Gerotech - developing technology with and for an ageing society

Gerotechnology is an interdisciplinary field that aims "to provide improved services for older people through the use of technology and by building a theoretical and methodological framework for understanding the aging phenomenon". The two main technologies in gerotechnology is supporting technology (AT, assistive technologies) and information and communication technology (ICT, Information and Communication Technologies). AT covers aids that compensate for different disabilities in relation to vision, hearing, difficulty walking, etc., and various types of computer-based tools designed to facilitate and extend the elderly independence, encouraging older people's mental capacity, and enable the maintenance of social networks. A concrete example of our ongoing projects in this area is the Gerotech hackathon currently carried out with Vinnova financing. A hackathon enables open innovation through physical meeting or appointment on-line and involves problem solving in several steps including: learning; diagnosis; priority; generation, ranking and further development of ideas; prototyping, experimentation and feedback.

This research project is supported by Vinnova.

Contact: Sofi Fristedt