Two proof-of-concept applications plays an important role in the development of the M•POWER architecture and middleware components supporting the architecture. Two end user scenarios (see annex B) has been described in order to span out the needs in relation to the M-Power architecture, middleware components and proof-of-concept applications. These scenarios will be further elaborated during the first two months of the project. They cover the focus areas:

1. A collaborative environment for distributed and shared care, providing requirements for information security, information models, context awareness, usability and interoperability.
2. A SMART HOUSE environment, providing requirements for information security, information models and usability.

The project will develop a platform that makes it commercially feasible for the wider IT industry (not just SMART HOUSE technology providers) to develop distributed integrated applications offering innovative services to cognitive disabled and elderly. The project will focus on the challenge of making it possible to develop services where:

• Bio-sensors and SMART HOUSE technology are integrated. (D2.3)
• Interoperability between systems is central (e.g. today different stakeholders have systems with limited support for interchange of information). (D4.3)
• The system has to cope with various user contexts (e.g. change of terminal used for interacting with the system) and where usability is central. (D3.4)
• Information security is enabled through security components facilitating storage security, communication security, access rights and client security. (D5.3)
• Information safety is enabled through components facilitating information distribution and standardised information models. (D3.3)

There is potentially a large market for services for the cognitive disabled and elderly, and considerable scope of innovation. But technical difficulties and the resulting high development costs today make it commercially unattractive to develop them. To overcome these difficulties, the project will:

• Identify commonly occurring technical issues that need to be solved each time a new integrated service for elderly and cognitive disabled is designed
• Specify and implement components which address these issues
• Include smart phones in the service provision architecture, so that the mobile devices take part in providing services – not just in accessing them
• Develop a dynamic mapping between medical, social and context information models and sensor and legacy system interfaces.
• Deal with the challenging problem of combining SMART HOUSE technology and task specific applications used by different stakeholders within interoperable services
• Provide structured mechanisms for representing and adapting to changes in user context in a distributed, mobile environment
• Develop two challenging proof-of-concept applications (one for each user organisation) to drive the work of the project, providing concrete examples of technical challenges to be addressed, and a means to validate the platform developed
• Evaluate the use of middleware components and the M•POWER architectural framework when building the proof-of-concept applications, and the end-users use of the proof-of-concept applications.
• Promote standardisation by aligning the M•POWER approach with the work of HL7 and promote the platform for members of EAHSA.