| Introducing Mr. Espen Aspnes |
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| Mr. Espen, tell me a little bit about your professional background.
Originally, I have a master’s degree as a construction engineer from the University in Trondheim, NTNU. After 20 years as head of various building projects, including 10 years of building in the health and care sector, I started in 1994 at SINTEF, Scandinavia’s largest independent research organization. Since then, I have worked with user- and needs-driven innovation and business development in the health and care sector. The challenges and opportunities posed by the demographic development have always been an important focus area. Therefore, in 1995 I became a member, and later a board member and chair of the board, of The Global Aging Network (formerly IAHSA).
 How did you get involved in ISG?
In 2009, I had a presentation at the IAHSA conference in London. After the presentation I was encouraged to contact ISG. In 2010 I was responsible for a national conference in Norway, and then I invited Prof. Herman Bouma, one of the founders of the research area gerontechnology, as a speaker. He then invited me into the board of ISG.
When was your first ISG conference?
It was the joint ISG*ISARC 2012 World Conference in Eindhoven.
On which project are you currently working?
I work with several project initiatives in InnoMed (a national competence network for needs-driven innovation), but the most important at the moment is an investigation for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on financing and dissemination of hearing aids and orthopedic aids.
What are the key-findings relevant to ISG?
In the aforementioned report, it is very important to arrive at solutions that work for older users, especially those who live in the districts (Norway is, after all, a long country with scattered population). For hearing aid users, older users should have access to devices with induction charging so that they do not need to replace batteries. The small batteries in hearing aids are very difficult for many elderly people to handle. And without hearing aids one can quickly lose social contact and become lonely.
What are your expectations with regards to ISG 2020?
My expectation is that ISG 2020 will gather a large number of participants from all over the world, and that the participants will thrive and benefit greatly from the conference in Norway. The research area “gerontechnology” is not as well known in Scandinavia. The closest is “welfare technology”. Therefore, I also hope that ISG 2020 will contribute to “gerontechnology” receiving far greater attention, also in Scandinavia.
What is your perspective on ISG in the future?
With the demographic development we see globally with an increasing proportion of seniors, developing, implementing, and documenting technology solutions that work towards the elderly is crucial, and “gerontechnology” contributes with knowledge and insight into how older people function. At the same time, there is a rapid technological development that offers completely new opportunities. It requires that the discipline is in continuous development. It is demanding, but I believe that the many resource persons in ISG will succeed with that, and therefore I predict ISG will play an important role and will have a bright future. |
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| Call for Abstracts for the 12th ISG World Congress*
18-20 May 2020 |
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I am pleased to announce that we have now published “Call for Abstracts” and the information about ISG 2020 we find necessary at the present stage. Everything is published on the URL at SINTEF, https://www.sintef.no/ISG2020.
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| July 2019 – Round table discussion
Improving communication between chapters; start of an online round-table discussion with all Chapter Presidents on a six-month basis moving forward.
Austria/Germany/Switzerland Chapter: a report.
Robotics and old age, care robotics and related technologies are the top topics for meetings, conferences, and other activities currently in Germany. The German Federal Government releases on a regular basis reports on the situation of elderly. Hans-Werner Wahl (ISG) is a member of the responsible committee and reports that the next release will address “Old Age and Digitalization”. The report can be expected mid of 2020 and will also be released in a (shorter) English version. In addition, there have been workshops and conferences on the role of care robotics run by the German Council on Ethics (Deutscher Ethikrat) in Berlin as well as on the role of interdisciplinarity in aging and technology run by the committee on Aging and Technology of the German Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics in Siegen, both held in June 2019. German senior organizations together with European senior organizations (such as AGE) have also undertaken many actions to strengthen the role of older adults in the transition to digitalization and to reduce still existing digital gaps.
An international conference of the competence cluster Aging & Living in Place of School of Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW in cooperation with AGE-NT (Switzerland and the Austria/Germany/Switzerland Chapter of the ISG was carried out in Olten Switzerland from 31.01.-01.02.2019). Participants discussed the potentials and risks in dealing with modern techniques and technologies.
In December 2018 an intensive workshop on “Designing for Older Adults” took place in Frankfurt, organized by Barbara Klein, Frank Oswald and Hans-Werner Wahl. The workshop was conducted by the directors of CREATE (Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement; Sara Czaja, Neil Charness, Walter Boot, and Wendy Rogers http://www.create-center.org/ ) and had the ambition to further a new cohort of early career scholars with interest in aging and technology in Germany and beyond.
Brazilian Chapter
 WORKSHOP: “Aging in Latin America – crises, debates and paradigms” organized by the Brazilian Society of Gerontechnology (SBGTec) in partnership with The Oxford Institute of Population Aging (University of Oxford – U.K) and the Latin American Research Network on Aging (LARNA). The workshop discussed the challenges and opportunities of an aging society covering the subjects of aging subjectivity, indicators of active aging, economic challenges and the emerging aspects of this phenomenon in Latin America. The event was held on 04 and 05 July 2019 at the University of São Paulo, campus of Ribeirão Preto – SP.
Dutch-Flemish Chapter
Keynote titled “Creating Long-term Care facilities, a Perspective from Gerontechnology” conducted by prof. dr. Helianthe Kort. at the 2019 International Conference and Master Class on Gerontechnology
and Service Management. Research Center at Taichun, Taiwan on 21-25 May 2019.
Japanese Chapter
Professor Shigekazu Ishihara gave a keynote titled Kansei engineering and ergonomics on product developments for elders at the 2019 International Conference and Master Class on Gerontechnology and Service Management. Research Center at Taichun, Taiwan on 21-25 May 2019.
2019 International Conference and Master Class on Gerontechnology and Service Management
 Professor Shigekazu Ishihara and professor Helianthe Kort gave a masterclass
preceding the 2019 International Conference and Master Class on
Gerontechnology and Service Management. Research Center at Taichun, Taiwan
on 21-25 May 2019. The 2019 ICGTSM, organisation by Tina Hua, Director Medical
Technology Center at the Nan Kai University of Technology, provided an exciting
forum for researchers in Gerontechnology and Service Management to discuss their
work and to get to know one another. |
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| “In Senior Mode” Congress
Smart City, Smart Home, Smart Life |
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| SAVE THE DATE
1 – 4 October 2019
Angers Conference Centre
Scientific congress “In Senior Mode”
https://www.enmodesenior2019.com/
– Next October in Angers (France) there will be a scientific congress “In Senior Mode” https://www.enmodesenior2019.com/ in which the French-speaking
Chapter of the ISG will lead the ethics symposium.
You are welcome to attend! – |
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| 3rd Brazilian Congress of Gerontechnology |
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| SAVE THE DATE
We would like to welcome you on the 3rd Brazilian Congress of Gerontechnology,
which will be held in São Paulo,
from October 10 to 12, 2019.
Mark your agenda to attend our special event.
It will be a pleasure to have you here with us.
https://gerontecnologia.com.br/
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| The 11th IAGG Asia/Oceania Regional Congress 2019
Taipei, Taiwan
Gerontechnology track organized by
ISG Sinophone Chapter |
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| The 12th ISG World Conference – 2020 |
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| SAVE THE DATE
for the 12th ISG World Conference * 18 – 20 May
Clarion Hotel, Trondheim, Norway Address: Brattørkaia 1, Trondheim, Norway
The local committee informed us that the International
Master Classes are scheduled on 21st and 22nd, May 2020.
Participating students can apply for a Travel Grant at the Herman Bouma
Foundation for Gerontechnology, http://gerontechnologie.nl/grants/
Theme: “Measures to Achieve Better Quality of Life and
Active Healthy Ageing”
Hosted by SINTEF and supported by the ISG members of the Nordic Countries.
For more information visit: https://www.sintef.no/ISG2020 |
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| Grant application opportunity |
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| The Herman Bouma fund for Gerontechnology Foundation offers support to “young”, promising researchers in the area of Gerontechnology with yearly grants for travelling or research scholarships. Interested?
For more information: http://gerontechnologie.nl/grant |
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• Klein, B. / Künemund, H. / Merkel, Sebastian / Wahl, H.-W (2018): From user integration to usage: recent findings and evidence from Germany. In: Gerontotechnology: official journal of the International Society of Gerontotechnology 17, supplement, p. 34-38.
• Merkel, Sebastian / Kucharski, Alexander (2018): Participatory design in gerontechnology: a systematic literature review. In: The gerontologist, special issue, May 19, 2018, p. 1-1
• Seifert, A., Hofer, M., & Rössel, J. (2018). Older adults’ perceived sense of social exclusion from the digital world. Educational Gerontology, 44(12), 775-785. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2019.1574415
• Schlomann, A., Seifert, A., Rietz, C. (2019). Relevance of Activity Tracking with Mobile Devices in the Relationship Between Physical Activity Levels and Satisfaction with Physical Fitness in Older Adults: Representative Survey. JMIR AGING. https://doi.org/10.2196/12303
• Seifert, A. & Rössel, J. (2019). Digital Participation. IN: Danan Gu and Matthew E. Dupre. Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_1017-1
• Pascher, M.; Baumeister, A.; Klein, B.; Schneegass, S.; Gerken, J. (2019) Little Helper: A multi-robot system in home healthcare environments. In: Proceedings of International workshop on Human-Drone Interaction a spart oft he Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (iHDI´19), https://doi.org/10.475/123_4
• Klein, B.: Assistive technologies supporting informal care. In: Peer Review on “Improving reconciliation of work and long-term care. Host Country Discussion Paper – Germany, 24.-25.09.2018. DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. S. 12-18 (http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=1024&newsId=9173&furtherNews=yes&preview=cHJldkVtcGxQb3J0YWwhMjAxMjAyMTVwcmV2aWV3)
• Baisch, S.; Kolling, T.; Klein, B. Pantel, J.; Oswald, F.; Knopf, M.: Dynamic interplay between general experience and robot-specific expertise at older adults´first encounter with a robot: Role for robot acceptance and implications for robot design. In: Gerontechnology. Vol 17, No 4. S. 215-231
• Klein, B.; Schlömer, I.: A robotic shower system. Acceptance and ethical issues. In: Z Gerontol Geriat. Accepted: 15. November 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-017-1345-9 (open access)
• Kort, H.S.M., Steunenberg, B., van Hoof, J. (2019) Methods for involving people living with dementia and their informal carers as co-developers of technological solutions. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 47(3):149-156. doi: 10.1159/000497802. https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/497802
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