Following AGE-WELL – Canada’s technology and aging network as I have since 2015, it now seems like such a fast track on what has become a story of successful growth, development and global recognition. Back in January 2015, the then Minister of State for Seniors, Alice Wong, announced a five year $36.6M investment as one of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence which itself has transformed into what is called the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF).
Skipping the details of all various changes in funding and partnerships over the last decade, it can be safely said that AGE-WELL has faced the headwinds of economic change and disruption, including pushing through the pandemic years, to establish research and innovation programmes within what has become known as the AgeTech market; all this through solid partnerships with academia, industry, governments and most significantly with older adults and their caregivers.
More on the global reach of AGE-WELL in upcoming posts, but for now the more immediate news of the AGE-WELL 10th Conference 2025on Oct. 22 & 23 in Montreal under the banner Collaborate. Innovate. Elevate.Which pretty much sums up the ethos of this network. It’s in this spirit that this event is also again shared with MEDTEQ+, an innovation leader Canadian MedTech industry under an umbrella event called the envisAGE Forum.
As to the AGE-WELL agenda, the second day features one of their cornerstone initiatives – the National Impact Challenge pitch competition which awards start-up innovators in Canada’s AgeTech sector with a $20K top prize for the best tech-based solution designed to support older adults and/or their caregivers. Last year’s winner was Winnipeg-basedIncluzia with its tech solutions to advance accessible housing outcomes for older adults and people with disabilities.
Featured on Day 2 of the conference is a panel which does prove that in its development, AgeTech has been taking matters seriously so as not to be swept up in the hype of tech talk. The Ethics of AgeTech: Balancing Innovation, Autonomy, and Well-being is the topic and hopefully for those of us who can’t be there, a transcript of what the panel might be shared, but AGE-WELL does offer a course on this – Ethics for AgeTech Researchers.
Of note, in previous years, the AGE-WELL conference coincided with another conference in the aging and longevity space – the Canadian Association on Gerontology(CAG) and the CAG2025 Conference is also in Montreal from Oct.23-25, though in a separate location with its banner Radical Relationality and Aging. Interestingly in another tech slant, one of the CAG2025 collaborators listed on the website is Montreal-based ACT Lab which on many levels conducts research on aging in a digital world.
All this – more examples of how AgeTech as part of the digital world is, as it were, coming of age. It is there that I will pick up in my next post. Welcome back as my normal programming continues.
