On service e-marketplaces for independent and assisted living

e-Marketplaces for services are governed by similar, but not the same business and technology principles as e-Marketplaces for products. Additionally, in the particular case of e-Marketplaces for senior citizens, service innovation must be requestor-focused. Immobile (residential, fixed) and mobile ambient (sensors, actuators) intelligence devices cover the spectrum of requestor (consumer, patient) monitoring (daily living, health status, intensive care). On the society side, the aim is to enable older persons, nearing or in retirements, healthy or unhealthy, to live socially-included and economically-active lives. On the IT side, the aim is to provide innovative systems and solutions embracing contemporary shifts of computing paradigm to service science, cloud computing, mobile connectivity, business processes, and societal participation. In this paper we report on selected business and technological implications of embarking on the development of a service e- Marketplace platform for independent and assisted living. We discuss plausible business models, identify major success factors, and present software engineering challenges underpinning development of such platforms.