Business model for sensor-based fall recognition systems

Abstract

AAL systems require, in addition to sophisticated and reliable technology, adequate business models for their launch and sustainable establishment. This paper presents the basic features of alternative business models for a sensor-based fall recognition system which was developed within the context of the “Lower Saxony Research Network Design of Environments for Ageing” (GAL). The models were developed parallel to the R&D process with successive adaptation and concretization. An overview of the basic features (i.e. nine partial models) of the business model is given and the mutual exclusive alternatives for each partial model are presented. The partial models are interconnected and the combinations of compatible alternatives lead to consistent alternative business models. However, in the current state, only initial concepts of alternative business models can be deduced. The next step will be to gather additional information to work out more detailed models.

• AAL
• business model
• fall recognition
• sensor

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the participants of the Research Days of the GAL project for helpful comments. The authors wish to thank especially Felix Büsching, Matthias Gietzelt, Stefan Goetze, Simon Winkelbach, and two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. Remaining errors are the authors’ own.

Notes

¹The decision to buy or rent a fall recognition system depends on a lot of factors beside the product price, e.g. the probability that a fall is prevented, and is discussed in great detail in (57).

²Germany has an approved list of products that may be reimbursed by the social institutions. The list is compiled by the Central Federal Association of Health Insurance Funds (Section 139 SGB V). However, the list is not exclusive and in some cases, other products can be reimbursed.

³Opportunity costs are the “cost of using resources, including time, in their best alternative foregone.”; (38): p. 430.