What is Age Tech?
Age tech is digital tech that’s built around the needs and wants of older adults, while including them in the design process.
In the broader sense, Age tech could be any type of technology that improves the lives of aging adults. This means that a care-coordination app, being used by several family members to coordinate who’s dropping grandma off at the movies to meet with her friends this week, also falls into the Age Tech category, together with a smart pillbox that will remind her to take her vitamins.
This term has several synonyms, including ElderTech, Gerontech, Gerontechnology, SilverTech, and even AgingTech (which implies that the tech itself is aging and that’s just weird).
Why Does Age Tech Matter?
The world’s population is aging. People all over the world are having fewer babies while living longer. By 2050, the number of people over 60 is expected to reach 2.1 billion- nearly a quarter of the world’s population. This massive increase in the percentage of older adults within the population means that there will be fewer younger adults to support them. It also means that more wealth than ever is at the hands of people over 65. The sum of all economic activity, generated by aging adults is called The Longevity Economy. Estimates predict that The global spending power of people 60+ years old is expected to reach $20 Trillion by 2020.
Who Are the Stakeholders in Age Tech?
Stakeholders in Age tech are a group that includes the stakeholders in aging, as well as players from the tech ecosystem like startups, investors, accelerators, etc’. Since the aging population is extremely diverse, stakeholders in Age tech are also diverse. While the older adult is at the center of this universe, whether they are the end user, or someone who benefits from the technology indirectly, other stakeholders that should be taken into consideration are their family, paid caregivers, home-care agencies, senior living communities, LTC providers, healthcare providers and others.
What’s the Future of Age Tech?
Tech adoption and internet use by older adults have been on the rise for several years. Baby boomers started turning 65 in 2011, and they are the first generation of older adults that experienced the digital revolution firsthand. They can afford to spend money on technology, but they’re not going to spend it on products that don’t fit their lifestyle and self-image. In my opinion, we’re going to see a lot more tech products trying to get to those boomer dollars and hopefully, we’ll see wi-fi in every home, since that’s a basic requirement for a lot of products and services. To read my review of the Age Tech Market, go here.
