Five finalists progress to present at Awards Ceremony hosted by comedian David Baddiel on 31st January with £10,000 in prizes up for grabs
Just Group and the International Longevity Centre (ILC) are delighted to announce the five finalists of the Innovating for Ageing competition, which aims to identify solutions to address the challenges faced by vulnerable consumers in later life.
The finalists, listed below, will be competing for a share of the £10,000 prize money and specialist business support to develop their propositions at the Innovating for Ageing awards. The ceremony will be hosted by the TV presenter and author David Baddiel on Thursday 31st January at the London Symphony Orchestra’s Jerwood Hall in Central London.
- The Chatty Cafe Scheme – A scheme encouraging cafes to have a ‘Chatter & Natter’ table so that customers who want to engage with other customers can do so. The scheme aims to reduce loneliness and get people talking.
- My Care Matters – A social enterprise established to create an online tool that collects and shares a person’s non-medical needs and preferences so they can receive dignified and tailored care when they are no longer able to engage in these conversations.
- MySense – A digital health monitoring and alerting analytics platform that ingests data from a number of fixed and wearable smart devices to understand when there is a decline in an individual’s wellbeing.
- Toucan – An app that lets its users share their bank balance status with a trusted friend or carer using a simple traffic light system that protects against financial abuse.
- Walk With Path – Fighting against diminishing mobility and falls, Walk With Path makes mobility aids for people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s. The solutions are user-centred, hands free and intuitive to use.
These five finalists have been selected from the 77 submissions that entered the competition over the summer of 2018. These submissions were then narrowed down by the project’s advisory board to 12 shortlisted entries who subsequently pitched their solutions to an independent, expert judging panel in October.
The panel adjudged that these five entrants best met the competition’s criteria – to identify new solutions to address the challenges faced by vulnerable customers in later life.
Stephen Lowe, Group Communications Director at Just Group, commented: “These finalists have shown the credentials and passion to improve the lives of society’s most vulnerable people.
“It is exciting to be approaching the final ceremony nearly a year since the project started. Over that time it has been inspiring to see so many talented people applying their insights and expertise on behalf of those who need it most. From ideas that are just starting to gain momentum to more established companies, all have shown dedication to addressing the challenges identified though our project.”
David Sinclair, Director of ILC-UK, said: “For too long the start-up and innovator community has failed to engage with the business opportunity of ageing. Innovating for Ageing shows that this is changing. We have been astonished at the fantastic response to Innovating for Ageing from solution providers across the world.
“These finalists, and many of the other companies who submitted solutions, are leading the way in helping ensure that the needs of vulnerable consumers are best met. We wish them all luck and hope that these products, services and ideas get out into the market and into the homes of people who can benefit from them”
Media Inquiries
Sam Livingstone, Temple Bar Advisory Limited
saml@templebaradvisory.com // 020 7002 1483 // 07769 655437
Lily Parsey, ILC-UK
lilyparsey@ilcuk.org.uk // 020 7340 0440
Notes to Editors:
About Innovating for Ageing
Innovating for Ageing was launched by Just Group, with the support of the International Longevity Centre (ILC), in January 2018. The project aims to identify solutions to the growing problem of vulnerability in later life by bringing together experts, innovators and groups who work to support vulnerable consumers. Its objective is to identify and support the development of products and services that will address the challenges faced by ageing consumers at risk of vulnerability due to physical disability, illness, dementia or financial exclusion.
Innovating for Ageing responds to the increasing scrutiny by the Financial Conduct Authority of how financial services companies are addressing vulnerability. The FCA has argued the market “is not serving many consumers in vulnerable circumstances consistently or well” and that “customers in vulnerable circumstances are being let down”.
The project is looking across all sectors – not just financial services – to improve every aspect of vulnerable customers’ experiences of the products and services they encounter when dealing with businesses and organisations.
About Just Group
Just Group (Just Group plc) is a FTSE-listed specialist UK financial services company created by the merger of Just Retirement Group and Partnership Assurance Group.
A leader in the individual retirement income, care and defined benefit de-risking markets, Just Group has been trusted to manage over £15 billion of customers’ retirement savings and has helped customers release over £3.5 billion from their properties.
Just Group provides a wide range of products, advice and professional services to individual customers, financial intermediaries, corporate clients and pension scheme trustees.
About ILC
The ILC is the UK’s specialist think tank on the impact of longevity on society, and what happens next.
We believe society has to adapt now so we can all enjoy the benefits of longevity.
We want a society that works for everyone, regardless of their age.
We know the numbers. We know the challenges. What happens next will define us for generations.