and communities.

This Research Topic addresses the first Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere.” Progress toward this goal is measured by a number of individual targets and indicators. As highlighted in the UN’s most recent SDG progress report, the slowdown in poverty reduction since 2015 has been greatly exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, for example, around 120 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty, representing the first increase in extreme poverty in over 20 years. Along with workers in the informal economy, the pandemic has also disproportionately impacted young and female workers. At present, the goal of eradicating poverty by 2030 is not on course to be met, with around 600 million people expected to be living in extreme poverty in 2030. Against the backdrop of the growing climate crisis, significant efforts are therefore needed to bring the 2030 target within reach. * This Research Topic will address the first Sustainable Development Goal from a sociology-specific perspective. It will enquire about the framing and elaboration of the goal, its adaptation to particular geographical contexts, stakeholder involvement in it, and influence and impact of social mobility and social stratification studies on it. Given the setbacks to poverty reduction across the world resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s edition of the Research Topic will focus particularly on the challenges and complexities of poverty reduction in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

The UN’s most recent SDG progress report notes that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, cities had “rising numbers of slum dwellers, worsening air pollution, minimal open public spaces and limited convenient access to public transport.” In recent years, the number of slum dwellers globally has been growing, and exceeded 1 billion in 2018. As of 2019, only around 50 per cent of the urban population had convenient access to public transport. Furthermore, the proportion of urban areas allocated to streets and open public spaces averaged 16 per cent in 2020, below the UN recommendation of 30 per cent for streets and an additional 10 to 15 per cent for open public spaces. The pandemic has only exacerbated these conditions for many urban dwellers, further reducing the likelihood of this goal being reached by 2030. With nearly two thirds of the world’s population expected to be living in urban areas by 2050, significant efforts are needed to ensure national urban policies are successfully implemented so that urban dwellers can enjoy safe, inclusive and sustainable environments. * This Research Topic will address the eleventh Sustainable Development Goal from a sociological perspective. Researchers, among other themes, will investigate urban inclusion, the impact of urban policies on social differences, and gentrification. Given the significant impact of the lack of decent work and economic growth on urban living, this year’s edition of the Research Topic will focus particularly on the challenges and complexities of sustainable urban planning and development in the context of decent work and economic growth and the associated crisis.

In collaboration with the 31st European Social Services Conference (ESSC) of the European Social Network, to be held in Malmö, Sweden, on 14–16 June 2023, we invite the submission of papers presented at the conference for inclusion in a Special Issue of Social Sciences. There will be no charge for papers submitted to the Special Issue. In line with the conference, the Special Issue will focus on accelerating the digital and technological transformation of social services by governments, public authorities, and agencies involved in their development. It will also discuss how technological advancements can help improve the delivery of social services by simplifying the access and sharing of information, enhancing coordination between services, encouraging early intervention, supporting decision-making, and promoting people’s autonomy and choice. The Special Issue seeks to gather theoretical, empirical and practical findings relating to this area of practice and study. Only contributions already included in the conference programme can be accepted. The following article types are encouraged: brief report, case report, communication, essay, hypothesis, opinion, perspective, project report, and review. Authors can submit an abstract to the editors of the Special Issue in advance of submitting a full article so that the editors can provide initial feedback and opportunities to strengthen the submission. Abstracts can be submitted through the Special Issue website.

Artykuł przedstawia koncepcję tzw. srebrnej gospodarki jako systemu gospodarczego związanego ze starzeniem się populacji, którego rozwój ma cechy idei polityki publicznej. Opracowanie w pierwszej kolejności przybliża dyskurs i etapy procesu konstruowania tego systemu przez międzynarodowych i krajowych aktorów polityki publicznej wobec starzenia się ludności. Następnie przeprowadzono krytyczną analizę wymiarów i obszarów wdrażania i rozwoju koncepcji srebrnej gospodarki oraz przegląd jej zewnętrznych i wewnętrznych ograniczeń. Podsumowanie zawiera propozycje dalszych kierunków badań.

This deliverable covers the various steps that have been undertaken to develop the path to creating and developing a European Citizen Science Academy (ECS Academy). It is an aggregation of documents and reports that have been elaborated throughout the first year of the ECS project, with a community of practice of citizen science educators and trainers, the European Citizen Science Association and the ECS consortium. They set the stage to the co-creation of the ECS Academy. The ECS Academy is a work package within the European Citizen Science (ECS) project. It seeks to promote citizen science within various stakeholder spheres, countries, by being a point of reference for training material and by regrouping a community of practice around citizen science training and education to develop training needs.

Podstawowym celem artykułu jest przybliżenie dyskursu wokół możliwości regulacji gospodarki współdzielenia (ang. sharing economy) oraz omówienie potencjalnych instrumentów polityki publicznej, które mogą służyć do ograniczenia negatywnych skutków rozwoju tego systemu gospodarczego. Artykuł w pierwszej kolejności przybliża rozumienie koncepcji regulacji i régulation oraz omawia związki gospodarki współdzielenia z koncepcją współzarządzania cyfrowego. Następnie po przybliżeniu wybranych pozytywnych i negatywnych efektów gospodarki współdzielenia wskazane zostają wybrane instrumenty regulacyjne. W podsumowaniu wskazano na możliwe kierunki dalszych badań.

W ostatnich latach obserwujemy intensywną debatę publiczną dotyczącą implementacji koncepcji miast i gmin przyjaznych starzeniu się (age-friendly cities and communities) oraz jej nowszej i szerszej odsłony związanej z inteligentnymi i zdrowymi przestrzeniami przyjaznymi starzeniu się (smart healthy age-friendly environments, SHAFE). Rozdział koncentruje się na zwięzłym przeglądzie obejmującym te zagadnienia. W pierwszej części artykuł przybliża podstawowe pojęcia i wybrane działania Komisji Europejskiej w obszarze upowszechniania dialogu międzypokoleniowego oraz programowania polityk relacji międzypokoleniowych. Następnie zaprezentowano krótkie omówienia studiów przypadku dotyczące wybranych projektów innowacji społecznych i metodyk mających na celu: (1) wzmocnienie pozycji facylitatorów koncepcji miast i gmin przyjaznych starzeniu się oraz inteligentnych, zdrowych i inkluzywnych przestrzeni; (2) ułatwienie obywatelom, szczególnie osobom starszym, radzenia sobie z sytuacjami kryzysowymi w obszarze zdrowia publicznego; oraz (3) wspieranie głosu seniorów i seniorek w podejmowaniu decyzji co do celów i zadań polityk publicznych (współprojektowanie), ich wdrażania (współzarządzanie, współrealizowanie/koprodukcja usług publicznych) oraz ich monitorowania i ewaluacji (współocena). Ostatnia część zawiera rekomendacje dla wybranych podmiotów odpowiedzialnych za politykę publiczną wobec starzenia się ludności oraz propozycje kierunków dalszych badań.

Celem badań jest odpowiedź na pytanie o to, jakie są efekty dotychczasowej realizacji warsztatów typu medialab z inicjatywy Fundacji Ortus w Polsce oraz jakie są uwarunkowania ich dalszego rozwoju w kierunku budowy stałej instytucji. Podjęta analiza została ukierunkowana na osiągnięcie następujących celów teoretycznych i praktycznych: identyfikacja cech wizerunku warsztatów medialab organizowanych przez Fundację Ortus; określenie zakresu upowszechniania w Polsce koncepcji nowych instytucji kultury poprzez warsztaty medialab; określenie opinii i postaw wobec inicjatyw medialab ich uczestników i nie-uczestników; identyfikacja zakresu wykorzystania technik i form działań poznanych na warsztatach medialab przez ich uczestników; oszacowanie trwałości zawiązanych między uczestnikami warsztatów więzi i zakresu współpracy przez wspólnych przedsięwzięciach; identyfikacja dotychczasowych i potencjalnych korzyści i barier w realizacji inicjatyw medialab; ustalenie czynników wspierających i hamujących przyszłą działalność instytucji medialab w stałej lokalizacji; określenie cech potencjalnej roli instytucji medialab w regionalnej polityce kulturalnej i polityce innowacji; wskazanie potencjalnych rozwiązań na rzecz budowy polskiego modelu instytucji medialab.

Podstawowym założeniem artykułu jest uznanie, że złożoność wyzwań związanych ze starzeniem się populacji wymusza rozwój powiązań kooperacyjnych między podmiotami polityki publicznej reprezentującymi różne sektory. Innymi słowy: niezbędna jest bardziej intensywna i lepiej skoordynowana współpraca między organizacjami sektora publicznego, komercyjnego, pozarządowego, nieformalnego oraz sektora obejmującego podmioty gospodarki społecznej (np. spółdzielnie). Zasadnicze znaczenie ma w tym kontekście wdrażanie założeń teorii współzarządzania (governance), koprodukcji oraz mieszanej gospodarki dobrobytu (inaczej: wielosektorowej polityki społecznej). W konsekwencji artykuł wskazuje na wybrane wątki dyskursu dotyczącego relacji procesu starzenia się ludności z przedsiębiorczością społeczną i innowacjami społecznymi. Tekst przytacza także przykłady dobrych praktyk i inicjatyw z obszaru gospodarki społecznej. Podsumowanie zawiera rekomendacje dla podmiotów polityki publicznej oraz proponowane kierunki dalszych badań.

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease that was first recognized in China in late 2019. Among the primary effects caused by the pandemic, there was the dissemination of health preventive measures such as physical distancing, travel restrictions, self-isolation, quarantines, and facility closures. This includes the global disruption of socio-economic systems including the postponement or cancellation of various public events (e.g., sporting, cultural, or religious), supply shortages and fears of the same, schools and universities closure, evacuation of foreign citizens, a rise of unemployment, changes in the international aid schemes, misinformation, and incidents of discrimination toward people affected by or suspected of having the COVID-19 disease. The pandemic has brought to the fore unpreparedness in critical areas that require attention, amid prospects and challenges. Moreover, considerable reorganization efforts are required with implications for assets, resources, norms, and value systems. COVID-19 is challenging the concept of globalization and stimulating responses at the levels of local and regional socio-economic systems that lead to the mobilization of assets that have been unrecognized earlier on, such as various forms of economic capital, social capital, cultural capital, human capital, and creative capital. For example, through digital channels, local groups are forming to create schemes of support for physical and mental wellbeing. These emerging exchanges lead to various social and technological innovations by building on skills and assets that are less important in the free-market economy, such as empathy, skills for crafts, making and fixing; locally grown microgreens; and micromanufacturing. Isolation and local living are also making it much harder to ignore the civic responsibilities towards communities, meant as individuals, vulnerable groups, and local businesses. Whilst the pandemic is limiting physical participation, this challenging time is uncovering alternative ways of mutual support, which may create long-term benefits for socio-economic systems, including environmental and biodiversity protection, reduction of the air pollution, and climate action. The pandemic’s threat to public health will hopefully be overcome with implications for disruption for an extended period that we are unable to forecast at this stage. It is key to focus on studies recognizing the activities and interventions leading to the recovery of socio-economic systems after the pandemic. Reflecting and planning on how societies and economies will go back to “business as usual” requires new forms of communication and cooperation, imaginative design thinking, new styles of management, as well as new tools and forms of participation in various public policies. Many questions related to the care of the vulnerable, economic restart, and the risk of future pandemics, to mention but a few, are already occupying the academic, scientific, experts, and activist communities, who have started to imagine the “new normal.”

The precarious rights of senior citizens, especially those who are highly educated and who are expected to counsel and guide the younger generations, has stimulated the creation internationally of advocacy associations and opinion leader groups. The strength of these groups, however, varies from country to country. In some countries, they are supported and are the focus of intense interest; in others, they are practically ignored. For this is reason we believe that the creation of a network of all these associations is essential. The proposed network would act as a support for the already-existing policies of the United Nations’ High Commission for Human Rights, of independent experts, and of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People. All three have long ago recommended the creation of a recognized instrument for uniting presently scattered efforts. The proposed network, therefore, will seek to promote the international exchange of relevant expertise, and it will reinforce the commitments and actions that single countries are currently taking to meet these objectives. For example, informative public events can be organised to promote particular support initiatives and to provide an opportunity for new members of the network to be presented. The network will promote health for senior citizens, disease prevention, senior mobility, safe free time for seniors, alimentary education, protection against new risks and dangers, as well as equity in the services necessary for seniors to adopt new information and communication technologies. In the case of retired academic members, the network will promote equality with respect to continuing use of digital technologies (particularly email), continuing access to research libraries, and the guaranteed ability for seniors to fund their own research programs and to deliver free seminars.

This Research Topic focuses on both strengths and weaknesses of social innovation, technological innovation, and health innovation that are increasingly recognized as crucial concepts related to the formulation of responses to the social, health, and environmental challenges. Goals of this Research Topic: (1) to identify and share the best recent practices and innovations related to social, environmental and health policies; (2) to debate on relevant governance modes, management tools as well as evaluation and impact assessment techniques; (3) to discuss dilemmas in the fields of management, financing, designing, implementing, testing, and maintaining the sustainability of innovative models of delivering social, health and care services; and (4) to recognize and analyze social, technological and health innovation that has emerged or has been scaled-up to respond to crisis situations, for example, a pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease.

The declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, led to unprecedented events. All regions of the world participated in implementing preventive health measures such as physical distancing, travel restrictions, self-isolation, quarantines, and facility closures. The pandemic started global disruption of socio-economic systems, covering the postponement or cancellation of public events, supply shortages, schools and universities’ closure, evacuation of foreign citizens, a rise in unemployment and inflation, misinformation, the anti-vaccine movement, and incidents of discrimination toward people affected by or suspected of having coronavirus disease. Attempts have been made to protect the oldest age group at risk, but in many cases, this has led to over-restriction and age discrimination. The rationale for working on the Research Topic "Socio-economic systems in the post-pandemic world: Design thinking, strategic planning, management, and public policy" was the need to start reflecting on resilience and lessons learned from this public health event that revealed the global unpreparedness in critical areas. Also, the pandemic triggered both top-down and bottom-up responses that needed more in-depth analyzes. This Research Topic covers interdisciplinary contributions addressing new thinking, challenges, and transformations required for post-pandemic global, national, regional, and local realities. The presented Research Topic combines studies focused on recognizing the actions and interventions leading to the recovery of socio-economic systems during the tail end and after the pandemic. The studies delivered recommendations regarding, among others, the care of vulnerable, planning socio-economic restart, and imagining the "new normal."

Innovation is progressively needed in responding to global challenges. Moreover, the increasing complexity of challenges implies demand for the usage of multisectoral and policy mix approaches. Wicked problems can be tackled by "integrated innovation" that combines the coordinated implementation of social, technological, and health innovation co-created by entities of the public sector, the private sector, the non-governmental sector, and the informal sector. This Research Topic focuses on filling the knowledge gaps about the selected types of innovation. First, regarding social innovation that can be understood as new strategies, concepts, products, services, and organizational forms that allow the satisfaction of human needs. Second, a technological innovation that refers to new or remarkably improved products, goods, or services in terms of their technical specifications, components, materials, software, design, or other functional features. Third, health innovation that focuses on novel or enhanced health policies, systems, products, technologies, services, and care delivery schemes to improve people’s health. Finally, this Research Topic highlights attempts to develop integrated innovation that can add value to social policy, health policy, and environmental policy by improving efficiency, effectiveness, quality, sustainability, safety, and affordability.

This book is dedicated to clarify ambiguous concepts from the world of creativity and innovation. One of the initial triggers for the development of the book was the perceived ambiguity of the binomials Design vs. Design Thinking and Innovation vs. Invention. Frequently, designers and innovation consultants are questioned by their clients about the relationships between these kind of concepts. Has the second emerged through the first, or vice-verse? Is one part of the other? Where are the similarities and which are the differences? This conceptual incomprehension makes itself noticeable between many ambiguous concepts in the world of innovation and creativity. What is the difference between Radical and Disruptive Innovation? Or is Social Innovation the same as Social Intervention? And regarding Creativity, are Creativity and Creative Thinking the same? In this book the reader will find answers to these kinds of questions and doubts. 28 authors from 10 different countries and cultural backgrounds are questioning current definitions and perceptions, by comparing different sources and ideas, or simply by giving their personal opinions. Some of the authors have an academic background, others a practical one, being either entrepreneurs, working with innovation in companies, or being innovation/design consultants.

It is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be referred to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters. Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals. Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely lifelogging and self-monitoring, remote monitoring of vital signs, emotional state recognition, food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, activity and personal assistance, gesture recognition, fall detection and prevention, mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed.

Social innovations are usually understood as new ideas, initiatives, or solutions that make it possible to meet the challenges of societies in fields such as social security, education, employment, culture, health, environment, housing, and economic development. On the one hand, many citizen science activities serve to achieve scientific as well as social and educational goals. Thus, these actions are opening an arena for introducing social innovations. On the other hand, some social innovations are further developed, adapted, or altered after the involvement of scientist-supervised citizens in research and with the use of the citizen science tools and methods such as action research, crowdsourcing, and community-based participatory research. Such approaches are increasingly recognized as crucial for gathering data, addressing community needs, and creating engagement and cooperation between citizens and professional scientists. However, there are also various barriers to both citizen science and social innovation. For example, management, quality and protection of data, funding difficulties, non-recognition of citizens’ contributions, and limited inclusion of innovative research approaches in public policies. In this volume, we open theoretical as well as empirically-based discussion, including examples, practices, and case studies of at least three types of relations between citizen science and social innovation: domination of the citizen science features over social innovation aspects; domination of the social innovation features over the citizen science aspects; and the ways to achieve balance and integration between the social innovation and citizen science features. Each of these relationships highlights factors that influence the development of the main scales of sustainability of innovations in the practice. These innovations are contributing to a new paradigm of learning and sharing knowledge as well as interactions and socio-psychological development of participants. Also, there are factors that influence the development of platforms, ecosystems, and sustainability of innovations such as broad use of the information and communications technologies including robotics and automation; emerging healthcare and health promotion models; advancements in the development and governance of smart, green, inclusive and age-friendly cities and communities; new online learning centers; agri-food, cohousing or mobility platforms; and engagement of citizens into co-creation or co-production of services delivered by public, private, non-governmental organizations as well as non-formal entities.

The chapter is the final one in the volume of collected papers aiming to discuss the sharing economy in Europe. The idea of the book emerged within the research network created by the COST Action CA16121 ‘From Sharing to Caring: Examining Socio-Technical Aspects of the Collaborative Economy.’ The authors of the chapter sum up theoretical and empirical materials as well as country-specific cases provided in the book. The article critically assesses the current status of the sharing economy in European countries by highlighting major controversial issues related to deregulation, market disruption, or social inequality. The authors conclude that, considering the comprehensive and up-to-date materials collected and analysed in the book, it may become an outstanding source of knowledge and a practical tool in the process of expansion of the sharing economy in Europe and beyond.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse approaches to the sharing economy from the perspective of public policy science. In the first part of the text, attention is paid to perceiving the development of the emerging sharing economy not only as phenomenon with positive economic effects but also as a set of public problems (e.g., on the labour market and for existing economic structures) that require intervention at the level of national governments as well as at international level. Subsequent sections identify possible actions for regulating the development of the sharing economy. The role of soft law, stakeholders’ networks, self-regulation and standardisation are discussed in the chapter. The summary includes potential directions for further research.

This chapter explains the rationale behind the book. It provides basic definitions of the concept of the sharing economy as well as the primary meanings related to the subject of the analysis undertaken in the subsequent chapters. This Introduction also includes a description of the main benefits of the analysis of the sharing economy from a European perspective. It highlights that the idea of the book emerged from the collaboration of most co-authors in the COST Action CA16121 ‘From Sharing to Caring: Examining Socio-Technical Aspects of the Collaborative Economy.’ Finally, the outline of the book is presented, providing a description of the content of each chapter within this academic collection.

This open access book considers the development of the sharing and collaborative economy with a European focus, mapping across economic sectors, and country-specific case studies. It looks at the roles the sharing economy plays in sharing and redistribution of goods and services across the population in order to maximise their functionality, monetary exchange, and other aspects important to societies. It also looks at the place of the sharing economy among various policies and how the contexts of public policies, legislation, digital platforms, and other infrastructure interrelate with the development and function of the sharing economy. The book will help in understanding the future economy models as well as to contribute in solving questions of better access to resources and sustainable innovation in the context of degrowth and growing inequalities within and between societies. It will also provide a useful source for solutions to the big challenges of our times such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and recently the coronavirus disease pandemic. This book will be of interest to academics and students in economics and business, organisational studies, sociology, media and communication and computer science.

Ambient assisted living technologies are increasingly presented and sold as essential smart additions to daily life and home environments that will radically transform the healthcare and wellness markets of the future. An ethical approach and a thorough understanding of all ethics in surveillance/monitoring architectures are therefore pressing. AAL poses many ethical challenges raising questions that will affect immediate acceptance and long-term usage. Furthermore, ethical issues emerge from social inequalities and their potential exacerbation by AAL, accentuating the existing access gap between high-income countries and low and middle-income countries. Legal aspects mainly refer to the adherence to existing legal frameworks and cover issues related to product safety, data protection, cybersecurity, intellectual property, and access to data by public, private, and government bodies. Successful privacy-friendly AAL applications are needed, as the pressure to bring Internet of Things devices and ones equipped with artificial intelligence quickly to market cannot overlook the fact that the environments in which AAL will operate are mostly private. The social issues focus on the impact of AAL technologies before and after their adoption. Future AAL technologies need to consider all aspects of equality such as gender, race, age and social disadvantages and avoid increasing loneliness and isolation among, e.g. older and frail people. Finally, the current power asymmetries between the target and general populations should not be underestimated nor should the discrepant needs and motivations of the target group and those developing and deploying AAL systems. Whilst AAL technologies provide promising solutions for the health and social care challenges, they are not exempt from ethical, legal and social issues. A set of ELSI guidelines is needed to integrate these factors at the research and development stage.