Exploring opportunities to improve the Quality of Life (QOL) thorough expertise exchange between space and welfare fields; ranging from rehabilitation science to elderly care technology

Many industrialized countries such as Japan, the U.S., and European countries are rapidly accelerating toward an aged society. In the face of this aging demography, quality of life (QOL) and social participation of persons with disability and the elderly have gotten a lot of attention recently. There are some examples of spin-off products derived from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) technology, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Space Agencies. In Japan, for example, a Braille display for computer users with visual impairments, originally developed by NASDA (JAXA), is now available in the marketplace. Conversely, the possibility of applying rehabilitation technologies (e.g., increases in bone density) to space rehabilitation is being examined jointly by rehabilitation researchers and JAXA engineers. These initiatives are hoped to result in new conceptual frameworks for the transfer and sharing of educational and technological advancements. Along with human space activity progress, further expansion of the collaboration between space development and rehabilitation engineering is expected in various fields. As a front-runner of aging societies, Japan should take a lead role in exploring a range of possible areas on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF model) for collaboration between space and welfare fields.