Our Project Partners
Partners from the fields of research, professional practice, and society
|
ambet e.V. Braunschweig |
Neuland Wolfsburg |
Leuphana University Lüneburg |
Senior Services Office Wolfenbüttel |
ambet e.V.
Outpatient Care for People in Need of Assistance and Nursing Care e.V.
ambet e.V. is a nonprofit organization based in Braunschweig that has been a reliable partner for nursing care, support, and social inclusion in the region for over 40 years. Founded in 1983, ambet e.V. has grown from a small initiative of dedicated social workers and caregivers into a modern social enterprise with more than 300 employees. Each year, the organization assists and supports over 2,500 people with personalized assistance and care services.
Our work focuses on older adults, people in need of care, and people with mental health conditions. The goal of ambet e.V. is to empower people to maintain their independence, dignity, and quality of life, and to enable them to participate in social life as independently as possible. In doing so, our organization is guided by the values of respect, responsibility, trust, and humanity.
ambet e.V. offers a wide range of social services. These include outpatient care, psychiatric nursing, sociotherapy, social participation and assistance, assisted living arrangements, occupational therapy, and counseling services for people with illnesses as well as their family members and loved ones. These services are complemented by neighborhood assistance, in-home emergency response systems, continuing education programs, and innovative projects in the area of communal living. In Braunschweig and Salzgitter, ambet e.V. operates two nursing homes for people with dementia. We are a member of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband Niedersachsen e.V.
We place particular emphasis on individualized and holistic care. Our focus is on people—their personal needs, abilities, and life stories. Through professional counseling, qualified care, and social support, the organization creates reliable structures that enable people to live with dignity in old age or when facing health challenges.
In addition, ambet e.V. is actively involved in the Braunschweig region’s community. Projects such as the “Glücksquelle” and the “Achilles Hof” community center in Watenbüttel promote social interaction, mutual support, and social participation. Together with partners, volunteers, and family members, the association works to foster a sense of solidarity and a high quality of life for all.
Thanks to our many years of experience, our wide range of services, and our dedicated staff, ambet is now a well-established presence in the social and care sectors in Braunschweig and the surrounding area.
Demographic change poses a huge challenge for all providers of social or care services. Rising demand is offset by a steadily declining number of skilled workers. There are already significant shortages, particularly in the areas of nursing and care, and these are expected to increase dramatically in the coming years. People in need of assistance will increasingly have to rely on support from their families or social networks. Socially isolated individuals or those without a family network are at risk of being left behind. Enabling independent and self-determined living in familiar home environments is a key goal of our work. Against this backdrop, we wholeheartedly welcome the project by HAW Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and Leuphana University Lüneburg to support this group of people in maintaining their independence through the use of AI-supported assistance!
Role in the project
ambet e.V. brings its many years of expertise in outpatient care and support for older adults to the project and provides guidance for the co-creation workshops and the evaluation of the prototype from a nursing and geriatric psychiatry perspective.
Neuland
Housing Association Ltd.
Neuland was founded on November 2, 1938, and is firmly established in Wolfsburg as a municipally owned company. Managing approximately 11,500 rental apartments, 98 leased apartments, and 234 commercial units with a total of about 44,000 m² of retail and office space, it is one of the key players in the local real estate market and bears significant responsibility for the city’s housing and public services infrastructure.
Approximately 300 employees in administration and the maintenance department use their high level of professional expertise and strong commitment to provide comprehensive management of the real estate portfolio—from leasing and technical services to the sustainable development of buildings and neighborhoods.
Like many municipalities, Wolfsburg is facing significant demographic change: Currently, about 28,700 of its approximately 129,000 residents are 65 or older, representing about 22 percent of the population. In the Neuland housing stock, this proportion is as high as about 30 percent. The group of the very elderly is growing particularly rapidly, which poses significant challenges for housing, long-term care, and social infrastructure.
For Neuland, as a municipal housing authority, this brings a key issue into focus: It is not just a matter of building housing suitable for seniors, but above all of how to enable tenants to live independently in their own homes for an additional ten to fifteen years. Extending the length of time residents can remain in their familiar living environment makes a significant contribution to their quality of life and social stability.
Against this backdrop, Neuland expressly welcomes the initiative launched by HAW Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and Leuphana University of Lüneburg. The project offers great potential to strengthen AI research at the regional, national, and European levels, while also promoting the sustainable transfer of practical knowledge between academia and the regional economy.
Role in the project
Neuland is therefore actively participating in the HAW Ostfalia R&D project “DiGeWohl – Participatory Development and Testing of a Dialogue-Based Companion to Support Independent Living in Old Age,” led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dagmar Meyer. The solution developed is being tested in the company’s own residential facilities as well as in two assisted-living communities that provide outpatient care.
Through close collaboration with tenants and by drawing on over 30 years of experience in housing counseling and supporting shared living communities for people with dementia, Neuland makes a significant contribution to the practical and participatory further development of the technology.
The goal is to create digital support services that tangibly improve the quality of life for older adults and enable them to live independently in their own homes over the long term. At the same time, this interdisciplinary approach offers the opportunity to generate sustainable added value for both tenants and the urban community.
Leuphana University / Prof. Dr. Ricardo Usbeck
Associate Partner
As an associate partner, Prof. Dr. Ricardo Usbeck of Leuphana University Lüneburg contributes his academic expertise to the DiGeWohl project. As a professor of business informatics specializing in artificial intelligence and explainability, he leads national and international research projects in the areas of knowledge graphs, large language models (LLMs), chatbots, and AI for social applications.
His research projects include, among others, the European-Japanese project “e-VITA” (EU Japan Virtual Coach for Smart Ageing), which developed digital solutions to promote the well-being of older adults. The project focused, among other things, on conversation-based assistance systems and smart sensor systems.
Rolle im Projekt
In the DiGeWohl project, Prof. Dr. Usbeck supports the project team, particularly with his expertise in large language models, knowledge graphs, and methods of knowledge injection and personalized AI interaction.
Senior Services Office of the City of Wolfenbüttel
Municipal Partner
The city places special emphasis on supporting its senior citizens. The Senior Services Office, which was established in November 2008, is a key component of this effort. It serves as an independent point of contact for seniors, their families, and providers of support services.
The office’s goal is to help older adults maintain their independence and quality of life, and it is committed to promoting healthy aging and ensuring that all older adults can participate in community life. In addition to serving as a network partner and identifying local assistance and support services, the office also offers the following specific services, among others:
- Form Assistance (including applications for long-term care and applications for severely disabled status)
- Care and Dementia Counseling
- Advice on drafting powers of attorney for financial matters and advance healthcare directives
- Highlighting health and recreational opportunities
- Organizing cultural and informational events
Through this community-oriented infrastructure, Wolfenbüttel ensures that the needs of the older generation are taken seriously and that they can continue to live with dignity and receive the care they need in familiar surroundings.
Rolle im Projekt
As a college town, Wolfenbüttel is pleased to be able to participate, through its Senior Service Office, in HAW Ostfalia’s R&D project “DiGeWohl – Participatory Development and Testing of a Dialogue-Based Companion to Support Independent Living in Old Age.” Through its existing networks, the Senior Service Office can and will communicate the project and its results and integrate them into its own events to support public outreach for the project at the regional level.