Empowered Aging Through Innovation. So was the title of last week’s two-day virtual Summit 2022 by Canada’s Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI)and as with the summit held last year it was jam packed with speakers and two pitch competitions.
If you were new to the conversation around technology and aging and never attended such an event, even if you knew the realities of aging societies, you might think you had landed on another planet. As someone who has followed this narrative such as I have over the last decade or so, I still have to keep my ears open to catch the latest thought leadership, terminology, technology applications and so forth to formulate thoughts on the latest trends.
Right from the opening session on Day 1 which was structured for older adults and the people who care for them, the marker was set in its heading Age Tech & The Human Connection.
We could make the assumption that those who signed up for this free first day would at least be familiar with the term Age Tech, but if not then the all too brief opener with Keren Etkin, author of the new book The Age Tech Revolutionwould quickly bring you up to speed. From there, most of the topics this year seemed to step away from the shadows of the COVID conversation and the best highlighted some specific everyday social aspects that Age Tech directly and practically supports.
All this on the financial aspect was pleasing to hear, for as I’ve put forth in my presentations and posts since 2011; it is not real any longer for us to be using the word retirement as the framework for financial planning. What we are truly doing is “financing for our longevity” and the faster actuaries and financial planning professionals move to this phrase the more real it will be.
The Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) was formed in 2015 with its mission“To accelerate the development, validation, commercialization, dissemination and adoption of innovative products, services and best practices to support aging and brain health.” Since 2018, I have followed their work and attended three of the four Summit events, and along the way I have seen and/or spoken to a number of fabulous people, generous in sharing their insights.
In a sense it’s become a CABHI family affair and next week I’ll cover some of the highlights of Day 2 from the Summit 2022 titled The Longevity Economy: Investing in an Aging World.
