AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative Drives Innovation for Seniors While Tapping $8.3T Market

Drawing the attention of tech firms to what it estimates is an $8.3 trillion market, AARP recently launched AgeTech Collaborative to drive tech innovation for seniors.

Among the key partners at launch are Cooley, QED Investors, Walgreens and T. Rowe Price.

In a statement, the AARP said that “COVID-19 has made technology more important than ever and helped close the generational tech divide. AARP’s study of technology use shows that ownership, use and spending among the 50-plus is growing with no signs of slowing down. In that context, the new AgeTech Collaborative is convening leading AgeTech startups, forward-thinking venture capitalists, enlightened industry leaders and creative testbeds to bring meaningful change and help solve the challenges of aging.”

AARP said The AgeTech Collaborative is launching “with nearly 50 participating startups, six testbeds where companies can trial their products, more than 10 major investors and venture capitalists, several top companies with a stake in the 50-plus community, and service providers helping catalyze startups’ work with tools and services.”

The website AgeTech Collaborative provides information and resources to firms developing solutions for populations 50 years of age and older.

Per the site, “Startups who are invited into one of our eight-week cohorts can expect hands-on mentorship and community with like-minded founders with products serving older consumers. Each startup in the program is assigned a dedicated advisor who works with them to tackle the specific challenges they are facing.”

Coining the term “the longevity economy,” the AARP notes that “the 50-plus population now represents four generations (from the GI generation to Generation X) and by 2031 will include millions of millennials. Generation Z will join the 50-plus cohort in 2047.”

Per AARP estimates, “the economic contributions of the 50-plus age group will grow from $8.3 trillion in 2018 to $28.2 trillion by 2050.”

AARP Senior Vice President of Innovation and Product Development Andy Miller said that “COVID radically grew the world’s reliance on technology, a shift that’s especially notable among people 50-plus. The AgeTech Collaborative is more than an event or forum – it’s an ecosystem, a one-stop destination and a sustained effort to make the promises of AgeTech a reality.”

In a recent TechCrunch interview, Miller said, “We felt there was this enormous need to bring together this ecosystem. Within this demographic, 10,000 people turn 65 every day, and the oldest millennials are 10 years from turning 50. There is a financial incentive, but ours is socially good by allowing people to age better. We can leverage the power of AARP, the ultimate connector where we have a unique vantage point, with VC, corporate and startups. If anyone should win the age stack, it should be AARP. We want everyone to be successful.”

See also: Aging-in-Place Boom Gives Rise to ‘AgeTech’ and More Connected Home Options for Seniors