What is Horizon Program and why does it research emotional care in life's most delicate stages?
Horizon Program is yeshcube’s applied research program dedicated to emotional care during highly sensitive life stages, such as aging, the gradual loss of autonomy and end-of-life processes.
Its aim is to study how technological solutions can be designed, validated and integrated so that they offer support without replacing healthcare, professional care or personal bonds.
Why these stages need research of their own
Aging is not a uniform process. Capacities, needs, preferences and support networks vary considerably from person to person, even between people of similar ages or in similar states of health.
The World Health Organization defines healthy aging in terms of the functional ability that allows each person to do what they consider worthwhile. That perspective includes autonomy, decision-making, relationships and taking part in everyday life.
For that reason, technology intended for these stages cannot simply transfer wellbeing tools designed for the general population. It has to adapt to different sensory, cognitive and physical capacities, avoid barriers to use, and keep the person in control of the interaction.
What Horizon Program researches
Horizon studies the conditions an emotional support solution must meet to be safe, understandable and useful in residential and social-healthcare settings.
The assessment pays attention to questions such as:
- Ease of use and accessibility.
- Acceptance by the people involved and their care networks.
- Respect for autonomy and the capacity to decide.
- The fit between the interaction and the person’s life context.
- Compatibility with existing professional care.
- The risks of dependency, confusion or displacement of the human bond.
The goal is not to introduce technology across the board. Each application has to answer an identified need and demonstrate that its presence adds value within the specific context where it is used.
Emotional care and person-centered care
Losing autonomy or nearing the end of life can affect identity, personal bonds, the sense of control and the relationship with one’s surroundings.
In palliative care, suffering is understood from an integral perspective that includes physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions. Emotional support forms part of that approach, but it has to stay coordinated with professionals and services qualified to attend to clinical needs.
Horizon Program does not develop treatments and does not replace those care systems. It researches support technologies that can complement care where there is a defined purpose, appropriate conditions of use and sufficient supervision.
Minimum interference with maximum effectiveness
Horizon is developed under the principle of minimum interference with maximum effectiveness. Technology should step in only when it is needed, and do so in the least invasive way possible.
That principle shapes the design of the interaction as much as the volume of data used, the frequency of use and the degree of autonomy given to the system. A suitable solution has to be easy to understand, to control and to stop.
It must also avoid simulating human relationships or presenting itself as a substitute for family, carers or professionals. Its role is a limited one: to provide a specific resource without taking the place of the people who sustain care.
Validation tied to context
A solution that is acceptable in someone’s home may not be appropriate in a care home or a social-healthcare unit. In the same way, an interface that works for a person with full cognitive capacity may be confusing or inaccessible for someone else.
Horizon studies each application in relation to the population, the setting and the intended purpose. Validation has to establish what the technology contributes, what risks it introduces and under what conditions it can be used.
In 2026 the program continues this validation phase in collaboration with residential and social-healthcare institutions. The program does not yet have conclusive results on the effectiveness of its solutions.
Horizon Program provides a scientific structure for researching the role of technology in stages where autonomy, dignity and quality of care call for especially rigorous protection.
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