Help find solutions. The aging population is a significant and growing segment of society. AgeTech, technology designed to meet the needs of older adults, is crucial to enhancing their quality of life, independence, and overall well-being.
What is AgeTech?
Globally, the percentage of persons 65 or older is projected to grow from 13.2% in 2019 to 16.5% in 2030 and 21.4% in 2050. This field encompasses many products and services geared toward older adults. Examples include health and wellness monitoring, tools that aid daily living, smart home solutions, social connectivity, cognitive support, mobility, home care robotics, and financial management.
AgeTech products and services must be thoughtfully designed to account for changes in performance as people age. Aging often affects perception, strength, mobility, and mental acuity. AgeTech products and services must be easy to use, interoperable, safe, and secure for older adults.
Help Create the Needed Standards
Technical standards are documents that provide requirements, specifications, and guidelines that ensure products, services, and processes are fit for purpose. While many standards have been developed to ensure products are accessible for people with disabilities, few, if any, standards exist today that address the unique issues associated with aging users.
The IEEE Standards Association has recently launched the Technology Standards for the Aging (AgeTech) activity to accomplish three goals:
- Identify what new standards need to be developed. The standards should ensure that AgeTech products and services are accessible to older adults, can interoperate with one another, and are safe and secure.
- Plan a product certification program for AgeTech to increase market assurance.
- Facilitate access to publicly available data sets (through the IEEE DataPort) to support research and development of AgeTech products and services.
Join IEEE Life Members and IEEE Standards Association
Whether you are a developer or user of AgeTech, conducting research in the area, or involved in public policy for aging, we welcome you to become involved and participate in any of the four subcommittees.
The activity focuses on identifying needs, so you do not need to be a technical expert in standards to make a significant contribution. There is no cost to participate, and you can join us virtually, making it easy for you to get involved.
If you would like to learn more about the IEEE Standards Association AgeTech activity or wish to volunteer and become involved, please complete the Technology Standards for the Aging (AgeTech) interest form.