Technology and Aging – One Full Day Component from IAGG 2017. The International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) held its World Congress symposia (73 member organizations from 65 countries) last week in San Francisco, "key opinion leaders in health & social services, housing & income support, research & education, public policy, administration & other areas, disciplines, and professions that impact older people and affect their quality of life." As part of the symposia (billed "as the largest world conference on aging"), July 26 was 'Tech Day' and included a pitch event from the following companies. The winner of the pitch event was Kinesis Health Technologies, and the 'people’s choice' winner was Life Assist Technologies. Descriptions are from the companies' websites.
Health tech future: you have to love the wording – and this time, the press ate it up. Apparently at the time no one really noticed the 2016 Rock Health report on ‘willingness’ to share health data. But times have changed. So Mary Meeker’s report, which everyone now quotes, cites that data as though it were important input for brands. And now it is really and inaccurately famous. She opines, that of the ‘brands well-positioned for digital health’ – the leader is Google. The oft-quoted answer (see Tech Crunch “Pretty neat” insight): “Meeker’s report says a full 60 percent of us were willing to share our health data with Google in 2016.” That does sound pretty neat, huh?
Startups and pitches – for funding and more. Last week was the start of a boomer-senior two week marathon – the 2017 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit, Business Plan Competition and associated pre-conference Boot Camps – to be followed this week by TechDay at IAGG 2017. Here are seven that played a role at the Silicon Valley event in Berkeley, some just (barely, and not yet) starting, some related to the needs, including manufacturing, for startups. The material is extracted from the content of these companies:
It’s summer – and the reading is easy. But there are many opportunities to fall out of touch with what’s happening in the world of tech and aging – for example, in the market innovation category, most recently there have been announcements about robot offerings for seniors, and some new capabilities for sharing photo content that can help record moments of our family lives that may soon be lost. In the spirit of sharing, hoping that those who can are going to attend the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit next week, July 20, in Berkeley – if so, will see you there! Meanwhile, here are five other blog posts from the past month that you may have missed:
Investor money has forever flowed to innovation in robotics. Robots on the Runway at Digital Health at CES offered a view of what was new then in human-like robots, the most charming was Anybots QB, now QB2 – which would 'go to the office for you.' In fact, this ‘telepresence’ robot begs the question, what’s a robot anyway – is it a 'machine controlled device through an external or (usually internal) computer, often equipped with audio, visual, and/or tactile sensors as well as other devices and tools to perform one or several programmed jobs?' Oh yeah. They can be autonomous, like the iRobot one for the military – working on their own. Like Anybots, they could be a telepresence robot – a 'remote controlled, wheeled device that has wireless internet connectivity.' And the market for all types in healthcare globally some say is $2.8 billion.
Movin' up – so goes the definition of old age. Maybe this confirms what you have already observed, and the Society of Actuaries (which also uses Social Security Life Tables) has also calculated. According to Stanford economist John Shoven, the definition of "old" is rising, ridiculously compared to the 1920s, but very interesting, nonetheless. Says Shoven: For women, "old" is approximately age 73, with women transitioning out of middle age at 65. For men, he asserts that "old" is around age 70, with transitioning out of middle age at age 60. The assumption underlying this are based on "risk of dying" within 1, 2 or 4 years. If it is 1% or less, a person is is middle-aged. Good graphic, and no surprise, it's another document in the litany of advice for deferring Social Security payments until late, late, late, despite the actual behavior in which 42% of men and 48% of women are claiming it at age 62.
Health tech future: you have to love the wording – and this time, the press ate it up. Apparently at the time no one really noticed the 
Startups and pitches – for funding and more. Last week was the start of a boomer-senior two week marathon – the 2017 
It’s summer – and the reading is easy. But there are many opportunities to fall out of touch with what’s happening in the world of tech and aging – for example, in the market innovation category, most recently there have been 
Investor money has forever flowed to innovation in robotics. 
Movin' up – so goes the definition of old age. Maybe this confirms what you have already observed, and the