Settling in today for an AGE-WELLwebinar – What Assistive Technology Means to Canadians to listen to a conversation on improving equitable access and to get a global perspective of where we stand. Assistive technologies serve to augment independent living, a range of devices or systems that support people’s mobility, hearing, vision and so on; for example products in wearables and robotics.
Yet equitable access to this evolving abundance of technologies is not the only issue; it is also a matter of education, marketing. Apart from the research and development that AGE-WELL has propagated since 2015, it has increasingly reached out to educate Canadians, though I still think more is needed; while at the same time, the simplification of marketing Age Tech has yet to find its stride overall on the business to consumer side.
However the invitation is open, to learn of how far we have come and what the potential of an Age Tech adventure is for everyone. For a third year now, AGE-WELL is holding its EPIC Conference 2022from May 30 – June 10 and I’m registered once again as a long time follower, writer and commentator on all things AGE-WELL, this time for a selected four days.
In addition to the targeted attendees – the usual suspects such as students, researchers, government and industry partners – everyday people, older adults and their caregivers are, as always, invited to register.
To simplify this for those of you who may find this still a bit lofty, technologies discussed will centre on the eight standard AGE-WELL Challenge Areas:
Supportive Homes & Communities
Health Care & Health Service Delivery
Autonomy & Independence
Cognitive Health & Dementia
Mobility & Transportation
Healthy Lifestyles & Wellness
Staying Connected
Financial Wellness & Employment
So what does EPIC really mean? This leads to another reason to attend this conference, to explore the fact that there are career opportunities in the field of technology and aging – Age Tech.
“Participants will be equipped to develop, implement and evaluate digital technology solutions across such areas as information and communication technologies (ICT), telemedicine, artificial intelligence, sensors, smart environments and wearables.”
Kudos once again to AGE-WELL and let’s hope their continued efforts lead to greater market awareness, moving this narrative to a better understanding with the general public. As I often like to recall and paraphrase a message from a speech by Dr. Alex Mihailidis Scientific Director at AGE-WELL at Sheridan College Centre for Elder Research in 2016 –“in a world where technology development moves at warp speed, we can’t be incremental in developing technologies for aging if we are to transform the market.”
