Eisai Co., Ltd. and Mamorio, Inc. announced that they have entered into an agreement to collaborate on the development of the Me- Mamorio tracking tool to support people with dementia going out. The two companies will conduct a demonstration experiment aiming for implementation as well as development of Me- Mamorio under cooperation with various stakeholders including the government, healthcare professionals and care workers.

Me- Mamorio is a small tag that utilizes the short-range wireless Bluetooth communication standard. When people with dementia who carry the Me- Mamorio tag pass close to people in the community who have the corresponding application installed on their smartphones, positional data is automatically sent to a server. This positional data is then automatically transmitted to careworkers, family members and other designated people. People in the community are not notified when people with dementia carrying the Me- Mamorio are near, however by just carrying a smartphone with Bluetooth switched on they can cooperate with community-wide support for people with dementia going out. The strengths of Me- Mamorio are that it is small and lightweight compared with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, and easy for dementia patients to carry. The aim of Me- Mamorio is to enable people with dementia to preserve their individuality and allow them to go out freely in the areas they are used to with peace of mind and safety.

It is said that there are various reasons for people with dementia wanting to go outside the home including the patients themselves having a strong need or feeling anxiety. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, of the missing persons reported to the police in 2015, 12,208 of them were people with dementia. Ever since statistics were recorded in 2012, this number has been rising year after year. Among them, 150 people were still missing at the end of 2015. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of patients with dementia was approximately 4.62 million in 2012, and is expected to increase to approximately 7 million by 2025.

Leveraging the experience gained from the development and marketing of treatments for Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, Eisai has been working in cooperation with various stakeholders including the government, healthcare professionals and care workers to build communities where people can live safely even if they have dementia. With agreements signed with medical associations and local governments in approximately 65 locations nationwide, Eisai is realizing interprofessional collaboration among healthcare professionals, care workers and others. These kinds of dementia-related knowledge and capabilities built up will be utilized in the demonstration experiment and development for Me-Mamorio.

Under its vision of “Forget about forgetting”, Mamorio Inc. develops and manages a number of products and services including Japan's biggest lost and found portal site “Otoshimono.com” (http://otoshimono.com) as well as the world's smallest IoT product Mamorio, a tag which utilizes Bluetooth that when simply attached to an important object, can be quickly located if lost by having an alert and map displayed on a smartphone receiving information from a user-based smartphone crowdtracking platform. Mamorio will utilize the assets built up through these platforms in the demonstration experiment and development for Me-Mamorio.

Eisai and Mamorio will work to advance the demonstration experiment and development for Me- Mamorio aiming to realize the establishment of an environment where people with dementia can preserve their individuality and go out freely in the places they are used to living in with peace of mind and safety, as well as build an environment where the community as a whole can look out for people with dementia.