STAKES, National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health

web site: http://www.stakes.fi

STAKES (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health), Helsinki, is an advisory and expert institute under the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. STAKES employs regularly a staff of about 300. According to the law, STAKES has to follow and evaluate the progress in the field of social and health care: Preventive activities (population, environments and living conditions, mental health); welfare and health services (composition and quality of services, promotion of independent living); databases and information services (welfare research, health research, statistics and registers, information services). This statutory task is performed via multidisciplinary and multiprofessional research and development projects. Information, research and development are the main tasks, that are performed from funds allocated from government budget.

There are more than one hundred projects in operation yearly, whose results are published in reports or lead to new forms and methods of action. STAKES produces almost one hundred publications a year, mostly in Finnish language to a Finnish audience. STAKES conveys both nationals an international information with the view to promoting development in the field. It also provides information from Finland for international use, e.g. through its experts participating in the work of UN, EU and WHO and by partaking in international research networks. STAKES is the statistics-compiling authority in Finland in its field.

The Unit "DfA" and the Unit "Assistive technology" promotes older people's and disabled people's independent living and habitation in homes by assessing, researching, developing and disseminating information: living and care environments, quality and functioning of services and technical aids, technology and its utilization from the users' viewpoint. The main subject index codes are independent living, user involvement, user centred design/planning, user centred evaluation of related activity areas, constructive technology assessment, design-for-all, impact of assistive technology, ethics, legislation, awareness raising. The unit has multidisciplinary experience in European research and development projects over many years and co-operation with national municipalities and organisations in the field.