Objectives: This project intended to study the added value of working with older persons in the co-creation of industry products, in terms of outcomes for both the industry and residents. Older adults face major barriers in the use of innovative products produced by industry in part due to an approach, which does not consider them as full citizens and does not involve them in the design of innovations. Products are produced by younger generation manufacturers, who are not attuned to the needs of older adults, and often hold an ageist approach which excludes older adults.
Results: The philosophy of the triple helix of industry-research-end-users structure, unique to the BrainPort Region of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, was applied to this research. Apart from the aspects of social innovation, actual outcomes of working together in a triple helix, for the first time, were assessed in a scientific manner. The goal was to identify the true benefits and added value of such collaboration. A scoping review on the manifestations of ageism and discourse about older persons in the design process of digital technology has been written and is in the process of publication. A policy report about ageism and digital technology was co-authored with another ESR (Hanna Köttl) and published on the Euroageism website. The policy report addresses 3 levels of ageism in relation to digital technology. Namely the individual (micro), social relations and organizational level (meso) and design and policy (macro) level.
Secondment(s)(Months), co-Supervisors: AAI(5m), Nurit Schonmann and Gary Roth; AGE Platform Europe (5m), Julia Waddox. The first secondment was geared to enhance understanding of ageism and long-term care policies with a focus on enhancing understanding of ageism in implementation of technology-based care in settings involving people with dementia and their family caregivers. The second secondment was geared to enhance knowledge concerning health policies for older adults with an additional emphasis of care and health technology policy for better inclusion of older adults.
