Every three seconds someone develops dementia – yet most people with dementia do not receive a diagnosis or support. Today, almost 50 million people worldwide are living with dementia. As populations continue to age, the prevalence of dementia is expected to increase to 152 million people by 2050. Greater awareness and understanding of dementia is important to challenge the myths and misconceptions that surround the condition.

Dementia is a growing societal challenge in the Danube region. However, the quality of dementia care lags behind European standards in terms of knowledge, skills and cooperation of healthcare professionals, availability of specific services, and use of assistive technology. The Danube region also suffers from emigration of healthcare workers.

Innovation for Dementia in the Danube Region (INDEED) is an INTERREG Danube Transnational Project financed by European Commission, priority: Innovative and socially responsible Danube region with the specific objective to ,,Increase competences for business and social innovation” and has a duration of 3 years (2018-2021).

The main objective of INDEED is to improve dementia care in the Danube region and contribute to the implementation of national dementia strategies, with the scope of enhancing the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers.

INDEED aims to increase the capacity of institutions involved in dementia care by means of a multiprofessional information package, a networking tool and a business consulting service. Using this three-component strategy, the project attempts to enhance the competences of multiple actors engaged in dementia care, foster their collaboration and coordination, and promote the development of innovative care facilities and business models.

The 10 partners of the project come from 10 countries: Germany (Technical University of Munich), Austria (The Brain Company GmbH, Vienna University of Economics and Business), Bulgaria (Bulgarian Society of Dementia), Czech Republic (National Institute of Mental Health), Hungary (Social Cluster Association), Romania (Romanian Alzheimer Society), Slovakia (Memory Centre Bratislava), Slovenia (University of Ljubljana), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alzheimer Association A&R Sarajevo).

The project has officially started on July 1st and the kick-off meeting took place in Munich on 25-26 September 2018. 

If you would like to find out more about the INDEED project:

visit the INDEED project at  dtp.interreg-danube.eu/indeed

Press Contact:

Communication Manager Mihaela Zamfir (mmg_architecturestudio (at) yahoo.com) - Romanian Alzheimer Society
Project Manager: Lea Pfäffel, M.Sc. (lea.pfaeffel (at) tum.de) - Technical University of Munich