We interviewed Filios Savvides, who graduated in civil engineering and accounting. After working as a banker and a chartered accountant in the UK, Greece, Australia and Cyprus for over 20 years, he is providing for the past 8 years consultancy in Strategic planning, business development and financial issues and more and more he focuses on the Ageing services sector in Cyprus. Through his involvement in NGOs and private sector Care service providers in Cyprus and Greece, as well as the shaping of Cyprus public policy relating to ageing, he has grown to be very familiar with the development processes of new products and services for older adults, hence his participation as a business development expert in the Advisory Board of the Frailsafe project.
From the perspective of a Business expert, what makes EU FrailSafe unique and therefore, what is its competitive advantage?
Frailsafe proposes a multi-dimensional approach to measuring and dealing with Frailty, unlike other existing, possibly competing systems, which deal with one or two aspects of frailty. I believe this is its strongest value. The fact that the data is not a one-off collection basis, but a continuous measurement, is another significant benefit. Final cost estimates will be critical to its market success, but I can see why it would be appealing to insurance companies and the public health system.
In what way can EU FrailSafe support the European Member States in reducing their healthcare costs in the long run?
Should the system come to the market in a cost-effective price, it would contribute to reducing the cost of treating patients after negative hard-outcome incidents like falls, fractures, hospitalization, need for nursing care or 24-hour long-term care. In addition, it would provide an effective tool to monitor the needs of the older population and to intervene at an earlier time-point, while at the same time involving the families of the older adults, thus maximizing the focus and effectiveness of the support they provide to their family members.
What would you name as the most exploitable results of the EU H2020 funded EU FrailSafe project?
Frailsafe provides several exploitable aspects. The advantage of Frailsafe is that it uses cutting-edge technology and deep-learning algorithms to create a personalized preventive - predictive system. The results of the variables which are the most predictive of an older adult’s possibility of transition to the next frailty level, and the ability to implement them to a specific person, are in my opinion highly exploitable, especially with insurance companies and the state health system who currently suffer high costs to treat health problems which arise due to frailty.