If you were looking for a model on how to put on a show in the virtual conference world, last weeks’ 2021 Summit, by Canada’s own Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), would stand out for the simple reason that it was produced and structured so well; closely resembling what you could experience at a LIVE event. This in spite of the fact that the presentations were all prerecorded.
More than that, content wise there was something for everyone who follows the field of technology and aging, a significant part of the longevity market that has been evolving, increasingly so, over the last decade. Along with AGE-WELL, another great Canadian example of technology innovation networks in the field of aging and longevity, CABHI has grown its profile to equal any such entity elsewhere globally.
Day one of this CABHI summit, geared for the attention of the general-public, featured as it said programming for older adults and the people who care for them! Guest speaker segments, including Moira Welsh interviewed about her new book Happily Ever Older, were punctuated by several entertainment spots, such as a Culinary Challenge with celebrity chefs James Mayer of MasterChef Canada, and Anthony Lamas of Seviche in the USA.
Sticking with my interest in technology and aging, two items stood out. First, the session Demonstration: How End Users Inform Innovation presented a number of CABHI’s Seniors Advisory Panel members opening a window on how they work collaboratively with innovators to make sure aging and brain health (and other) solutions consider the actual receptivity of an older adult. What do you learn, as with many an idea, pay attention to every day detail.
Second to the above was the related follow up panel discussing Inclusive Innovation: Bringing the End User to the Virtual Table – which included Richard Caro, Co-founder of Tech-enhanced Life, which with their Longevity Explorers groups, explore the intersection of technology and aging. Given that our current times in the COVID world have found so many active at the so-called “virtual table”, it would seem obvious that now is the perfect time to engage more older adults in the design phase of technology based solutions.
Having sat in on a number of such demonstrations as well as the more staged pitch presentations over the years, personally I have found it educational as well as interesting to follow up later only to find that a sizeable number of innovations never make it, squeezed out by competition or maybe poor listening to feedback.
This is where the true value of attending day two of the CABHI Summit came, the opportunity to participate in two for the price of one Innovator Pitch Presentations, thanks to a well monitored poll feature and a responsive chat function, I was able to at least feel part of the process. The first pitch was sponsored the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI).
Here health-tech companies pitched for funding and in-kind legal services. We also heard stories and advice from others who have successfully journeyed before, such as Pooja Viswanathan, Co-Founder & CEO of Braze Mobility, which began in 2016 as a company that created the first blind spot sensor system for wheelchairs. My choice in this pitch was IRegained – products that address rehab needs for people with brain injury and impaired ability to use their hands.
CABHI’s MC2 Capital Pitch Competition, worth up to $1.5M of funding, was the grand finale where twenty companies presented an eclectic range of products, from a mobile app for speech enhancement, to a care facility monitoring system that measures the quality of care and social connection with residents.
Tough choices to judge considering that age-tech development is now addressing so many niche needs. On that note, the most helpful take away was the evaluation and insight comments after each of the four blocks of five presenters from the two judges, Mary Furlong and Richard Lui.
Overall – an exhilarating educational event, and as I’m often reminded – you should never leave a conference before the last session of the day. In the closer panel, The Researchpreneur of the Future: Skills and Competencies to Break the Innovation Barrier,the words of Richard Luke CEO of eCampusOntario still rest paraphrased in my ear when he talked about the innovation cycle, “when you move from idea to invoice…you have to learn how to be productively wrong”.