NSF Funds Center for Quality of Life Technology
Posted on July 17, 2006 Comments (0)
Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) have been awarded a $15 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an engineering research center that will develop technologies to help older adults and people with disabilities live independently and productively.
“The purpose of our new center is to foster independence and self determination among older Americans and people with disabilities,” said Kanade. “If the technology we develop at the QoLT ERC can delay the need to send people from their homes to assisted living or nursing facilities by even one month, we can save our nation $1.2 billion annually. We need to apply the same ingenuity that we’ve used for military, space and manufacturing applications to improve the human condition.”
Japan has also been investing heavily in such technology including robots. Japan’s population is more elderly and the needs and benefits to Japan have lead them to invest heavily in technology to assist an aging population.
“We also expect this work to be a catalyst for start-up companies that will bring jobs to the region and further strengthen Pittsburgh’s reputation as a center for development and commercialization of health-related technology,” Cohon said.
See press release from the Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) Center
See more post about the economic impact of science and technology.
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