technology
houses’ on hot days that older people could go to if they didn’t
have air conditioning in their home. They could go to the homes
of their neighbours and just hang out for the day. That would
give people that way of connecting with each other and doing it
in the cool and save energy too.
He gave a way of creating that community and creating that
intergenerational engagement. Potentially it has a huge impact in
keeping us all connected to each other.
What are some of the other ideas that finalists put forward
that stood out to the team?
There were five other finalists. The first one that was presented
was a robotic arm on a platform that enabled people to open
cans or pick up things – it enabled them to do things they
normally couldn’t do.
The next two were around the built form or the community
form. One was a master’s student in architecture from
Wellington. She was proposing a redesign of current retirement
villages so that the bottom floor or the community hub was
a community hub for everyone, so that there were multi-
generational interactions within the retirement villages.
The other group was proposing a redesign of the local suburbs
so that older people could live in the current neighbourhoods
and share some facilities while living in their own homes.
There was also a physio who proposed the Clock Yourself app,
which was a balance app. It’s the face of a clock and you kind of
do steps and those steps help you through your cognition but
also your balance. It’s something you can do while making a cup
of tea, which we thought was terrific.
The other finalist was a PhD student here at QUT who was
proposing entrepreneurial spaces for Baby Boomers to engage in
the digital economy, entrepreneurship and innovation.
What does the team look for when selecting finalists and
the eventual winner?
The Senior Living Innovation challenge is an annual event.
What advice would you give people working with seniors
who might have an idea but haven’t yet put pen to paper?
That’s a great question. I think the first thing that anyone
who’s thinking of entering the challenge next year needs to
do is take a good look at the stereotypes they have of older
people and shake those stereotypes up, because the reality
of the expectations of burden and so forth are really quite
The judging team was looking for ideas
that had high impact, that would make a
difference in the lives of older people...
misconceptions, and older people are quite capable of doing a
whole range of things and making a whole lot of decisions and
leading and contributing to the community.
If you’re thinking of a good idea, check your stereotypes first,
change your view of older people and then start creating. Step
outside of what we have currently. Step outside the health and
medical focus and come into the community space and think
about what people need to continue contributing to community.
What are the things that will benefit people into doing the things
they want to do? ■
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Well, it’s about looking for a great idea. The judging team was
looking for ideas that had high impact, that would make a
difference in the lives of older people and those who are around
older people, which is the rest of us.
They were also looking for challenges that were significant.
The finalists needed to identify a challenge, why it was significant,
and how their idea addressed that challenge. They needed a
robust methodology, so they needed to be able to implement this
particular idea.
Switching gears slightly, it would be great to know a bit
more about Senior Living Innovation and why it was set up.
A few years ago, we recognised that the experience of ageing
that Baby Boomers wanted was quite different than the
experience of current older people.
We joined with BallyCara, Bolton Clarke, Aveo and IRT, and
we brought researchers together with industry organisations to
look at what are those challenges, and what are the changes,
and what impact does the digital economy have on people,
globalisation and so forth.
The aim of Senior Living Innovation is to re-conceptualise the
experience of ageing in Australia. We really want to optimise the
lifestyles of future seniors by identifying what we need to do
to meet future demand and to create support services so that
people like me who are Baby Boomers can have great lives into
the future.
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