João Rosas

An approach to assess collaboration readiness

The level of readiness of an organisation to join a collaborative process depends on ‘hard’ factors such as competency fitness or technological compatibility, but also on several other factors of a ‘soft’ nature such as an organisations character, willingness to collaborate, or affectivity/empathy relationships. Considering these aspects, a modelling approach to assess how prepared an enterprise is to join a collaborative network is proposed. The approach is based on the notion of ‘character’ of the organisation, addressing behavioural aspects regarding collaboration. The distinction between collaboration readiness and preparedness is established. In order to deal with the incompleteness of information and uncertainties associated to the readiness assessment process, it is proposed to use belief networks, which allow performing inference concerning behavioural characteristics of organisations. The approach is then extended in order to handle decision making under situations characterised by uncertainty. An example illustrates how the approach can be integrated in a partners suggestion mechanism.

A multi-agent based platform for virtual communities in elderly care

The growing numbers of elderly population impose an urgent need to develop new approaches to care provision. The convergence of a number of technologies such as multi-agent systems, federated information management, safe communications, hypermedia interfaces, rich sensorial environments, increased intelligence of home appliances, and collaborative virtual environments, represents an important enabling factor for the design and development of virtual elderly support community environments. In this paper, a platform based on mobile agents combined with federated information management mechanisms is introduced as a flexible infrastructure on top of which specialized care services can be built.

Extended competencies model for collaborative networks

One of the steps usually undertaken in the formation of partnerships is the assessment of organisations’ competencies. The typical notion of competencies, which have a functional or technical nature and provide specific outcomes, refers, in fact, to what can be considered as hard competencies. However, the very act of collaboration has its specific requirements, for which the involved organisations must be apt to exercise other types of competencies that affect their own performance and the success of the partnership. These competencies are more of a behavioural nature, and can be named as soft competencies. This study aims at addressing the effects of the soft competencies on the performance of the hard ones. An extended competencies model is thus proposed, allowing the construction of adjusted competencies profiles, in which the competency levels are dynamically determined according to the requirements of collaboration opportunities. The idea of competencies fitness arises from this adjustment, allowing better selection of partners.

Care services ecosystem for ambient assisted living

Effective provision of care and assistance services in ambient assisted living requires the involvement and collaboration of multiple stakeholders. To support such collaboration, the development of an ecosystem of products and services for active ageing plays an important role. This article introduces a conceptual architecture that supports such care ecosystem. In order to facilitate understanding and better interrelate concepts, a 3-layered model is adopted: Infrastructure layer, Care and assistance services layer and Ambient Assisted Living ecosystem layer. A holistic perspective of ambient assisted living, namely considering four important life settings is adopted: (1) independent living; (2) health and care in life; (3) occupation in life and (4) recreation in life. The proposed architecture is designed in the context of a national Portuguese project and in accordance with the findings of a large European road mapping initiative on ICT and ageing.

A Collaborative Services Ecosystem for Ambient Assisted Living

A conceptual architecture for ambient assisted living is introduced as a contribution to the development of an ecosystem of products and services supporting active ageing. In order to facilitate understanding and better inter-relate concepts, a 3-layered model is adopted: Infrastructure layer, Care and assistance services layer, and AAL ecosystem layer. A holistic perspective of ambient assisted living, namely considering four important life settings is adopted: (i) Independent living; (ii) Health and care in life; (iii) Occupation in life; and (iv) Recreation in life.

A Collaboration Readiness Assessment Approach

Collaboration readiness depends on “hard” factors such as competency fitness or technological preparedness, but also on several other factors of a “soft” nature such as organization’s character, willingness to collaborate, or affectivity / empathy relationships. A modeling approach to assess how prepared is an enterprise to join a collaborative network is proposed. The approach is based on a notion of “character” of the organization and the use of belief networks. An example illustrates the proposal.

An Organization’s Extended (Soft) Competencies Model

One of the steps usually undertaken in partnerships formation is the assessment of organizations’ competencies. Typically considered competencies of a functional or technical nature, which provide specific outcomes can be considered as hard competencies. Yet, the very act of collaboration has its specific requirements, for which the involved organizations must be apt to exercise other type of competencies that affect their own performance and the partnership success. These competencies are more of a behavioral nature, and can be named as soft-competencies. This research aims at addressing the effects of the soft competencies on the performance of the hard ones. An extended competencies model is thus proposed, allowing the construction of adjusted competencies profiles, in which the competency levels are adjusted dynamically according to the requirements of collaboration opportunities.

Integrated care services in ambient assisted living

A conceptual architecture for an ambient assisted living ecosystem is introduced with the objective of facilitating the development and provision of integrated care and assistance services for senior citizens. These services are the result of collaboration among various stakeholders. An example of service design in this context is also presented.

Risk Assessment in Open Innovation Networks

Innovation is considered crucial for enterprises survival and current economic environment demands the best ways of achieving it. However, the development of complex products and services require the utilization of diverse know-how and technology, which enterprises may not hold. An effective strategy for achieving them is to rely in open innovation. Still, open innovation projects may fail for many causes, e.g. due to the dynamics of collaboration between partners. To effectively benefit from open innovation, it is recommended the utilization of adequate risk models. For achieving such models, a preliminary conceptualization of open innovation and risk is necessary, which includes modeling experiments with existing risk models, such as the FMEA.

Development of an Ecosystem for Ambient Assisted Living

Society is facing big demographic changes. In 2050, it is expected that the number of elders will reach 1500 million (about 16% of the world population). As people age, they become more dependent on assistance services. Care and assistance organizations start failing, as the number of people who need help increases beyond their ability to comply. The creation of an ecosystem for Ambient Assisted Living, facilitating partnerships creation between service providers, is proposed as a strategy to improve care provision and leverage its capacity. The specification of the ecosystem is based on canonical models and verified through simulation.