How can we effectively and ethically draw on cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence, sensors, and robotics in ways that centre and respond to the needs and perspectives of older people and their carers?
In Canada, Alex Mihailidis is leading the way on finding practical, affordable answers to this question through the development of the ‘AgeTech’ sector. Alex Mihailidis is the driving force behind AGE-WELL, a Canadian non-profit organization and network that aims to harness the power of new technologies to foster healthy ageing. As AGE-WELL’s CEO and Scientific Director, Alex Mihailidis works to connect industry, government, community organizations, caregivers, and older people themselves and transform the culture of innovation in technology and ageing – showing that a joined-up, multisectoral response is key for transformative change.
More than 170 products (technologies, services, policies, and practices) and 60 start-ups are currently in development or being supported as a result of Alex Mihailidis’s work through AGE-WELL, bringing benefits by generating usable solutions that increase older people’s safety and security, support their independent living, and enhance their social participation. Alex Mihailidis has also been recognised for his expertise, having advised the Canadian Ministers of Health and Seniors on long-term care provision and the EU Parliament on ageing strategies and the roles of innovation and commercialisation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that while older people are receptive to and wish to benefit from technology, there remains a digital divide between the technology haves and have-nots that is exacerbated by ageist notions that assume older people do not, or cannot, use technology. Alex Mihailidis shows us not only how technology can be leveraged to foster healthy ageing, but also how collaborative work with older people at the centre is crucial to transform the world to be a better place to grow older.