Elder Tech Collaborative
Principal Investigator: Lenard Kaye (UMaine School of Social Work and Center on Aging)
Partners: Mark Jadkowski (Elder Technology Labs) and Wayne Woodford (Phillips-Strickland House Corporation)
Abstract: This project proposes the planning and start-up of the ElderTech Collaborative, an innovative approach for responding to the expanding technology and aging R&D sector that aims to meet the needs and preferences of the rapidly growing older adult population and the care providers who serve them. The proposed prototype incubator model, endorsed by LeadingAge Maine and New Hampshire (part of a national association of 6,000+ members and partners including not-for-profit organizations representing the entire field of aging services, 38 state partners, hundreds of businesses, consumer groups, foundations and research partners), would represent a founding business partnership between a for-profit Maine company (Elder Technology Labs – ETL), Phillips-Strickland House Corporation (PSHC), one of the oldest assisted living non-profits in the state, and the UMaine Center on Aging (CoA). Expert advisement from an interdisciplinary team of UMS aging initiative faculty researchers and community health consultants will keep the planning process substantively informed, participation by a multidisciplinary student unit will lend additional project support while providing students with an innovative service learning experience, and input from older adults and the personnel serving them will ensure responsiveness to the needs of aging consumers. While the ElderTech Collaborative will be housed in an assisted living facility in Maine, its mission is national in scale. The Collaborative will reflect a special focus on the user interface (UI) and user experience (UE) in the design and testing of new technologies targeted to older adults with a commitment to the direct involvement of older adults and their service providers throughout the R&D process. A detailed business plan, operational model, and multiple grant applications for implementing the Collaborative model are among the project deliverables at the end of the seed grant.