Week of the Game
May 2019
The PREHealth multiplier event at Utrecht took place 13 May 2019. It was part of the Utrecht University “Week of the Game”, organized by the Utrecht Center for Game Research. The event was an organized occasion to play the GameOlympics game, an instantiation of the template game developed in the PREHealth project. It is a location-based game to stimulate outdoor activities by chronically ill children, together with healthy peers, thus preventing loneliness. Chronically ill children are at risk to suffer from loneliness, because the illness often leads to fatigue, which limits their time to play and socialize, and sets them apart from their peers.
The game was co-created and tested with chronically ill children at the Fritz Redle school, next to the Wilhelmina Children Hospital, so as to serve the goals of the PREHealth project, and the quality of the resulting game.
The event took place at the location between the Wilhelmina Children Hospital, the Utrecht Medical Center, Princess Maxima Center, and the Military Hospital, where many civilians, hospital personnel, students, and children pass by.
There were various news media items, for an overview see:
RTV Utrecht
Utrecht University NEWS: Looking back on the first Week of the Game
Health Tuesday in Utrecht
June 2019
UCREATE and RUIMTEVOLK organized a meet-up on Healthy Living Environment. PREHealth researcher Monique Simons co-hosted this meet-up. Watch the video here…
28 EU ambassadors visit the green, healthy, and smart city of Utrecht
May 2016
The ambassadors visited Utrecht because of the Dutch presidency of the EU. In the ‘Digital Playground’ at HKU Expertisecentrum Creative Technology in Fort Blauwkapel, they experience the wide scope of interactive applications: artificial intelligence, virtual reality, crowd simulation, and food design. The ambassadors were introduced to demos by Utrecht University, HKU and UMC Utrecht in the application areas sustainability, health, open, safe and inclusive societies, and adapting to a changing society.
As a knowledge-intensive region and with an international network, Utrecht has a special place in the field of interactive applications on the themes of green, healthy, and smart. Utrecht University, HKU and UMC Utrecht have been working together since 1998 in research and development of interactive applications within the triangle of technology, design and research. “Today, we have personally experienced the added value of working across the boundaries of disciplines. We really complement each other, with special applications as a result,” said Marjan Oudeman, president of the board of Utrecht University.
