The Senior Eco-Nect Strategy Report: Blueprint for Future Silver Economy Development is produced as part of the Senior Eco-Nect Project. Senior Eco-Nect Project aims to involve all possible stakeholders in a wider society to engage and participate in the silver economy and take concerted actions to tackle any challenges that may face in the future, so that a robust, inclusive, and sustainable silver economy could be established at both the national level and at the European level. The Senior Eco-Nect Project has five objectives for achieving the ultimate target.
Objective 1: Support the emergence, growth, efficiency, and interconnection of at least four European ecosystems dedicated to active and healthy ageing.
Objective 2: Unlock the full potential of the silver economy sector by integrating key transversal areas targeting the ageing population beyond the scope of health and care.
Objective 3: Ensure inclusiveness and interconnectivity between the key innovation players from across the quadruple helix around the sector of silver economy at the local, regional, national, and European levels and beyond.
Objective 4: Increase the efficiency and innovation potential of silver economy innovators and projects by addressing key challenges and exploiting the opportunities offered by this sector.
Objective 5: Encouraging synergies and complementarities between Senior Eco-Nect Joint Action Plan and the innovation programmes of public authorities.
The rapid growth of an ageing population at both the national and European level urges not only policy makers and public authorities, but also academic and research institutions, enterprises and industrial professionals to pay attention to the growing and diverse needs of older people. According to the news release from World Health Organization, the number of the population that is in the age group between 65 years and over will overtake the population who are under 15 years in European regions by 2024 (World Health Organization, 2023a). Senior Eco-Nect project responds to the significant challenge posing y the growing ageing population and contributes into the economic and social values and promotes the understanding and knowledge of ageing population and the needs of older people so that to create a synergetic network and support the development of a robust, inclusive, interconnected and sustainable silver economy. As part of the working packages for the project, a strategy report is produced to provide insights on the joint strategy plan at both national and European level. In the report, an inclusive language regarding older people and very old people will be used which are aligned with the standards and requirements of European Union (European Commission. Statistical Office of the European Union., 2020).
The strategy report will examine both the results from SWOT composite report and the market study to find the common ground between them. Moreover, it will also investigate the differences to explore the untapped potentials for future development. The report also explains and analyses the current standing of ageing population and the development progress of silver economy, especially the performance in the labour market, and health and social sectors. The ecosystem in the partner regions will also be presented. Via the sketch of the national and regional ecosystem, it may present the audience a better understanding on the silver economy development and the related key stakeholders. Furthermore, the report will provide an overview and an outlook of the silver economy and the related market. The report also investigates the demands of different sectors which may indicate the supports that would be necessary to them. Good practice cases that are selected from the published handbook, Senior Eco-Nect Handbook on Silver Economy, Sustainable Development and Innovation Ecosystem, and public releases, and silver economy-orientated policies at the European level will also be demonstrated in the report.
The strategy report will investigate and analyse the opportunities and challenges at the regional and national level in the partner regions and based on the commonality, apply and reflect them at the European level. Strategies and joint action plan will also be made on the foundation of the opportunities and challenges analysis.
The research methodology that was applied will be presented in the report for further applicable research studies and references use.
The strategy report uses the four partner regions, France, Slovenia, Spain and Ireland as anchors for understanding the current development progress on silver economy, and the opportunities and challenges it encounters. The explored commonalities would be useful and indicative to the further understanding on the silver economy development at the European level. This report aims to provide support to varied stakeholder on their participation in the silver economy. It also aims to raise further awareness of silver economy development and encourage more stakeholder to take part in.
