News Archive
5th issue of the SEN@ER newsletter published
Bonn, 13 June 2007. The newsletter contains again a lot of interesting information on relevant Silver Economy issues from all over the European Union and its regions. A special focus is on the upcoming 3rd European Silver Economy Conference, to be held on 15 and 16 November 2007 in Sevilla Spain (cf. above).
The editorial of this issue was kindly written by Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency for Yorkshire & Humber, United Kingdom.
The newsletter is available for download in the news section...
3rd Silver Economy Conference Seville 2007 - Conference website online
Sevilla, 01 June 2007. The English website of the next Silver Economy Conference is up and running. Please visit
http://www.silvereconomy2007.com
for more information about this great event that will be held on the 15th and 16th November 2007 in Seville, Spain.
Age-friendly Cities - International Conference in Essen and Mülheim from 11 - 13 June 2007
Essen/Mülheim/Bonn, 31 May 2007. The main objective of the international conference is to establish and build a dialogue board for the regional partners of the WHO-project "Age Friendly Cities" (AFC). The conference will offer the participants a chance to exchange their experiences and best practice and to get into dialogue with partners from other regions of the WHO-Initiative.The main focal points of the conference are:
- security and independence: housing and home based services
- health (especially prevention and health promotion);
- participation
- culture and education in age.
Silver Economy 2006 first prize award for the telecourse "Senior and disabled accessible building and living"
The award was
handed over at the 2nd European Silver Economy conference in Kerkrade (The
Netherlands). The telecourse is a project of the North Rhine Westphalian
Trade Federation of Employers (in the field of sanitation, heating and
climate) and of the chamber of crafts of the city of Düsseldorf and
their centre "Housing for Elders" (Handwerkszentrum "Wohnen
im Alter"). It offers vocational training for employees working in
the fields of sanitation, electricity and heating installation and it sensitizes
them for the needs of older people. The telecourse comprises interdisciplinary
contents such as medical science, architecture, sanitary engineering and
marketing and it qualifies its graduates for taking actions to adopt homes
and houses to the needs of older and handicapped people.
Presentations from the 2nd Silver Economy Conference available
Limburg/Kerkrade, 22 March 2007. The second European Silver Economy Conference took place in November 2006 in Kerkrade/Netherlands. More than 50 speakers from all over Europe and the rest of the world presented their views and visions of the economic potential of the demographic change. Now most of these presentation are available for download from the conference website.
Visit www.silvereconomy2006.nl to download the presentations...
The SEN@ER network continues to grow - Limousin has joined as the first region from France
Düsseldorf/Limoges/Bonn, 05 March 2007. After the SEN@ER network has grown by three more member regions recently, Limousin as the first French region also joined the network and has been warmly welcomed by the other partner regions. Since its establishment in 2005, the network has grown by 60% up until now.
Read more about all four regions on our region page...
The “Silver Economy” has arrived at the top of the European Policy Agenda
Brussels/Bonn/Düsseldorf 23 February 2007. With the resolution “Opportunities and challenges of demographic change in Europe” (6226/07) dated 22 February 2007” the Council of the European Union has defined a clear policy position and explicitly refers to the opportunities for Europe and its regions inherent in and offered by the “silver economy”.
One of the constituting principles of the European SEN@ER network has been to view the increased ageing of the population not only as a threat or challenge but as an opportunity to improve the competitiveness and innovative abilities of the European economy and to promote growth and employment. Already in 2005, Armin Laschet, Minister for the Generations, Family, Women and Integration in the SEN@ER lead region North Rhine-Westphalia made the point when stating that “the European Unions needs a European "Silver Economy" initiative to further improve the quality of life for older citizens and to reap the benefits of the demographic change in terms of economic growth, jobs, employment and competitiveness. This initiative should be developed by the Commission and eventually implemented at all regional levels.”
With the recent resolution of the Council of the European Union, Europe has done a big step towards the achievement of this goal. Read More
The full document (in English and German) can be downloaded here.
European Congress on "Demographic Change as Opportunity: The Economic Potential of the Elderly" on April 17-18, 2007 in Berlin
Brussels/Bonn/Düsseldorf 23 February 2007. Under the framework of the German EU Presidency, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the European Commission will co-sponsor the European Congress "Demographic Change as Opportunity: The Economic Potential of the Elderly".
At the congress in the Berlin Congress Centre (bcc), well-known policy experts and specialists from the business, research, and private sectors will come together to discuss the challenges and opportunities of demographic change with high-level representatives of the EU Commission. The aim of the congress is to further pursue the European discourse about demographic changes. The special focus of the congress will be the economic power of senior citizens. Older people can make an important contribution to growth and economic development, not only with their know-how and voluntary commitments, but also with their buying power.
More information is available online at:
http://www.bmfsfj.de
The potential of growth - three more regions have joined the SEN@ER
Düsseldorf/Leeds/Sofia/Opole, 02 February 2007.
The last few months have seen the SEN@ER grow by three more member regions. In October 2006, the UK region of Yorkshire & Humber has come to our network. In January 2007, both Sofia in Bulgaria and the Polish Opolskie region joined, too. With Yorkshire & Humber there comes a third UK region into the network, Opolskie is the second Polish region and Sofia extends the network to the newest member state of the European Union.
Read more about all new member regions on our region page...
Limburg 2006 - The 2nd European Silver Economy Conference was a full success
Kerkrade, 30 November 2006. The second Silver Economy Conference that took place this week in Kerkrade / NL has been a great success. It was organised by the SEN@ER region of Limburg and was again - after the first conference in 2005 - an inportant forum for discussion and exchange of news around the vibrant topic of the Silver Economy.
The SEN@ER network is growing
Hannover/Düsseldorf, 12 June 2006. On 12 June 2006 the minister of social affairs of Lower Saxony (Niedersachen), Mrs. Mechthild Ross-Luttmann officially signed the "Bonn Declaration for the Silver Economy" as part of a press conference in Hannover. Lower Saxony with its 8 million citizens has now become the 12th European SEN@ER network region, a network which was established under the leadership of NRW in 2005.
The official signature process was attended by the NRW generations minister Armin Laschet, who also represented the SEN@ER network. Minister Mechthild Ross-Luttmann emphasised that the intention now is to learn from European neighbours and to bring Lower Saxony's experiences in this area into the network.
You can find more information on the new SEN@ER member on our regions page...
Key Note Speech: SEN@ER - Stakeholder Dialogue and Cooperation for the Silver Generation
Bonn/Graz, 10 June 2006. Ingo Meyer from the European SEN@ER Secretariat has given a key note speech at the European conference on "Ageing & Disability: Disabled People are Ageing, Ageing People are Becoming Disabled" in Graz (AT) on 8 – 9 June 2006. Together with two other presentations it formed the conference's 4th session on the topic of "Stakeholder Cooperation & Service Development". The conference was held in the framework of the Austrian EU-Presidency in co-operation with major European networks of older people and people with disabilities.
The main purpose of the SEN@ER presentation was to introduce the network to a wider audience and to promote its major goal: seeing demographic change and population ageing not only as a threat but also as an opportunity for economic growth, jobs and employment and increased social inclusion.
The overall feedback from the audience and from various key actors in the European field of older people and people with disabilities was very positive. Many participants had to admit that they had never before seen this positive twist to the big threat of the demographic change. At the same time, the economic as well as the social potential of SEN@ER’s approach was welcomed.
Ingo Meyer’s presentation can be downloaded from here [PDF, 120KB].
More information on the conference can be found online at
http://www.ageing-and-disability.com/aad/index.php?&lang=en.
More information on the SEN@ER is available on this website
Two Calls for Partners
As part of the SEN@ER initiative the following calls for partners were launched:
- "Age-culture.net - A European Network for Creative Ageing"
- "European Centre of University Studies for Seniors in East-Westphalia-Lippe (ECUS)"
1. "Age-culture.net - A European Network for Creative Ageing".
This is a call initiated by the SEN@ER SIG "Culture & Ageing" which has been established in the end of last year by several of the SEN@ER partners under the responsibility of North Rhine-Westphalia. The call aims at widening the network by partners from further regions. The contact details of Age-culture.net are as follows:
Almuth Fricke and Gerda Sieben
Institute for Education and Culture
Küppelstein 34
42857 Remscheid, Germany
Phone 0049 2191 794 299
Fax 0049 2191 794 290
Mail: fricke@ibk-kultur.de
www.age-culture.net / www.ibk-kultur.de
2. "European Centre of University Studies for Seniors in East-Westphalia-Lippe (ECUS)".
ECUS is interested in Europe-wide cooperation and has issued a Call for
Partners. ECUS has been founded as an innovative institution of education
by regional partners. It is financed by work contributed by the partners
and by fees paid by the students.
Scientific support for ECUS will be provided by the Faculty for Health
Sciences (School of Public Healthe) of the University of Bielefeld.
The contact details are:
Europäisches Zentrum für Universitäre Studien der Senioren
Ostwestfalen-Lippe (EZUS)
Zentrum für Innovation in der Gesundheitswirtschaft (ZIG)
Jahnplatz 5
33602 Bielefeld
Mrs Susanne Lübker
Dr. Dr. Paul Wolters
Tel.: 0049 (0) 5 21 - 32 98 60-16
Fax: 0049 (0) 5 21 - 32 98 60 - 49
Email: luebker@zig-owl.de / wolters@zig-owl.de
Euregional workshop: "Times of Societal Change – Active Ageing – Develop Joint Perspectives in the Euregio"
The workshop was held on 2 November 2005 in Aachen/Germany. It was opened by minister Armin Laschet from North Rhine-Westphalia and minister Dr. Martin Eurlings from the government of the province of Limburg. During the workshop, the network "Euregional Silver Economy" was founded and is now open to new members.
Further information on the workshop can be found here...
SIGs start work
Three Special Interest Groups (SIGs) on relevant Silver Economy issues have taken up their work by now. Further information about the SIGs on "Ageing Well", "Culture" and "Financial Services" can be obtained from here...
Economic resources of senior citizens: Regional economic and fiscal effects of promoting the senior citizens economy in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Bonn, 23 June 2005. This study of the Institut Arbeit und Technik (Institute for Work and Technology) and the RWI shows impressively the opportunities for economic development of the State and the municipalities that could be realised if, besides the present fields of priority for the promotion of the senior citizens economy, additional strategies were adopted to mobilise the potential for economic strength inherent in an ageing society.
Seniors could become one of the major pushes for significant parts of the economy. For North Rhine-Westphalia – the by far largest state of Germany with approx 18 million citizens where the regional state initiated a “Silver Economy” initiative – a recent calculation from the above study shows that a proactive response to the needs and interests of the elderly could result in a plus of about 100.000 new jobs by 2010. The state government’s tax revenue would increase by a total of +€ 1.2 billion until 2010, local governments would collect an additional € 800 million, and wages and salaries would rise by € 6.5 billion. Similar calculations for the whole Federal Republic of Germany expect more than 900.000 additional employees in the “Silver Economy” within the next two decades. There are no other sectors or businesses with a higher growth potential in the German economy.
The complete study can be downloaded from here...
The European SEN@ER - Silver Economy Network of European Regions Secretariat was established and opened on 1 June 2005
Bonn, 1 June 2005. With the European SEN@ER Secretariat – which is financially supported by the Ministry for Health, Social Affairs, Women and Family of North Rhine-Westphalia - the successful operation of the SEN@ER Network which was founded at the Silver Economy in Europe conference 2005 in Bonn (Germany) is continued and now financially secured up until 2007. The SEN@ER Network is now provided with a European management structure and put on solid grounds. The Secretariat is located in Bonn (Germany) and run by empirica Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH. empirica already successfully organised the first European Silver Economy Conference in February 2005.
Silver Economy Network of European Regions is growing - Next worksteps agreed upon at the fourth meeting on 14 April 2005 in Brussels
Bonn/Brussels, 19 May 2005. The SEN@ER Network (Silver Economy Network of European Regions) welcomed the eleventh partner region - Lower Silesia (Poland) - at its fourth meeting in Brussels. Lower Silesia is the first SEN@ER member from the new European Union member states. At the meeting also the next worksteps were agreed upon and a Special Interest Group (SIG) on "Ageing-well" established. This SIG will be co-ordinated by the partner region Gelderland (NL). Further SIG members include Extremadura (ES), Limburg (NL), Lower Silesia (PL), Mid-East Region (IRL) and North Rhine-Westphalia (DE). Also a SIG on "Culture" was established under the responsibility of North Rhine-Westphalia and Extremadura as a further member.
