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The role of ICE-T was to:
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identify and develop new sustainable market and business opportunities
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understand and articulate user and provider need
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promote collaboration and bring together appropriate consortia
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provide support and seed funding for collaborative R&D projects developing innovative telecare products and services
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provide academic evaluation, technical monitoring and business planning support
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introduce new assisted living products and services to a wider audience and to act as a route to market
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Location
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England
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South East of England
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Detailed description of the practice
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In 2008, SEHTA took an alternative strategic approach looking at the priority areas for healthcare over the next decade. One of those identified was the delivery of care at home to support people to live as independently as possible - now commonly referred to as assisted living.
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SEHTA decided to focus its efforts around the development of new products and services in assisted living. But it also decided to take a more user centric and company (and particularly SME) oriented view of product development. In so doing it moved from being a research orientated cluster to a mission orientated cluster. This transition meant that the high level objective of “creating sustainable new businesses” could be re-stated as “helping companies bring to market new assisted living products and services that address an identified need”.
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This new cluster way of working was supported by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) with a grant of £1million. Following further research SEHTA identified three themes for new product and service development namely: •
Private Care Homes and Domiciliary Care
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Support for Fragile Individuals or Groups
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Support for People in Work or Returning to Work with a Long Term Condition
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A more precise description of the need in each thematic area was provided by a
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