The project addresses the challenges of population ageing in rural cross-border areas between Spain and Portugal, where older adults struggle to access adequate care services. The lack of integrated services, the digital divide, unwanted loneliness, and a shortage of technological infrastructure create inequalities that affect their quality of life and social inclusion. The project’s overall objective is to promote an inclusive, accessible, and sustainable model of care through the creation of Smarthaus Villages, which act as living laboratories of innovation in well-being, community health, care, and active ageing, applying principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB): sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics. The project will be developed through cross-border cooperation to promote more accessible, effective, and resilient care services. This strategic cooperation will enable the design and implementation of joint solutions that integrate care technologies, inclusive digitalisation, and person-centred, local care models, prioritising community services adapted to rural areas.

The implementation of this innovative model seeks to guarantee access to essential services, promote personal autonomy, community participation, and active ageing among older people, and contribute to the socio-economic development of the rural areas involved.

Principal Investigator Rui Fonseca Pinto (rui.pinto@ipleiria.pt)

Research Team

• ciTechCare: Luís Luís (luis.luis@ipleiria.pt)
• Polytechnic University of Leiria  (School of Health Sciences): João Paulo Marques (jpaulo@ipleiria.pt); Tiago Maurício (tiago.mauricio@ipleiria.pt).

Institutional Partners and Others

• Universidad de Vigo
• Diputación Provincial de Ourense
• Universidad de Santiago de Compostela – Instituto de Investigación en Psicología (IPsiUS)
• Xunta de Galicia – Dirección Xeral de Maiores e Atención Sociosanitaria (DXMAS)
• Diputación Provincial de León
• Diputación Provincial de Cáceres
• Asociación de fomento da economía Social e da investigación: Centro de apoio a innovación tecnoloxica en Intelixencia Artificial para a transición dixital (AIATD)
• Diputación Provincial de Zamora
• Comunidade Intermunicipal do Alto Minho (CIM Alto Minho)
• Comunidade Intermunicipal do Alto Tâmega e Barroso (CIMAT)
• Comunidade Intermunicipal das Terras de Trás-os-Montes (CIM-TTM)
• Instituto Politécnico de Bragança (IPB)
• Comunidade Intermunicipal do Alto Alentejo (CIMAA)
• Comunidade Intermunicipal das Beiras e Serra da Estrela (CIM-BSE)
• Comunidade Intermunicipal da Beira Baixa (CIMBB)

Funding: Interreg