If you are reading this article chances are you are boomer, or perhaps your parents are boomers. The Post War Baby Boomers, as they were originally called, were born between 1946 and 1964 and currently range in age from 41 to 59. Boomers are the largest segment of our population today, approximately 77 million strong. The U.S.
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Census Bureau estimates that by 2023, one in every five Americans will be over 65. Thus it’s not surprising that this segment controls most of the buying power – more than $2.1 Trillion. Furthermore, since they will live longer than previous generations, boomers will strongly influence buying power for many years to come.
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Ever since our arrival in the wake of World War II, boomers have continually stressed society’s infrastructure.
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As transforming agents, boomers were the catalyst for the building frenzy of new schools in the 1950s and 60s. In the decades that followed, we built new homes and created jobs to accommodate their needs. So it is not surprising to notice the advertisements for new “Active Aging Communities,” and see hospitals expanding and new nursing homes being built in preparation for the elders “to be” in coming decades. However, this expansion might not be sufficient to satisfy demand as boomers are predicted to live years longer than previous generations.
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That is where technology will pay off. The untapped potential of technology may hold the greatest key in helping this significant demographic cope with the aging process. The key lies in developing smart, intuitive products: systems and services that can help the future elders maintain quality of life, mobility, and independent living in their homes outside of managed care.
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The boomer population will create a large number of new market opportunities for companies creative enough to recognize the potential for “smart” products — products that are intuitive and easy to understand that will help this demographic to better take care of themselves in the tasks of daily living thus remaining independent longer.
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The Boomer Opportunity is Here
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The time is right for universities and importantly the venture community to develop investment funds, for research labs and incubators to encourage and challenge entrepreneurs, and for established technology companies to plan for the development of smart systems that will create the aware living spaces or devices that assist in decision making.
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Some universities have projects underway. For example, MIT’s AgeLab and PlaceLab have pursued projects in areas of auto safety and driving plus personal mobility, wellness, self-empowered health, and independent living. Similarly, Georgia Tech’s Aware Home Research Initiative addresses challenges facing the future of domestic technologies. Its’ Residential Laboratory is a 470-square-meter home that functions as a living laboratory for interdisciplinary design, development and evaluation of new technologies. While the lab’s work is encouraging, funding remains limited. Moreover, development labs like this are few and far between; no initiatives have been developed in the western states, like California for instance, home to Silicon Valley. And only a limited number of technology companies, such as Microsoft, Intel and General Electric, have made commitments to research technologies for this future market.
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Most technology discussions for the aging focus on software and Internet access, rather than on practical solutions for agerelated challenges. In many products, technology becomes too difficult to use for any generation. Case in point: the latest navigation and dashboard systems in many of the high-end autos such as Mercedes are so over automated making them difficult to use. Yet many of these autos, with sticker prices of more than $70,000, are purchased by people over 50.
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What is needed instead?
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We envision products that could be developed to assist in weight management, like a personal trainer, or that could help us through our “senior moments.” The possibilities are endless. Handheld devices using intuitive software, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags or GSP could become invaluable aides in helping individuals with cognitive disorders or normal memory loss to remember to take medications correctly and on time, or just find their lost glasses, checkbook or car keys.
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The use of motion detection with home management sensors could prevent a fire in the home by warning of a forgotten pot boiling on a stove, or water was left running in the tub, or a garage door left open.
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Japanese companies are developing products for the home of the future where many appliances will be connected to a network, accessible from anywhere at anytime. This will help track the temperature of food, identify spoilage or perhaps assist the future caregiver or children of the elder in assessing the health and well-being of their parents by perhaps monitoring their diet and re-ordering groceries.
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In the future, the home could become the focal point of technology for assistive living – freeing up beds for individuals that today have no alternative except managed care. The time is right for the technology community to begin developing smart systems that will create the connected living space infrastructure that fosters independent living and self management of health for both the active lifestyle and the aging.
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Source : SmartSilvers Alliance website www.smartsilvers.com
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