The Information Society affects wide areas of social and economic life, particularly in the industrialised countries. With regard to older citizens (and older disabled people), several challenges and opportunities are relevant in this context.
European society is ageing. By 1995 70 million people over the age of 60 were living in the Union, almost 20 % of total population. Till 2020, this figure will rise to 25 %; the number of people 80 years old and older will more than double. These trends have several implications: there will be more older people in absolute as well as relative terms, there will be considerably more older "old" people, there will be fewer family carers (i.e. informal carers), and there will be a smaller productive workforce to contribute to the financing of health and social services.
These trends pose significant challenges to the organisation of health and social care services. There will be - also due to rapid progress in medicine - more frail and disabled older people in need of social, home and long-term care services at the same time as there are fewer informal family carers and increased cost-containment pressures on the formal services. IST products and services, both mainstream and assistive technologies, have considerable potential to provide solutions that can meet these growing needs.
These trends present significant market opportunities. Already now about 20% of Europe's population, older and disabled citizens, represent a significant market segment. From a supplier's perspective it is important to note that other major countries are facing the same trends, some are "ageing" at the same speed (USA) or even faster (Japan). Terms such as "silver market" or "golden market segment" which have been adopted primarily in consumer industries so far reflect the strategic importance of these consumers. With regard to IST, it is useful to distinguish the market for mainstream products and services from that for more specific products and services. In the market for main stream products (telecommunications and computer equipment, Internet online information and support services, electronic commerce, multimedia products, chat groups and social communications, etc.) older and disabled people are known to be as interested as any other user group - if they are properly informed. In view of the demographic development, European industry would miss huge business opportunities if these population groups were not appropriately targeted, e.g. by implementing design-for-all features. In the more specific market - the so-called Assistive Technology sector - IST products and services specifically aim at meeting particular requirements of older and disabled users. Here the situation is characterised by a high degree of market fragmentation and a preponderance of SMEs. In both cases there is a need to position European industries including SMEs to enter new markets, both inside and outside Europe, and particularly challenge current competitive advantages of US industries. These stem, for example, from the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and the Telecommunications (Reform) Act of 1996 which have placed responsibilities on industry to implement the "design for all" approach on a broad basis; and, e.g., the Universal Services Administrative Corporation is supporting telehealth services in rural areas.
As reflected in the EU's paper on the eEurope initiative, there is a huge potential to enrich everyone's life, e.g. by bringing communities closer together or sharing knowledge. As also stated there, managing the transformation of the current society into an information society is both an economic and a social challenge. It needs to be ensured that the information society is cohesive and not divisive. This means that all Europeans are to be reached by the benefits that increasing application of IST potentially offers, and not just those who are already digitally literate and live in good economic and healthy situations. This applies not least to most older citizens as they merely missed the opportunity to gain experience with IST technologies within their working or educational life. As revealed by recent research, older citizens are at particular risk to be left behind on the information highway. Disabled people also have much to gain from developments in the IST sector. Accessible technologies which address their specific needs can enable their participation and independence by facilitating many aspects of daily life including work, housing, mobility, care, etc. Therefore, measures need to be taken so that these societal groups are not isolated and have access to information and services like any other population group. For developing such measures policy must rely on up-to date and reliable data on the spread of IST technologies among the groups in question. In the USA the risk of the so called "digital divide" has become the focus of special attention and is regularly monitored through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the US Department of Commerce, who's reports are regularly published.
In view of these challenges and opportunities it becomes clear that, on the one hand, Information Society Technology (IST) developments offer extensive opportunities to overcome barriers (social, economic, geographical, cultural, time) for older people and disabled people. On the other hand, European industry has however so far failed to exploit the full market potential for products and services targeted at people with disabilities and, more generally, at older people. A major hindrance for the full development and exploitation of Information Society Technologies by industry and service providers is the lack of information about the specific needs of older people and disabled people, and about the barriers that they face in accessing the Information Society. A second hindrance is that industry tends not to automatically consider older people when developing new devices and services. Lack of awareness is only one reason, the other being the difficulty to convince all actors involved in the design and implementation chain that older and disabled customers represent a considerable market share. This affects both the development of Design-for-All applications and products and services targeted towards the older and disabled market.
Against this background, the overriding objective of SeniorWatch was to redress the state of affairs, to support the development of a competitive industry and market across Europe for Information Society Technology related products and services both designed-for-all and assisting older people (including older people with disabilities) to participate in the Information Society to fullest extend possible.