This challenge was laid down almost 5 years ago by the UK Government. They provided £98m to fund projects and initiatives to fulfil the mission. The team has adopted a “venture capital model”. They are now supported over 240 projects. They have created different projects for ideas at different stages of development:
The Healthy Ageing Catalyst Awards.
These support the commercialization of university-based projects at the earliest stage. So far they have funded 33 projects with academics at all stages of their careers. The projects are exploring innovations across a huge range of topics. These included the use of digital technology to support social engagement and physical activity. Design and service-led innovations to address loneliness and ageism. Innovative solutions tackling issues related to menopause, impaired vision and diabetes
Investment Partnerships. These jointly fund R & D for business led research and development.
Designed for Ageing. Supports businesses with near-to-market innovations which use people-centred design principles and could scale.
Trailblazer Projects. These are major projects involving large businesses some social enterprises and even SME’s. The team has so far invested £24m in these projects and the firms have matched the funding.
There are streams that are not targeted at commercialization:
Support for Social Enterprise. Many of these are fighting the inequalities in healthy longevity.
The Social, Behavioural and Design Research Programme. To underpin the other initiatives there are funds available for academic research.
Themes of the Projects
Following the Venture Capital Model the investments have been made thematically. There are seven themes of the healthy ageing challenge:
“creating healthy active places;
design for age-friendly homes;
living well with cognitive impairment;
managing common complaints of ageing;
maintaining health at work;
supporting social connections;
sustaining physical activity”.
The UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge Conference
A celebration of the achievements of “the Challenge” as it nears its end in April. The Conference had fascinating presentations and exhibits. Too much to describe. The exhibition and presentations included many of the projects that had been sponsored.
The projects that stuck in my mind:
Project Tribal. Now adopted across the NHS. Created by a software company specializing in geo-mapping. It collates all care offers in a geographic local. This includes all NHS and social services offers, charities and local support groups. This enables care packages to be created for patients returning to any location.
HOPE Personalized self-management Programme for Hip and Knee replacement Waitlists
HeLP- Hearing Loss & Place. A research project to understand the difficulties faced by people with hearing loss in noisy environments.
EarGYM. An APP that first tests your hearing with a sophisticated range of tests. It then provides a series of game based exercises. Each is designed to improve known difficulties. For example locating a voice spatially for people with spatial hearing loss.
There was a real time “Dragons Den” with 16 start-ups pitching to a group of professional investors. My favourites included:
Talk More. Stoke patients will often loose their speech. Therapists know that speaking more will create improvement. This therapist has created a “pedometer for speech”. A small box carried throughout the day measures how much the person speaks. With sophisticated digital processing it separates out the patients voice from all others. Patients can then be targetted in the same way we all strive for 10,000 steps
WeWalk. A high tech walking stick for the blind. Offers forward looking capability.
Briteway. Visual guidance for older travellers. The APP offers real time visual guidance of where to go in places like stations.
Local Treasures. Runs a matching service for “handyman” and housekeeping tasks. Its aim is to get older people back into work. It is a gig economy model offering the kind of flexibility they need.
Civic Dollars. A community or Council Based Scheme. You earn Civic Dollars in different ways. You can spending time walking in designated parks and gardens. You can also earn them by volunteering or reporting anti-social behaviour. All are designed to improve the well-being of older people. The dollars can be spent individually on things like free travel. Alternatively they can be donated to charities who can use them for bigger purchases.
The Conference had multiple presentation sessions, some in parallel. Rather than try to summarize them let me list a few key quotes or interesting facts that made it in to my notebook.
“We are all apprentice old people”
“Many research and drug studies are populated with young white men. Even dementia studies miss out on the oldest”.
In a session on research in ageing
“We have to create a consumer model of ageing”
Dr Patricia Moore
“We are pushing the onset of chronic diseases to later and later stages of life. Virtually no one lives beyond 100. We will therefore have to deal with the onset of multiple chronic diseases at the same time”.
“Women in the most deprived areas of the UK will have their first life limiting event at 48. That is 15 years earlier than in the least deprived area”
Chris Whitty, UK Chief Medical Officer
He showed a map of the location of the over 65’s. They have left the cities and live in the periphery of England. Most major hospitals are in the city.
“In most European countries older people migrate to the cities. Here we do the reverse”
“The National Health Service was perfectly suited to the 1950’s It has not evolved enough.”
Prof Sir John Bell, Oxford University.