SIX Spring SchoolParis, 20/21 May 2009

Innovation and Opportunity in an Ageing

Society

“Almost half of those aged 75 and over are

living alone, and nearly 140,000 have gone a full

monthin the last year without speakingto any family or neighbours.”

( ICM Christmas Survey for Help the Aged October 2007)

“As sickness is the

greatest misery,

so the gratest

misery of sickness

is solitude”

John Donne

1572-1631

“Devotions Upon Emergent OccasionsTogether with Death's Duel”

Ageing is not a problem, it’s an opportunity

New vision of old age

• Older people not as a burden but as a valuable resource

• Active participants and not passive consumers

• Focuses on capabilities as well as needs

• Shift away from an exclusive focus on health and pensions to a more holistic focus on wellbeing

New vision of old age• From invention to inovation• From technologycal to social

innovation• Design thinking• New service models • New platforms (do with and by,

mutual support platforms)• New markets (public service

ecosystem)• New political priority (big

societal challenges)• The political context (crisis

and recovery)

The question is not just

• What can public services do to improve quality of life and well-being for older people?

but rather

• How can a locality mobilise public, private, voluntary and community resources to help all older people define and create quality of life and well-being for themselves?

Hilary Cottam

Key fields with greatest need and potential for innovation

• Connected ageing: way of using technology in creative ways to support and engage older people

• New models of care: that combine formal and informal support

• Age-friendly environments: the kinds of housing design, residential care design and design in the built environment that best promote independence and feelings of community

• Trust: innovations that support trust and confidence

Katherine Hepburn(1907-2003)

Redelmeier and Singh, “Survival in Academy Award–Winning Actors and Actresses”American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine, 2001

“Life expectancy is 3.9 years longer for Academy

AwardWinners”

SIX Spring SchoolParis, 20/21 May 2009

Innovation and Opportunity in an Ageing

Society