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Last week, the AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP (ATC) was thrilled to host the second annual ATC Summit in Washington, D.C. Focused on the theme of “The Power of the Ecosystem,” the conference brought together ATC participant startups, enterprises, investors, business services and testbeds for two days of in-person interactive workshops, panel discussions and opportunities to learn, make connections, and advance the dynamic, collective growth of AgeTech.

Day 1: Exploring and Solving Nitty-Gritty Problems

Andrew Graff, chief executive officer at advertising agency Allen & Gerritsen, started the conference with a keynote address, “Let’s Talk About Your Target Market,” noting that older adults are increasingly rejecting stereotypes about themselves and are transforming retirement from a time to rest into a time for personal reinvigoration and reinvention.

From a marketing perspective, Graff described that consumers typically research based on logic but make purchases based on emotion, and explained how companies can break through sales plateaus by making their marketing efforts as innovative as their offerings, their message as provocative as their concept, and their measurement metrics as dynamic as their investment.

He further noted the importance of satisfied customers who will act as ambassadors: When a company’s product or service becomes vital to someone’s life, they are primed to become passionate influencers for that company. In particular, Graff championed the surprising rise and power of granfluencers — social media-savvy older adults with enormous online audiences who hold substantial clout with even younger generations.

After the keynote, leaders facilitated a real-time agenda-building session to brainstorm topics for the Unconference, a series of unique breakout groups where participants could discuss, share and learn about top-of-mind issues relevant to the AgeTech space. Split across three sessions during the afternoon, the Unconference featured discussions dedicated to 15 different topics, including: 

• Marketing on a tight budget

• AI tools for startups

• Working with and marketing to healthcare professionals

• Reaching non-AgeTech investors

• Platform versus point solutions for senior living facilities

• Go-to-market strategies for B2B, B2C and B2B2C

The emphasis on a participant-decided agenda and peer-to-peer sharing precipitated highly relevant discussions and offered all attendees a variety of fresh perspectives on hot topics — an example of the power of the AgeTech ecosystem in action.

After the day’s sessions, attendees gathered for drinks, dinner and the AgeTech After Dark Pitch Challenge, which featured startups pitching their solutions to a panel of judges for a $10,000 cash prize. Six companies competed:

• Blank Slate Tech uses insights from cognitive science and AI to push the limits of the human brain via Braintrust, its digital app focused on helping people with memory loss retain information and learn new things.

• TeddyBot is a conversational AI companion that helps elders age happily and healthily with a voice-activated amulet that can be placed on any object, such as a stuffed animal, transforming it into a highly personalized companion.

• Water.io’s smart bottles are equipped with advanced AI algorithms for personalized hydration and include a care tracker system that allows caregivers to monitor and ensure their loved ones stay hydrated.

• PharmAdva MedaCube produces an automated, single-user, toaster-sized countertop home medication dispenser that can be bulk-loaded and holds up to a 90-day supply of 16 medications.

• Houston Bionics provides ExoRehab X, an at-home rehabilitation platform that empowers stroke survivors to perform high-intensity, high-repetition therapy independently.

• Joe & Bella is a premium adaptive apparel brand dedicated to seamlessly blending functionality and style for older adults and individuals living with disabilities, making the twice-daily task of dressing easier, quicker, more comfortable and dignified.

After deliberating, the judges announced Joe & Bella the winner of the AgeTech After Dark Pitch Challenge and the $10,000 prize.

Day 2: Leveraging the Power of the Ecosystem

Wednesday got underway with a keynote speech, “Power of an Ecosystem,” by Kristen Dahlgren, an award-winning journalist and former “Today” show correspondent. A survivor of breast cancer, Dahlgren learned during her treatment journey that breast cancer vaccines are already in clinical trials and could be on the market within the next decade.

Astonished to discover this, and seeing that cancer vaccine research is at a tipping point, she left her job to form the Cancer Vaccine Coalition to leverage the power of collaboration to raise awareness and speed up vaccine development. “We’re bringing together the researchers, the industry, the money, and hopefully more government stakeholders,” said Dahlgren. “We’re putting together an ecosystem to accelerate all this to get it done now.”

Two members of the Cancer Vaccine Coalition joined Dahlgren on stage for a panel discussion: Dr. Kiran Dhillon of the University of Washington’s Cancer Vaccine Institute, and Dr. G. Thomas Budd of the Cleveland Clinic. Dhillon and Budd dove into the science behind cancer vaccines and the reasons why we’re on the cusp of success after years of disappointment — specifically, because researchers now understand the kind of immune response that will be effective in eliminating cancer, among other advancements. 

Dahlgren, Dhillon and Budd all discussed the path forward, beginning with vaccines for breast cancer treatment and for preventing recurrence, then for preventing breast cancer altogether. All three emphasized the need for more clinical trials (and clinical trial participants), more funding and more collaboration — pain points the Cancer Vaccine Coalition aims to alleviate.

Following the keynote address and panel discussion, representatives from Panasonic Well, the venture and business incubator within the Panasonic Group, announced their Family Wellness Innovation Challenge, which they are running in collaboration with ATC. Featuring more than $1 million in cash prizes, the Challenge is aimed at finding and awarding breakthrough startups that are helping define the future of well-being for families. Startup winners of the Challenge will receive a sponsored trip to CES 2025 along with exhibition space in Panasonic’s booth at that conference. Applications are open through October 25, 2024, at Panasonic Well’s website.

Next up was “ATC in Action: Collaboration Success Stories,” a pair of panel discussions highlighting AgeTech Collaborative™ participant organizations that have formed mutually beneficial business relationships.

Nerman Selimic of RAZ Mobility, which provides accessible cell phones for people with cognitive decline, described how the company has been working with fellow ATC startups Sage Stream, Zinnia and Vivo to present their offerings to RAZ Mobility customers via the RAZ Mobility platform. “We wanted our customers to benefit from the ecosystem that we’re a part of, so we decided to offer our customers selected products and services from other members of the AgeTech Collaborative™, which benefits all of us,” said Selimic. He noted that this collaboration was a low-risk and inexpensive marketing play for the startups, and Eric Levitan of Vivo explained that working together in this way helps each company move beyond being a single point solution to being part of a larger pathway that gives customers access to multiple solutions.

David Moss of ATC enterprise participant Care Daily, a home health AI and SaaS company that offers an open AI platform for device manufacturers and other companies, described how the disjointed home care environment means that no one company can solve every problem. “That’s why companies need to come together for interoperability,” Moss said. “When we do that, we each bring a part of the solution that, together, can provide holistic care. Care Daily is creating the largest alliance of interoperable AgeTech companies to provide that holistic care.”

Representatives from other ATC participant companies that work with Care Daily — iGuardStove, ONSCREEN, Loop Village and Nobi — then described how this interoperability creates synergistic benefits. For example, data points captured by one company about an individual user can then feed into Care Daily’s broader model, which can describe things such as how that person is doing and whether they’re safe aging at home. Those deeper insights can then be shared with other partners in the alliance.

The afternoon featured a panel discussion focusing on “The State of the Industry: Trends and Opportunities.” Leaders in areas such as caregiving, brain health, livable communities and health and well-being shared their perspectives on what the world will look like a decade from now, what AgeTech companies can do today to position themselves for success, and how they envision the AgeTech space fitting into the longer-term future.

The Summit wrapped up with a series of breakout groups, each led by an expert or panel of thought leaders, giving participants the chance to ask specific questions or get hands-on practice in areas of particular interest to their business. Topics included:

• Scaling with capital

• Scaling with government programs

• Scaling with health systems

• Mapping the customer journey

• Maintaining an innovative mindset

• Mining data for actionable insights

• Tackling the unknowns 

The variety of topics in the breakout sessions were designed to help founders and other attendees wherever they are on their business journey, just as the ATC Summit as a whole offered all participants a wealth of opportunities to network with experts and peers, gain valuable insights and experience first-hand the power of the AgeTech ecosystem.

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