The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz), with sites in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen (with an associated branch in Osnabrück) and a project office in Berlin, is the leading German research institute in the field of innovative software technology. In the international scientific community, DFKI ranks among the most recognized "Centers of Excellence" and is currently the biggest research center worldwide in the area of Artificial Intelligence and its applications in terms of number of employees and the volume of external funds.
The DFKI Competence Center Ambient Assisted Living - CCAAL - is a cross-project and cross-department virtual organization within the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence coordinating and conducting research and development in the area of Ambient Assisted Living - AAL. It joins forces from all the available research areas at the DFKI and thus has access to a large range of skills in the field of AAL. Driving force for research and development are primarily the users of the technology, the shareholders and business partners, resulting in a holistic approach to AAL.
In the long run, CCAAL aims in the creation of an accessible intelligent environment beyond the current development status, based on open architectures and innovative solutions, so that each individual can enjoy a safe and independent life, being an active part of the society. This is achieved by the combination of skills, and latest results from ongoing research projects of the areas involved (see http://aal.dfki.de). The competence center pays special attention to close cooperation with industry and maintains a network of both national and international companies.
A special feature of the Centre of Excellence are the laboratories: BAALL (Bremen Ambient Assisted Living Lab) and Smart Kitchen (DFKI Saarbrücken). BAALL provides a habitable apartment of 60 m², which is equipped with the latest living areas and building automation technologies. It is focusing on the development of mobility assistants (intelligent wheelchair and walker) and their interaction with the environment (see "pizza" or "Kitchen" at www.youtube.com/user/dfkivideo).
In CrowdHEALTH, DFKI is a main actor in the use cases implementation and experimentation, by utilizing all the methodologies, frameworks and tools offered by CrowdHEALTH in order to realize the corresponding application scenarios defined in CrowdHEALTH. What is more, DFKI leads the use case of Data value in healthcare emerging from living labs, where patients’ activity and nutrition habits will be integrated with all health and medical related information in HHRs, thus allowing identification of relationships between diseases and lifestyle choices and activities.