The first Swiss Agetech conference was held in Zurich

The first Swiss Agetech conference was held at the Escher Forum in Zurich. At this event, exhibitors and visitors exchanged ideas on various topics related to technology in aging.

On March 7th, representatives from the Agetech world gathered at the Escher Forum for the first Swiss Agetech Conference. The conference organized by Margaret focused on new technologies aimed at making life easier in old age. According to the organizer's announcement, the conference was attended by 120 visitors, who learned about new research and topics related to Agetech through presentations, exhibition and networking.

The conference focused on four areas in Agetech. In the “Everyday Life” category, researchers from the Institute for Aging Research at the Eastern Swiss University of Applied Sciences showed how companies can improve their products by co-designing with older people. Another topic was “Financial Affairs” and it was about studying “Financial Exploitation 55+”. The study was conducted by the Graduate School Economic Crime Institute on behalf of Pro Senectute. Next, the organizers presented the e-banking tandem financing concept, which aims to support financial inclusion and prevent abuse. After that there was a panel discussion on the topic of cyber security in the Agetech environment.

Robot Lio aims to support caregivers. (Source: Margaret)

On the topic of “living”, Andreas Dreher from the Zurich Retirement Apartments Foundation presented the so-called living laboratory. The Living Lab aims to research and develop new technologies and devices that will make life at home easier and safer for older people. The fourth area, “Health,” dealt with robotics. Michael Froh of F&P Robotics introduced the assistant robot Lio and explained how the company developed the robot. Simone Escher from the Eastern Swiss University of Applied Sciences presented research results showing that current ideas about care robots do not correspond to reality. Finally, there was also a panel discussion in this area in which experts discussed the potential and ethical questions surrounding robots in care.

By the way: In December 2023, the Orient University of Applied Sciences launched a website for seniors where they can learn about the development status of assistive robots. Here you can read more about it.