Eisai and MAMORIO have announced that the MeMAMORIO tracking tool to support people with dementia and seniors going out will be launched in Japan on September 13.

Me-MAMORIO is a small tag that utilizes the short-range wireless Bluetooth communication standard. It is light weight and shaped like a round button. To make it easier for people with dementia and seniors to carry it around with them, it can be sewn into a jacket or hat or attached to a bag or wallet. When people with dementia and seniors carrying the Me-MAMORIO tag pass close to people in the community who have the corresponding application installed on their smartphones, or to fixed receivers which have been set up in stations and other areas, Me-MAMORIO's positional data is automatically sent to a server. Family members or related care workers can then confirm the positional data with their smartphones. Additionally, to prepare for emergency situations such as the sudden injury or illness of a Me-MAMORIO user, services such as a 24-hour hotline for emergency medical advice and a medical institution information service will be provided in collaboration with the Tokio Marine Group.

According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, by the year 2025, in which the baby boomer generation will be aged 75 and over, there will be 36.57 million seniors aged 65 or over in Japan, accounting for 30% of the overall population. Additionally, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare estimates that by the year 2025, one in five people aged 65 or over will suffer from dementia, increasing the number of dementia sufferers to approximately 7 million. Furthermore, according to statistics provided by the National Police Agency, of the missing persons reported to the police in 2016, 15,432 were people with dementia. This number has been increasing year after year since they began tracking it in 2012.

Eisai and Mamorio entered into an agreement to jointly develop Me-MAMORIO in July 2016, and with the cooperation of various stakeholders including local governments and community residents, conducted demonstrations aiming for implementation. The demonstrations revealed that modifying the shape and weight of tags to make them easier to carry and improving the accuracy of positional data were necessary to support people with dementia and seniors going out freely. Additionally, it was determined that in conjunction with the usage of Me-MAMORIO, it would be important to create a supportive environment, including a human network. Since 2008, Eisai has been collaborating with various stakeholders including local governments, healthcare professionals and care workers to build communities where people with dementia can live safely and with peace of mind. This includes disease awareness activities and interprofessional collaboration such as between healthcare professionals and care workers. With the use of Me-MAMORIO as the premise, Eisai aims to support the creation of community environments where residents can help watch over people with dementia and seniors to support them going out.

MAMORIO already possesses one of Japan's largest smartphone application networks, which was built up through sales of MAMORIO (another type of tag that uses the same IoT tag technology as MeMAMORIO to track lost items), and fixed receivers which have been set up in "MAMORIO Spots", such as stations and department stories, to pick up positional data from tags. These will also be usable for the rollout of Me-MAMORIO.

In addition to spreading Me-MAMORIO, Eisai and MAMORIO will work together to establish an environment where the community as a whole can look out for people with dementia and seniors, and realize a society where people with dementia and seniors can preserve their individuality and freely go out in the town they're used to living in.