Ambient Intelligence in smart environments

Ambient Intelligence deals with smart environments that react to the presence and activities of people and objects and offer them relevant services. Here, the technology moves into the background and, ideally, should not be apparent.

In the early days, research on smart cities was essentially limited to technological capabilities, but has now developed towards a socio-technical perspective. A major criticism of previous applications is the lack of participation and involvement of all citizens.

However, the requirements for smart environments are not the same for all people; it is important to address the individual needs of citizens and, in particular, to enable disadvantaged people to benefit. According to the World Health Organization, the percentage of people with disabilities is about 15%, which is more than one billion people. The Charter for the Smart City defines guidelines for future smart cities, which should be “participatory and inclusive”. The digital transformation should involve people with impairments of all kinds.

On this basis, the Ambient Intelligence research professorship focuses on possible solutions to make urban neighbourhoods equally accessible and useful for all people. To achieve this, groups of people with particular needs are involved as early as the design phase, during implementation and finally upon verification.