EIT Digital started GameBus in 2015 through the Digital Wellbeing Action Line*. The idea came with the acknowledgment that as the European population is aging and are caught by the busy schedules of different daily duties, it's always a challenge to find a balance between work-life and leisure activities.
Why GameBus?
The GameBus team analysed that the expected mobility of active workers puts additional pressure on achieving this balance. At the same time, there is an economic need and corresponding political pressure for keeping the elderly longer at home, independent of managed care. Unless society provides new ways to empower European citizens, the anticipated economic benefits will be hindered by excessive pressure on families and home care organisations.
For these reasons, GameBus developed an easy-to-download social health games app, that stimulates interaction between groups of people like family members, employees or ordinary citizens. The result is a personalised gaming experience encouraging people to stay socially, mentally and physically active.
Achievements in 2016 and 2017 plan:
Pieter Van Gorp, GameBus Activity Leader says: "In 2016, we have developed five pilots across the Netherlands and Italy. We signed our first customers: a sports center with 12,000 members, Aireas.com, the city of Eindhoven and a Belgian municipality. Our Android and iOS apps have also been downloaded more than 500 times and also, thanks to our browser version, we exceeded the milestone of 1,000 users. In 2017, we are working on integration with a business partner's platform. We are also looking to close a large deal with an occupational health provider and of course we are working on finding investors."
GameBus will attend EIT Digital's Partner Event 2017 and will exhibit their product on the EIT Digital Conference on 21 March 2017.
For who is GameBus?
B2B markets
- European companies investing in the wellbeing of their employees
- Cities or regions wishing to attract health-aware workers
- Home care organisations wishing to activate the social/family circles of their elderly clients
End Users
- Active workers, struggling with the balance between work-life and leisure activities
- Employees with poor motivation to live healthily
- Citizens living in deprived neighbourhoods with bad health habits
- Elderly or disabled people who lack systematic family support
- Europe, with a focus on Benelux, France, Germany, UK and Italy
GameBus enables end users to define new health competitions without programming. It calculates scores for activities of different kinds and for different users.
For example, elderly users are able to play their favourite brain training game (e.g. Sudoku) while joining forces with their younger peers who go out for a physical activity (e.g. running).
The app aggregates data in attractive leader boards and activity dashboards and collects activity data from multiple sources.
It can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play as well as via the web: https://app.gamebus.eu.
To follow GameBus on social networks: see @GameBusApp on Facebook and Twitter.
GameBus has been launched by EIT Digital and with the support of partners: Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Telecom Italia (TIM), Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Trento RISE and Fondazione Bruno Kessler.
