Espaitec launches a new co-creative project to help people with Parkinson’s and dysphagia

The initiative developed in the UJI.>LAB, the Espaitec livinglab, involved students of the degree in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development of the Universitat Jaume I and the Parkinson’s Association of Castellón.

Espaitec, the Science and Technology Park of the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló, has launched the SPENDER project, coordinated through the UJI.>LAB Challenge. This initiative has been conceived in response to the need for the use of thickener dispensers during the ingestion of food or liquids by people with Parkinson’s disease with dysphagia, i.e. with difficulties when swallowing food or liquids.

Currently, people with dysphagia pathology due to Parkinson’s disease, when they are away from home, resort to carrying the drink or food previously prepared with the thickener, or use infant devices to store and dose the thickener in situ. For example, powdered milk dispensers for babies, which usually have some kind of threaded locking mechanism, making them difficult to handle. This situation limits the inclusion of people with this pathology and conditions their life outside the home and comfort zone.

The UJI.>LAB Challenge SPENDER

The co-creative process between students of the degree in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering at the Universitat Jaume I and members of the Parkinson’s Association of Castellón will be materialised with the design and 3D printing through Espaitec’s FabLab, the prototyping laboratory, of various models of dispensers with a simple mechanism to obtain the doses of thickener needed by people with Parkinson’s disease and dysphagia. In this way, users will be able to add the thickener anywhere in an easy, discreet way, and also adapted to people with reduced mobility, always maintaining their anonymity.

UJI.>LAB

The UJI.>LAB, Espaitec’s LivingLab, is an environment for generating open and experimental innovation in which the talent of the university community and the society of the province of Castellón (citizen science) come together to co-creatively solve the challenges of the environment using specific methodologies.

The UJI.>LAB project has the financial support of the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI).