More than 130 people attended AustinUP’s 2018 ATX Aging & Innovation Summit, an information-packed program held November 28th at the Sonesta Bee Cave Austin Hotel. The goal this year was to provide a creative space so that people with different talents and perspectives on aging could come together to help put Austin on the map in...
Many older Americans think that giving up the car keys means giving up independence. In the Austin metropolitan area, that does not have to be the case. The newly published Ride Guide will help you find the transportation option that best suits your needs or the needs of someone you know. The booklet includes common situations and suggestions for how older...
The Austin City Council received a certificate of approval on Thursday, May 10, marking the official start to the implementation of the Austin Age-Friendly Action Plan. At the beginning of Thursday’s City Council meeting, community leaders recognized this achievement and presented City Council with a certificate from AARP and the World Health Organization. This plan, designed...
The Bass Lecture Hall at the LBJ School of Public Affairs was a hub of ideas and activity on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 – all focused on improving the lives of older adults in our community. The event provided 1) context for a team of LBJ School students’ Policy Research Project, “Young, Hip Austin is Getting Old”; 2) information about the goals and strategies outlined in the Age-friendly Austin Action Plan, specifically in the areas of housing, healthcare and employment; and 3) an opportunity to discuss ways to change how we think about “aging.”
Many people are surprised to learn that aging and longevity issues are widely covered at SXSW. We're happy to report that the aging-related panels and speakers we saw this year were truly relevant and knowledgeable. As always, we learned a lot. Here are some random notes from just a few of the panels we saw...
The 5th Annual AARP Livable Communities Conference, held November 14-16, 2017, in Dallas, was an opportunity for local leaders and community advocates from across the U.S. to come together to share ideas, best practices and solutions for making towns, cities and communities more livable for people of all ages. What is a livable community? Picture healthy,...
AustinUP is proud to welcome Chip Sampson to our Board of Directors. Chip has more than 18 years of experience in the Professional Services and Project Staff Placement industry in Austin and throughout Texas. With a background in both public sector and private industry, he has developed long-term business relationships with a large number of...
Joe Coughlin, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) AgeLab, has written a book called The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World’s Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market. In it he describes how businesses can prepare for an aging world. As he explains, “The main purpose of this book is to help [leaders in] big businesses understand this brave, old world and succeed in it; to enable them to harness the heightened expectations of baby boomers craving a better old age; and to avoid being left in the dust of creative destruction as others do the same.”
We are happy to report that Whitney Power has joined the AustinUP Board of Directors, effective August 2017. Whitney works with Seton Innovation and Virtual Care, where she helps connect Austinites to health care they need by deploying new technology solutions and programs. Whitney has managed senior-focused health technology and remote care coordination programs, organized technology trade shows, and spoke...
It was standing room only at the May 4 ATX Aging & Innovation Summit, presented by AustinUP and Dell Medical School at the University of Texas. If you were there, you heard Dr. Chris Callahan, Director of the Indiana University Center for Aging Research, suggest that given the diversity of older adults, we need a diversity of new technologies and innovations to support independence; Jeffrey Makowka, Director of Market Innovation for AARP, tell us that $7.6 trillion in annual economic activity is generated by people over the age of 50; and Dr. José Colucci, Director of Research and Development at the Design Institute for Health, point out that younger adults try to identify with their age group as much as possible, while older adults do not…unless that comparison reinforces a positive self image. This, of course, is excellent insight if you are working and innovating in the aging/tech space!