COSMOS

The human need for communication and integration is unlimited in terms of time, place and content in all life situations. This is especially true for people who pursue similar interests or goals or are confronted with certain problems. Cosmos is a joint project consisting of four sub-projects: Lifestyle, Healthcare, Infrastructure and Learningcenter.

The aim of the Healthcare sub-project is to design and pilot a community in the field of oncology. Cancer patients' needs for reliable information, contact with other patients and social support should be met wherever they arise and not just in specially designated places.

Mobile communities are made possible by a communication platform that is available anytime and anywhere with both conventional and mobile access devices. With the help of the network-supported community, long-term, value-based strategies are being developed for the oncology domain to cope with an existentially critical disease situation. Interaction, cohesion and solidarity between the participants are particularly important in the formation of the ubiquitous communities.

Cancer patients are provided with a professional and scientifically validated range of information regardless of time and place. In addition, the integration of patients into a community is made possible. Mobile and conventional applications are tailored to the specific needs of the target group "cancer patients" and continuously developed further together with project partners and patients. Based on these findings, business, service and operator models will be developed and consolidated into generic models as part of the joint project. Finally, a generic guideline for the systematic development of mobile communities (community engineering) will be developed.

Research partner

• Technical University of Munich,
• University of Hohenheim,
• O2 (Germany) GmbH & Co. OHG.

Further partners

• AOK Baden-Württemberg,
• Cancer Information Service KID,
• Interdisciplinary Tumor Center,
• Onkologischer Schwerpunkt Stuttgart e.V. and
• Dr. Šonje Webconsult GmbH.

Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Funding code 01 HW 0107 - 01 HW 011

• www.cosmos-community.org
• www.krebsgemeinschaft.de
• Project description TUM - Technical University of Munich

• Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister