Some 130 delegates gathered in Assen (NL) for the iAGE Final Conference on 20th November 2014 and benefited from a high level of expertise with regards to healthy ageing, lifelong living and technology – presented by an international line-up of speakers.
AGE Platform Europe was invited to present the needs and wishes of seniors when dealing with old and new technologies. It was nice to see that both AGE and the iAGE partners shared views and challenges regarding this issue. Our concerns and ideas for the way-forward both fully complied with the project’s findings, which have been well presented in the report “Barriers and needs in ICT use of older people. A transnational iAge study”. It is also possible to access the results of the Norwegian pilot project online; the “Grandma on the web” brochure provides an additional insight into the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by older people.
Other concrete results of the project, funded by the INTERREG North Sea Programme, include a transnational ICT ‘toolbox’ consisting of training materials and software applications, an inventory of relevant ICT tools and an overview of the most recurrent senior needs. This material is available at the wikiAge: https://save.abertay.ac.uk/wikiage/toolbox.
The consortium is now looking for new opportunities to enhance further territorial cooperation in this field through various follow-ups of iAGE. Potential projects are focusing on such themes as informal care and voluntary assistance (searching for partners in Denmark, 
Sweden, Germany and the UK), sustainable employability for older people and healthy rural areas.
For more information please contact Ilenia.gheno@age-platform.eu
Dutch cartoonist Herman Roozen gave his creative impressions of the elderly and ICT during the iAge conference - visit the project's website for more (report, presentations and cartoons)!
