AAL FORUM 2019
PLENARY SESSION 2

A new Partnership for dealing with demographic change in Europe!
The future of Active and Healthy Ageing in the Horizon Europe Framework Programme

Wednesday 25 September 11:00-12:30
Room: Congress Hall

This panel will debate about the future of active and healthy ageing policies and funding programmes within the upcoming framework of the Horizon Europe Programme.

The European continent is the oldest and the fastest ageing. This trend will not stop in the coming decades but accelerate. A number of European programmes have contributed towards stimulating innovation for addressing the demographic change challenge in Horizon 2020. Since 2008, the AAL Programme has been contributing to the improved wellbeing of older people by developing and adapting digital products and services that address the challenges we all face as we grow older. In turn, this has helped strengthen industrial opportunities in the field of active and healthy ageing technology.

The common concern about a European vision on ageing and care in Horizon Europe (HoE) motivated the three European Partnership initiatives, the AAL, the EIP on AHA and the JPI MYBL, to collaborate. The three initiatives are seeking a wider, more holistic and more comprehensive interpretation of ageing and care in an increasingly digitizing world. Their holistic view on health and care is in line with the WHO approach focusing on functional health & well-being with prevention as key. This involves domains such as skills development, employment, the environment, housing, and mobility as well. This vision covers the technological, social and behavioural frameworks that an ageing population will need in the future.

The different stakeholders from AAL, EIP on AHA and JPI MYBL are coming together in this panel, to advocate for a strong ‘ageing well in a digital world’ component under Horizon Europe together with the AAL Forum participants. The panel will focus on three essential questions: What have we learned and achieved through the various European partnerships over the last 10 years and where do we stand right now? What are current key issues to tackle and opportunities to seize? What are concrete proposals put forward calling for a European Partnership?

The panelists will be guided by TV anchor and professional moderator, Fernanda Freitas.

Panelists:

– Mr. Jose Angel Martinez Usero, EIP on AHA Representative
– Mr. Edvard Beem, JPI MYBL Representative
– Klaus Niederländer, AAL Programme Representative
– Mrs. Birgit Morlion, DG Connect, European Commission