Politics/political decision makers

AGE-INT builds regional, national and international structures as well as the relevant scientifically supported and up-to-date knowledge (with a view to international examples of good practices) in all relevant areas of age and ageing in society, especially in the areas of technological support for different scenarios of old age, care models and preventive measures for people with dementia, the possibilities of innovative models and motivations for employment of people aged 65+, as well as exclusion risks and appropriate inclusion strategies for older people. This knowledge and these structures can be used as a basis for planning and decision-making processes at the regional, cantonal and national levels.

Higher education institutions

We have experience in networking higher education institutions, in particular by chairing the Cooperation Council of the International Lake Constance University (IBH), a cross-border higher education cluster consisting of 30 universities, universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education, universities of cooperative education, higher education institutions specialised in art and music in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Vorarlberg, the Principality of Liechtenstein and cantons in Eastern Switzerland.

The appropriate procedural models for university networking are used to initiate and sustain European and international networking by the partners in AGE-INT.

Business

Solid cooperative structures with the business community already exist within the framework of the IBH Labs. Innovation incubators have also been created. As age innovation incubators, these are used for the structured support and promotion of start-ups. In order to further promote Swiss start-ups as well as innovations at Swiss universities and research centres, a Swiss-wide competition Age Innovation Prize will also be organised within the framework of AGE-INT, in which developers can present their innovations for people in old age. The three best submissions will be publicly awarded and receive (non-monetary) support from the AGE-INT network (through expert advice, network support, public relations, etc.). The jury consists of the AGE-INT Advisory Board and the cluster heads.

International

We are developing international research expertise on the topic of “innovative solutions for an ageing society”. The internationalisation of knowledge resources and structures through networking with experts abroad is a central objective of AGE-INT. Solutions to the challenges of demographic change can only be found by looking beyond the borders, especially since most post-industrial states are currently facing similar challenges.

The internationalisation of expertise aims to expand the network globally and to search internationally for examples of good practices and collaborations that create value. This is to make an important contribution to the internationalisation of knowledge and to raise the profile of Swiss expertise abroad.

The focus is on European countries in Northern, Central and Southern Europe. In addition to encouraging European cooperations to tackle demographic change, existing collaborative ventures with Asian countries that are technologically highly developed and are developing interesting solutions will be expanded further in order to test these solutions for their international applicability (e.g. Japan, South Korea). In addition, there are plans to establish new contacts in the USA and to further deepen and expand existing contacts in order to learn from American models for dealing with the challenges of demographic change.

Publication of research results

The results produced in connection with AGE-INT are to be made available to a broad specialist audience, politicians and the interested public. A publication strategy in accordance with the OA Policy 2020 of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) will be pursued. This will also be supplemented by other ways of knowledge transfer and dissemination, which will be implemented for raising public awareness on a broad basis.