Seniors, the future of care in artificial intelligence

From 5 to 7 November, the Silver Economy Forum, the event addressing issues related to the ageing society, will take place. Now in its third edition, it is organised by Ameri Communications and will take place online through the Cisco Webex platform. The programme includes 50 authoritative national and international speakers and 9 thematic sessions. After the greetings of the Mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci and the Liguria Region's Councillor for Economic Development Andrea Benveduti, the undersecretary for Health, Sandra Zampa, will speak. (read the entire programme)

This year the focus will be on prevention, also in the wake of the current pandemic.  'We need to create a multidisciplinary system to support prevention that is available at all times and not only in emergencies,' explains Daniela Boccadoro Ameri, director of the Silver Economy Forum and president of Ameri Communications. Help can come from new technologies, from artificial intelligence to the use of e-health and telemedicine. Some researches will be presented, such as the Silver Trends Observatory, created by Ameri Communications and Lattanzio Monitoring & Evaluation, on the tastes and needs of the new over-65 audience. Or like the study on the use, from the beginning of the pandemic, lockdown included, until today, of digital devices, e-health and e-commerce.

Eight out of ten seniors (over 65) live in the world's twenty most developed economies, which produce 85% of the world's Gross Domestic Product (data from the Silver Economy Forum). In 2018 there were over 670 million people and they will reach 1 billion in 2030, i.e. over one over 65 for every 10 inhabitants. In Italy, where the average age is 81 for men and 85 for women, there were 13.6 million over-65s in 2018 (22.8% of the total), an increase of 11% since 2012. In 2047, there will be almost 20 million (34%). In 2018, the old-age index reached an all-time high: for every 100 young people, there are 173 elderly people. It was 58 in 1980. The old-age dependency ratio reached 35.7%, which means that in Italy there is an over-65 person for every three active people. This is the highest value in Europe (31%) and the second highest in the world after Japan (46%).

The Silver Economy Forum, which recently joined the WHO (World Health Organisation) Regional Office for Europe, will also address the issue of employment opportunities arising from the needs of the older population. After all, the business that moves around this population group is important. The share of public expenditure on 'old age' is worth about 27% of the total. This does not take into account private expenditure on domestic care and nursing services, which is borne by households and provides employment for about 1.6 million people (in the form of carers and domestic staff). The expenditure made by this segment of the population is about EUR 200 billion, almost one fifth of the entire consumption of resident households. It is estimated that in 2030 the share will be worth about 25 per cent of the total and in 2050 30 per cent.

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