+++ The European Silver Economy Newsletter, Issue 3/2006, September 2006 ++ Issue 3/2006 Contents. Section One: Editorial: The potential of growth - Lower Saxony joins the SEN@ER. Section Two: Reports from the SEN@ER Regions. 01: The SOPRANO project: partners from three SEN@ER regions cooperating in the development of independent living services. 02: North Rhine-Westphalia: Three reports on Senior Marketing, Nutrition in Older Age and Silver Economy and Migrants. 03: Extremadura: The Perspectives for a Citizens’ and Social Europe. Declaration by the Members of the European Academy of Yuste. 04: Andalucía: Andalucía Junta 65 (sesentaycinco) card with increased range of leisure activities and services. Section Three: 2nd European Silver Economy Conference 2006. 05: Golden Opportunities for Business in the Silver Economy. Invitation by Martin Eurlings, Deputy for Economic Affairs, Province of Limburg. 06: A wide field: thematic foci of the conference. Section Four: Reports from the SEN@ER Network and the European SEN@ER Secretariat. 07: "Stakeholder Dialogue and Cooperation for the Silver Generation" Key note speech at the European conference on "Disability & Ageing: disabled people are ageing, ageing people are becoming disabled", Graz: 8 - 9 June 2006. 08: 8th German Senior Citizens Day - A big success. 09: AGE launches a Position Statement on the Development and Use of Medicinal products for Older People. 10: Booz Allen Hamilton Study: Banks and insurance company loose 25% of earnings to the demographic change. 11: Generation Plus Congress. Section Five: In Focus - Age and Culture. 12: Cultural participation and learning by using the arts in later life - European Workshop of SIG Culture / age-culture.net in Extremadura, Spain. 13: age-culture.net at German Senior Citizens Day 2006 in Cologne, Germany. 14: Opening Doors to Learning. Older Learners Arts (OLA): a learning experiment in Scotland. 15: Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Tourism and Culture: Two forces for growth. 16: Towards a Multiage Society: The Cultural Dimension of Age Policies - Conference on Active Ageing and Culture. Section Six: European Union. 17: The European Commission eInclusion open stakeholder meeting stressed that population ageing may provide significant economic opportunities. 18: e-Inclusion: Reducing the risks and reaping the benefits of the Information Society: an important policy issue for SEN@ER and the seniors in Europe. 19: European Commission: "Broadband for All" - Commission mobilises all its policy instruments to bridge the broadband gap. 20: IEE - Intelligent Energy Europe Programme: new save call published - funding opportunities for (social) housing providers in SEN@ER regions. 21: Help for elderly people to spark new research ideas: the Ambient Assisted Living project. Section Seven: Conferences, Projects, Miscellaneous. 22: Turismo y Salud: Online portal for health tourism in Spain. 23: Marketing to the Middle-Aged - and learning for the Silver Economy. 24: Towards a Multiage Society: The Cultural Dimension of Age Policies. 25: The future for employment in social care in Europe. End Notes. 26: Contact. 27: Disclaimer. 28: Copyright notice. [Contents ends]. ++ Section One: Editorial. The potential of growth - Lower Saxony joins the SEN@ER. Dear readers of the Silver Economy newsletter, The Silver Economy Network of European Regions has grown. On 12 June 2006 my home region, the German federal state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) has joined the SEN@ER and become its 12th member. Niedersachsen is the second region coming into the network after its foundation in 2005. With our state initiative for the promotion of silver products, Niedersachsen has been welcomed as a partner bringing its very own impetus and competencies into the network. We have a common goal: to stimulate economic growth and job creation in our regions by promoting the development and deployment of silver economy products and services and thus to increase the Quality of Life of older people and to create new opportunities for independent living. The increased purchasing power of senior households is the means towards this end. To unlock the economic and social potential of the demographic change, industry, trade and service providers must embrace the silver market and come up with products and services that are truly tailored to the demands of its diverse target group. With the entry of Niedersachsen, the SEN@ER regions now represent about 11% of the population of Europe - a substantial share and a strong basis for the work lying ahead of us. To spread even further the awareness both for the open issues of the silver economy and for the various activities that can already be found in many parts of Europe seems to me an important step on the way towards our goal. You are therefore cordially invited to this issue of the Silver Economy Newsletter and to find out more about the vibrant topic of the silver economy. Enjoy reading! Mechthild Ross-Luttmann, Minister for Social Affairs, Women, Family and Health of the State of Niedersachsen [Section One ends]. ++ Section Two: Reports from the SEN@ER Regions. +01: The SOPRANO project: partners from three SEN@ER regions cooperating in the development of independent living services. The European Commission has started contract negotiations with the SOPRANO consortium of partners for the implementation of an Integrated Project (IP). The aim is to start the project in early 2007. SOPRANO has been submitted as a proposal to the European Commission’s IST Programme which is part of the Framework Programme 6. SOPRANO is the acronym for "Service Oriented PRogrammable smArt enviroNments for Older Europeans". SOPRANO will design and develop highly innovative, context-aware, smart services with natural and comfortable interfaces for older people at affordable cost, meeting requirements of users, family and care providers and significantly extending the time we can live independently in our homes when older. User friendliness and acceptability is top priority for the project - a zero-slope learning curve is to be achieved and interfaces are to "vanish" into domestic settings. Large-scale viability in real homes will be demonstrated with 600 users to raise public awareness and accelerate AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) exploitation. A new AAL architecture is to support pro-active assistance based on situational analysis fed by user input and local monitoring. Responses are to follow agreed rules and seamless access provided to external professionals. Safety and security is strongly enhanced with adherence to stringent reliability standards. Multiple modalities and dialogue adaptations to cognitive ageing help meet special accessibility and usability needs. The consortium represents all stages in AAL value chains from academic research to quality integration, includes key local authority providers and is coordinated by the market leader in AAL systems provision. A top smart-homes player and advice by top user groups help rapid exploitation of innovative, accepted systems which reduce institutionalization and offer autonomy and comfort to all older Europeans. The project will run for 40 months and its budget is around 12 million Euros of which 7 million are funded by the Commission. The project will be coordinated by the Tunstall Group Ltd, United Kingdom) and has a total of 25 partners from all over Europe. SEN@ER partners from three SEN@ER regions take part in this project: Andalucia (FASS Fundación Andaluza de Servicios Sociales), North Rhine-Westphalia (PROSYST SOFTWARE GMBH, empirica GmbH) and Scotland (West Lothian Council). In these SEN@ER regions SOPRANO fields trials will be carried out and demonstrators installed. +02: North Rhine-Westphalia: Three reports on Senior Marketing, Nutrition in Older Age and Silver Economy and Migrants. Researchers from the SEN@ER region of North Rhine-Westphalia have published three reports touching on specific aspects of the Silver Economy. All reports where initiated and financially supported by the Ministry for Generation Family, Women and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The report "Senior Marketing - Communication and product packaging for a senior target group" was initiated by two expert workshops on senior marketing held by the state initiative. The first workshop dealt with questions of "good" and "bad" marketing concepts in the sectors of tourism, housing and industry. The focus of the second workshop was on a specific part of the marketing mix: product design, dealing with accessibility and usability of products in several sectors like architecture & furniture, packaging and transport & mobility. Both workshops were a big success in terms of participants and positive feedback received. Most feedback asked for further information about senior-oriented sales approaches, product packaging design and consulting. As a follow-up, the Ministry for Intergenerational Affairs, Family, Women and Integration of North Rhine-Westfalia now published the report containing comprehensive information on - the silver economy target groups, - specific issues of senior-oriented sales approaches and - user-friendly packaging design. The report mainly targets small and medium enterprises as well as non-profit service providers, giving them basic information for navigating through the silver market illustrated. The report includes a wealth of "good" and "not-so-good" practice cases. The reports’ credo is simple: "The sustainable success of a product or service on the silver market (as on all markets) depends on a focused, i.e. well targeted and appealing marketing to the target groups." Another report on "Nutrition in Older Age - Economic, scientific, medical and geriatric aspects of healthy nutrition in older age" was published by several organisations on behalf of the generation ministry. The report aims at defining the requirements for healthy nutrition in older age in the light of the demographic change and to give guidelines from the point of view of nutrition scientists and health professionals. It wants to pave the way for future activities and initiatives in the nutrition and silver economy of North Rhine-Westphalia. The report recommends that a first step on that way should be a more intense cooperation between North Rhine-Westphalia’s nutrition economy and its silver economy, since the consequences of the demographic change for the nutrition economy are not understood sufficiently at this time. Such a co-operation would also raise the political awareness for the issue. The third report on "Opening the silver economy for older migrants" was published by the Forschungsgesellschaft für Gerontologie and the Zentrum für Türkeistudien also on behalf of the generation ministry. Many migrants who came to North Rhine-Westphalia in the 1960s in order to find a job have now reached retirement age. Their number is expected to rise in the coming years. In the course of this development, older migrants also enter into the focus of the silver economy and deserve special attention as a target group on the silver market. The report contains empirical data, background information and recommendations necessary to successfully atune to this new group of costumers, to understand their demand for products and services tailored to their specific needs. The report can be understood as a primer for future discussion on the role of older migrants in the silver economy in North Rhine-Westphalia. All three reports are available for download from the SEN@ER Infobase (in German) at: http://www.silvereconomy-europe.org/infobase/regions/nrw/nrw_en.htm and http://www.seniorenwirt.de . +03: Extremadura: The Perspectives for a Citizens’ and Social Europe. Declaration by the Members of the European Academy of Yuste. The European Academy of Yuste has launched a declaration on the perspectives for a citizens’ and social Europe during its June meeting at the royal monastery of Yuste. The European Academy of Yuste Foundation has compromised itself for the organisation of a Meeting in order to discuss the future of Europe, as a way to reiterate its clear European vocation, which has been shown throughout the last few years contributing with its debates, in the heart of the European Academy of Yuste, to the process of European construction and to better knowledge of historic-cultural roots of the group of nations which form that great reality that is today Europe. In the meeting of the Trust Board of the European Academy of Yuste Foundation, the President of the Government of Extremadura, Juan Carlos Rodriguez Ibarra, expressed himself: "Maybe Europe has not thought enough about the solution to the question of who we are, it could also come from an impulse, which originates from "the truth brings us together and it does not separate us", that is, it does not cause conflicts, it does not divide us, it does not cause trouble among us, from a common culture, which has been proved for many centuries. I believe that, from our position of European Academy of Yuste, we should contribute to that. We can not do any other thing, we can not contribute to other issues, it is not us the ones with the solution to solve the institutional crisis, but we can help, with little things, to keep on encouraging what brings us together and that does not cause trouble among us, and that is the European culture". The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Spanish Cooperation Miguel Angel Moratinos, in the same context issued the following invitation: "In this time of reflection, as we have called it in the last European Board of Heads of States and Government and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, of active thinking to know what model, what Europe we want in the 21st century, the best thing is to be able to come to Yuste and have the hospitality, and above all, the cultural, inspiration atmosphere, which our Foundation offers, in the Monastery of Yuste itself, in order to encourage general debate on the European model, that model that citizens want to have closer to their own dreams and aspirations". Participants of the meeting included famous European politicians and thinkers like Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission, Mijaíl Gorbachov, former president of the Soviet Union, Umberto Eco, Writer, Semiologist and Italian Essayist and Hans Küng, Theologian. The European Academy of Yuste Foundation now proposes the organisation of a Meeting where the Academics of the European Academy of Yuste as well as ‘Charles V European Award’ prize winners and other great thinkers close to the idea of Europe will be invited to discuss in order to gather their main outcomes and solutions to the European crisis. More information is available form the Foundation’s English website at: http://www.fundacionyuste.org/index_e.asp . +04: Andalucía: Andalucía Junta 65 (sesentaycinco) card with increased range of leisure activities and services. Through the Andalucía Junta sesentaycinco Card, numerous institutions and companies have found a means of offering discounts to the elderly who are residents in Andalusia. The advantages which the Card offers through collaboration with these entities include: leisure activities, stays in hotels and spas, entry to museums and monuments, sporting events, hydrotherapy and physiotherapy centres, banking services, projects for the removal of architectural barriers, municipal services and other specific products for this group. The town councils, companies and other institutions which are participating in this programme offer significant discounts to the elderly, which are formalised by means of agreements with the Regional Government of Equality and Social Welfare. For an easier diffusion and use, the discounts are incorporated into the Andalucía Junta Sesentaycinco Card, thus gathering them into a single document. In this way, thanks to these agreements, when the holders of the Andalucía Junta Sesentaycinco Card wish to take holidays, they can stay in many hotels in the province of Cádiz enjoying discounts of up to 50%. If the reason for the trip is to improve general wellbeing, the holders can opt for a stay in a number of Andalucian spas or hydrotherapy and physiotherapy centres with discounts of 15% off the treatments. If, on the other hand, the holder has more of an interest in cultural activities, then they can take advantage of discounts and in some cases free entry to several cultural heritage sites. Furthermore, just as the sports season is about to kick off, the elderly can also enjoy discounts when purchasing their season tickets for a number of sports clubs. In many cases, there are discounts of up to 50%. The Andalucía Junta Sesentaycinco Card also offers discounts on leisure activities, including entry to various establishments such as cinemas and water parks. In addition, some town councils offer discounts on entrance fees to sporting installations, municipal museums, courses and workshops, public shows or public transport. These town councils include the following: Bornos, Olvera and Conil de la Frontera in Cádiz, Bedmar y Garcíez, Quesada, Santisteban del Puerto and Martos in Jaén, and Écija in Seville. Finally, the elderly who are residents of Andalusia and who are holders of the Andalucía Junta Sesentaycinco Card can enjoy discounts on services other than those related to leisure activities, for example, services which are dedicated to removing architectural barriers. The holders of this card can also enjoy discounts on more day-to-day activities, such as monthly inscription to gym sessions, banking services or discounts offered on optical products and accessories. More information: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/fundaciondeserviciossociales . [Section Two ends]. ++ Section Three: 2nd European Silver Economy Conference 2006. The 2nd European Silver Economy Conference and Best-Practice Competition will take place on 29 & 30 November 2006 in Kerkrade/NL. +05: Golden Opportunities for Business in the Silver Economy. Invitation by Martin Eurlings, Deputy for Economic Affairs, Province of Limburg. The international Silver Economy Conference 2006 in Kerkrade and Maastricht (the Netherlands) is the perfect opportunity for the business community and management in the profit and non-profit sectors to get to know about concrete results and best practice worldwide in the area of the senior economy. In order to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the senior economy, an exchange of experience and cooperation is of great importance. The organizers of the conference can be justly proud of the level and range of those prepared to share their experience and insight with the participants. To mention just a few names would not be fair to the rest. Participants in both the lectures and workshops include world leaders in their fields. This conference offers you the option of expanding your network, exchanging ideas and developing synergies for the launch of the new business initiatives that are the 'golden opportunities' of the Silver Economy. In Europe we have got to move ahead; we have, with few exceptions, fallen behind. Our experience is that the development of a regional senior economy is strengthened by private initiative in combination with a structured policy of encouragement from local government. The Province of Limburg invites you, on behalf of the Silver Economy Network of the European Regions (SEN@ER), to a conference which targets opportunities in the senior economy. The aging 'silver generation' offers an enormous range of business opportunities for new companies, products and services. A business that understands this and is able to rise to the challenge will benefit from these opportunities. Innovation is of great importance in this. In order to encourage it, the Senior Economy Network of European Regions will present a 2006 Award for Best Practice to promising initiatives and projects in the context of the senior economy. Furthermore we, as a Province of Limburg, together with the Limburg Development Company LIOF, will choose a project that can be completed in our region with our help. Martin Eurlings, Deputy for Economic Affairs Province of Limburg. +06: A wide field: thematic foci of the conference. The Silver Economy Conference in Parkstad Limburg is centered around five topics. Labour and Income - Which new businesses and economic opportunities will benefit from European strategies such as promoting age diversity, extending working life, improvement of workers health conditions, innovation at the work place? Which trends and instruments for the improvement of the workability and employability of employees will be visible in occupational and general health services? In how much will they contribute to reducing costs of companies? Which new financial services and products are developed because of extended working life, lifetime policy development and changing pension habits? Health and lifestyle - A substantial growth of the health care sector is foreseen in the whole of Europe. This means opportunities for new companies and jobs, but constitutes a dilemma at the same time. Where will we recruit new health care workers? Perhaps the dilemma can be solved by improving health prevention strategies regarding age related chronic illnesses, absence rates, accidents, drop-out rates etc. There is a world to win for the food and sports industry. Can we succeed in creating a better work/life-balance for highly demanding jobs in the health care sector? Support services related to healthcare core businesses offer opportunities: Recovery-programmes in hotels for post-surgery patients are but one example. Telemedicine, home automation and GPS-monitoring of Alzheimer patients are other issues. Health tourism prepares the ground for cross border treatment and services. Given the ever increasing complexity of systems and choices, information needs to be provided to enable consumers to make well-informed decisions. Health Literacy will be an issue and maybe a driver for new services. Living and environment - Designing new forms of living arrangements cleary offers older people a greater diversity of choice. This varies from segregated senior cities to fully integrated living in intergenerational settings. A new market will emerge, concentrating on the mature consumer, offering a range of concepts, new products and services, quickly adapting to the different needs and the expanding financial potential of seniors. However, we are still far from providing all the services necessary to meet the demands of the ageing population. The building sector still famously overlooks demographic changes. Facilitating active and independent ageing seems to be the focus of all messages. Numerous lifestyle products and services are finding their way to seniors, enhancing their quality of life, giving them a feeling of wellbeing, and good looks (beauty products). The multinational Kneipp has learned the hard lesson: If you neglect your older customers in order to endear yourself to younger consumers you will loose the one without winning the other. Tourism and culture - According to a Dutch report on Seniors & Tourism over the coming years, the silver swell of baby boomers can boost the European travel sector. Rapidly growing figures of short and long stays are possible if the industry reacts to changing demands, recognizes variety and offers quality, and is willing to invest in comfortable means of transport, professionalism and hospitality of staff and offers programmes focussing on cultural and historical landmarks. Making travelling easy for handicapped seniors can give the tourist sector yet one more boost. Communications and network - In a digitized European economy and society, the participation of the older population is the key to sustainable social and economic systems. IT and related tools have become part of our very existence, and companies and organisations would no longer function without them. Traditional media engage in new internet information systems. Design for all ages and E-inclusion rightfully are high on the European agenda. Opportunities for companies are evident, yet there is hesitation. The opinion research institute Motivaction in Amsterdam calculated that in the Netherlands alone seniors would spend 500 million Euro per year over and above what they are spending already, if advertisers "spoke their language". Are companies grasping the scope of the opportunities the silver market offers? On the positive side however, magazines for seniors see their circulation grow rapidly. The French Notre temps has the largest circulation of all monthly magazines in the country. Maturity, the bi-monthly of the American Association of Retired People with 22 million senior subscribers the largest circulation of magazines in the world. At the same time the marketing and advertisement industry is still concentrating on young consumers. The world of seniors still is a segregated world. When will change come to bring about a society for all ages? The Silver Economy Conference will present examples of best practices, bringing industry, media and digital world on the track of an inclusive society. For informationen on the conference and the best-practice competition as well as for registration please visit http://www.silvereconomy2006.nl . [Section Three ends]. ++ Section Four: Reports from the SEN@ER Network and the European SEN@ER Secretariat. +07: "Stakeholder Dialogue and Cooperation for the Silver Generation" - Key note speech at the European conference on "Disability & Ageing: disabled people are ageing, ageing people are becoming disabled", Graz: 8 - 9 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. More information: http://www.ageing-and-disability.com/aad/ . The presentation is available from http://www.empirica.biz/empirica/aktuelles/meldungen/documents/SENER_Graz_Meyer.pdf . +08: 8th German Senior Citizens Day - A big success. The 8th German Senior Citizens Day took place from 16 - 18 May 2006 in Cologne and exceeded all expectations. The event was organised by BAGSO, the German association of senior organisations, and takes place every three years. It was financially supported by the Ministry for Generation Family, Women and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Under the topic "Ageing as an Opportunity" this year’s event attracted more than 20,000 visitors, politicians and media representatives. Armin Laschet, Minister for Generation Family, Women and Integration of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia was one of the keynote speakers together with the German president Horst Köhler and the Federal Minister for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, Ursula von der Leyen. Horst Köhler highlighted the fact that population ageing is an opportunity for the individual as well as for society as a whole. But the topic, so the president said, needs appropriate political attention and pending issues need to be addressed urgently. Both points of view were also taken up by Minister Ursula von der Leyen. The Silver Economy received special attention: a one-day forum dealt with the economic opportunities of ageing including a presentation on best-practice examples given by the North Rhine-Westphalian Silver Economy Initiative (Landesinitiative Seniorenwirtschaft). Several of the dedicated topics of the SEN@ER like Active Ageing / Independent Living, Culture and Tourism were dealt with in other sessions. The Age-Culture.Net, an initiative of the SEN@ER Special Interest Group on culture, held a meeting in the framework of a major event on culture for the generation 55+ organised by the Institut für Bildung und Kultur, North Rhine-Westphalia [cf. Section Five for more information]. All in all the success of the 8th German Senior Citizens Day is a good example for the mainstreaming of the issue of population ageing. The SEN@ER network very much appreciates the opportunity to contribute to this process, both directly and via its numerous partners. More information on the 8th German Senior Citizens Day - in German language - can be found at: http://www.bagso.de/dst06.html . Information on the SEN@ER SIG Culture is available from: http://www.age-culture.net/ . +09: AGE launches a Position Statement on the Development and Use of Medicinal products for Older People. Discrimination against older people in health and care services must be addressed. It must be recognised that a healthy older age is the product of healthy lives and that people of all ages should have access to health advice and preventative services. In addition, older people should have fair access to operations and treatments and in situations where they require intensive support, such as in residential or nursing care, they should be treated as individuals with dignity and sensitivity. AGE - the European Older People’s Platform and its Member organisations therefore considers of utmost importance to raise awareness, on the need to develop and promote the rational and equitable use of medicinal products tested and designed for Older People. The EU has competence in this area and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) coordinates the evaluation and supervision of medical products including medicines, throughout the European Union. For this reason, AGE would like to raise awareness and give guidance to the European Union and its Member States to develop and/or support actions on the Use of Medical products for Older People. AGE - the European Older People's Platform is a European network of organisations of people aged 50+ directly representing over 25 million older people in Europe. AGE aims to voice and promote the interests of the 150 million inhabitants aged 50+ in the European Union and to raise awareness of the issues that concern them most. To access the full document please click on the following link: http://www.age-platform.org/EN/IMG/Position_statement_medicines.pdf . +10: Booz Allen Hamilton Study: Banks and insurance company loose 25% of earnings to the demographic change. The demographic change in Germany is expected to reduce bank earnings from retail customers by about 10,000,000,000 EURO until 2030. Life insurance companies might loose some 28,000,000,000 EURO until 2050 due to a decrease in premiums. Both banks and insurance companies are now called for to develop innovative business models based on new services tailored to an ageing market. Good practice examples are available from several other European countries, such as UK. These are the striking results from a study done by Booz Allen Hamilton Germany. More information (in German) is available from: http://www.boozallen.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilung-detail/6663364 . +11: Generation Plus Congress. In July 2006 the congress "GENERATION PLUS" took place in Bad Tölz, Germany. It focussed on topics of human perception and cognition, construction and habitation, future developments in the automobile industry, as well as information, communication and education for the elderly. One of the sessions dealt with the issue of housing in the context of ageing. Dr. Joseph Hilbert from the Institut Arbeit und Technik in North Rhine-Westphalia held a presentation on Housing and the Silver Economy. One of the essential challenges to improve quality of life in all ages and to simultaneously stimulate a large market lies in the field of habitation. This means that there is the need for: - new housing concepts - e. g. multi-generation housing. - anticipatory planning and construction of new buildings, renovations or refurnishing of old ones. - planning and construction to be understood as interdisciplinary tasks. - Innovative concepts for intelligent houses. Although there is a lot of money to be made in this market, most enterprises are rather reluctant to invest here and do not see the opportunities. However, many such opportunities exist not only for the construction industries, but also for complementary professions like, for instance, technical providers, household, financial or homecare service providers - i.e. for every business which can play a role in and support autonomous living in old age. The term "old age" today stands for an active and vital target group with sophisticated and rising demands. Ieas and solutions spanning different sectors of activities are needed to meet the demand and to improve quality of life for citizens of all ages. More information on the congress is available here: http://www.generation-plus-kongress.de/ . A documentation is available at: http://www.vision50plus.de/ . [Section Four ends]. ++ Section Five: In Focus - Age and Culture. +12: Cultural participation and learning by using the arts in later life - European Workshop of SIG Culture / age-culture.net in Extremadura, Spain. The SEN@ER Special Interest Group on Culture age-culture.net which is running under the leadership of NRW, will hold a workshop at the Fundación Academia Europea de Yuste in Spain from 8-11 October 2006. The aim of the workshop is to intensify the dialogue between SIG-Culture-partners, to deepen the trans-national co-operation between age-culture.net partners and to outline a common project to jointly apply for European funding. Considering that the number of senior citizens in each European country is growing constantly, that the profile of the population 55+ is in a permanent evolution, that awareness of "quality" aging becomes a fact, the need to learn in later age becomes a necessity. Concern with older people as participants in and audiences for the arts arise for a number of reasons: in terms of the arts; as a leisure choice for older audiences, as a response to the European social inclusion and access agendas, as dimensions of life-long learning, better health and improved social care. Encouraging older people to learn again by using the arts and arts activities can be a gateway to social inclusion, Life-Long-Learning and the development of a positive culture of ageing. Cultural participation and arts activities allow (older) people to learn new skills, to stay active and to improve their self-esteem. Cultural institutions and associations are challenged to address older people not only as customers but also as active partners and cultural actors. In the participating regions of the SEN@ER SIG Culture (age-culture.net), many innovative models of learning in the arts and cultural participation in older age have been developed. We should take the opportunity to exchange those experiences, to learn from each other and to contribute jointly to the development of a positive culture of ageing in a Europe. Please note: the number of participants is limited. More information can be obtained from: Almuth Fricke, Institut für Bildung und Kultur / age-culture.net, mailto:fricke@ibk-kultur.de . +13: age-culture.net at German Senior Citizens Day 2006 in Cologne, Germany. In the course of the meeting of age-culture.net at the German Senior Citizens Day, two examples for new entrepreneurship in cultural tourism for an older target group in Germany and the Netherlands were presented: Dr. Frank D.T. Janssen, professor emeritus for economy of Hogeschool Zuid in Maastricht talked about his own start-up in later life: Recently he founded VIEWROPE that organises cultural tourism packages with high quality standard for older Dutch and German in the Euregio Aachen-Limburg. He pointed out that this region is unified by a long common cross-border history, such as the life of Charlemagne. He wants his older customers to discover the common European cultural heritage by offering thematic travels combined with good services and spa. The German travel operator Qisum from Wuppertal offers tourist packages combined with music and dance classes run by professional artists for a target group 50+. Fred Bastemeijer from Albeda College, Rotterdam, reported on his experience with EU-Grundtvig funded learning partnership ALIA (Adult Learners in Arts). The project brought older European adult learners from different countries who are attending courses in fine arts in contact with each other. ALIA’s aim is to encourage older people back into learning using the arts and arts activities. Fred Bastemeijer reported that these easy-to-enrol courses are a good starting point of further education in the framework of lifelong learning. The project encouraged participants to attend new courses. The audience was especially fascinated by the project Making Memories Matter, the latest project of the European Reminiscence Network. Seven countries (Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, UK) participated in the making of the Memory Boxes or Life Portrait Boxes around the lives of older people. Artists worked with more than 120 elders in the participating countries over a number of sessions to create an individual presentation for each person. The boxes were filled with individual reminiscences of the homeland, childhood, war times… from all over Europe. A selection of the resulting boxes (created from ammunition boxes supplied by each country's armed forces) then travelled more than 13.000 kilometres across Europe. The boxes are still touring in Germany. At German Senior Citizens’ Day in Cologne Ingeborg Bierbrauer, the German project partner from Stadtteilzentrum Agathof, Kassel, presented seven of those „memory boxes” that not only illustrate individual experiences of good times and bad, but refer back to European history and heritage overcoming the borders of language, culture and generations. More information on the ALIA project: http://www.aliaproject.info . More information on Making Memories Matter: http://www.age-exchange.org.uk/mmm/ . +14: Opening Doors to Learning. Older Learners Arts (OLA): a learning experiment in Scotland. "Creativity is a mysterious thing. It’s an attribute of every human being, not just the great and the gifted, not just the young. Age can bring an enriched sense of self, and, often, people are more creative in their later years." C. Goldman ‘Late Bloomers ‘ quoted in ‘The Arts and Older People’ by Fi Frances. The Scottish Adult Learning Partnership (SALP) is as its name suggests, a partnership organisation, which raises awareness of, and encourages participation in learning in adulthood. It does this by influencing local and national policy, and by supporting its partner organisations in promoting the delivery of their learning programmes. It does not provide learning directly, but delivers an integrated programme of activities to raise public awareness of current learning opportunities, to help shape new opportunities and initiatives, and to encourage greater participation in learning amongst those most difficult to reach. It is in the spirit of these three aims that SALP’s Older Learners Arts project has been conceived. The project seeks to encourage older learners, those over 55, to involve themselves in learning using the arts and arts activities, both as a gateway and as a pathway. It is a pilot project, a practical experiment in learning and as such is intended as a learning opportunity for SALP itself and its partners. The benefits to older people of engaging in creative activities are clear to all involved in this area of work. Stimulation, social interaction, opportunities to express ideas and feelings and feel less invisible, health benefits both mental and physical, enjoyment and satisfaction, all of these and more are well documented benefits. But what has also been noted, particularly in research studies are the benefits to the brain itself. Dr. Gene M. Cohen has made a lifetime study of the effects creative activity has on older people in the United States. His studies show that if older people continue to challenge their minds and stimulate their creativity, they not only feel better, but also cause brains to sprout new branches, or dendrites. These new branches actually improve brain function and help compensate for the small loss of brain cells that comes with age. In effect, the aging brain responds to mental exercise in much the same way that muscle responds to physical exercise. He found other important side-effects too, such as improvements in overall health, better concentration and focus, significantly fewer falls and doctors visits, less depression and more engagement with other activities. SALP realised from studying the many examples they hear about from all over Scotland, that older people, once having started learning courses of any kind tend to develop a whole range of learning interests. One example was that of a woman of 92 who was taking a writing class and went on to learn word-processing so that she could write her biography. The challenge is to encourage seniors to start in the first place, particularly those who are not looking for employment re-training, but rather to find personal satisfaction and to allow self-development, to learn things they had missed out on in earlier life or to try something new. SALP’s research showed that older people prefer to learn in informal settings rather than classrooms. Taking the stimulating effects of the arts and arts activities as a starting point. SALP set up an initial research and development phase for OLA, hoping to launch it before the end of 2006. That first phase is almost completed. Consultation with seniors, individuals and groups, with SALP’s partner organisations, all learning providers, and a very successful conference for and about seniors and the arts, have all take place. The final part of this stage is a publication for learning providers to help them find ways to involve the arts in what they offer older people. Following the completion of the publication, the project will be launched in a practical sense in 7 areas of Scotland. Help, advice and a small amount of funding will be offered to groups who have successfully applied to participate, to allow them to find the right artists and partners, manage the programme and monitor its progress. The project will be evaluated over a three-year period. SALP hopes that this practical research will teach it and its partners something about why and how older learners are motivated to learn, and also what the arts can offer to older people especially when allied to learning. This knowledge can then be passed on to those who make policy and legislation, in the hope of enhancing the lives and learning of older people wherever they are in Scotland. For more information you can contact: Sylvia Dow, mailto:sylvia.dow@btinternet.com, OLA Co-ordinator. +15: Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Tourism and Culture: Two forces for growth. The European Economic and Social Committee issued an opinion on the inter-relationship of tourism and culture. Tourism contributes substantially to the EU’s economy and the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy goals of growth and employment. It is a powerful driving force for many economic sectors. However, strong competition from new emerging economies affects the European tourism sector more and more. The aim of this opinion is to draw the European institutions’ attention to the boost which culture can give tourism in Europe. Unlike other industrial sectors, Europe’s cultural heritage cannot be relocated or reproduced, and it could thus be a trump card in the face of competition from other areas of the world. On the other hand culture and cultural tourism contribute to regional development and the image and attractiveness of a region. The opinion aims at providing the European institutions with additional tools for promoting the sector. The paper emphasises that an effective management of cultural tourism can benefit other tourism segments, too, such as tourism for the older public. Given that life expectancy is now much higher than in the past, cultural tourism meets the needs of an ‘older’ public which is choosing to spend an increasing amount of its leisure time learning about and familiarising itself with new cultures. Fostering intercultural dialogue within the EU should be a priority in cultural tourism programmes. The opinion proposes to set up specific projects fostering intercultural dialogue addressing older people. The opinion is available for download from the SEN@ER Infobase: http://www.silvereconomy-europe.org/infobase/europe/eu-policy_en.htm . +16: Towards a Multiage Society: The Cultural Dimension of Age Policies - Conference on Active Ageing and Culture. This conference will take place on 29 - 30 November 2006 at the EESC Conference Room in Brussels. UNESCO's Member States, National Commissions, active ageing and cultural organisations, researchers and policy makers are invited to Brussels to discuss the importance of culture in relation to active ageing. Culture and active ageing seem to be difficult to link politically. Thus, the aim of the conference is to create a basis for a future co-operation between the two areas. Through panel discussions and workshops the theme will be explored. The conference speakers and participants come from international, national and regional active ageing and cultural organisations from all over Europe, the UN and the UN system, researchers etc., all experts in their fields. The conference is organised in co-operation among EUNIC Brussels/CICEB, UNESCO's Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, AGE and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Key moderator at the conference is Steen Langebæk, President of AGE and Vice-President of all Danish Cultural Institutes. More information on the conference is available from: http://www.unesco.org/shs/most/ageing/conference . [Section Five ends]. ++ Section Six: European Union. +17: The European Commission eInclusion open stakeholder meeting stressed that population ageing may provide significant economic opportunities. This eInclusion open stakeholder meeting held in Brussels on April 25, 2006 offered an opportunity to relevant actors from civil society, industry and academia as well as to representatives of Member States and Commission services to come forward with ideas, opinions and contributions for future eInclusion policy and actions at European level. Overall, more than 100 stakeholders attended the workshop. Discussion took place in the following thematic clusters, each dealt with in an individual session: - General policy. - ICT for geographic inclusion. - Inclusive eGovernment. - Digital literacy and cultural diversity. - ICT and ageing. - eAccessibility. In the session on "ICT and ageing" it was stressed that population ageing may provide significant economic opportunities if the aging population was adequately addressed by ICT manufacturers and service providers. The so called ‘Silver Economy Network of European Regions’ was mentioned as an initiative which has identified opportunities for a range of innovative ICT-based services, not only in the independent living domain but also in other economic areas such as tourism, culture and financial services. Policy efforts directed towards the facilitation of a dedicated "silver economy" have up to now primarily been pursued by regional actors. An EU-driven effort to accelerate ongoing regional developments towards a "European silver economy" was called for, possibly by means of a dedicated action plan. Such an effort would need to include diverse activities such as awareness raising, good practice exchange and stimulation of critical mass. This might be achieved through setting up flagship initiatives. The launching of a dedicated "Silver Economy Observatory" would allow for monitoring progress vis-à-vis desired impacts. More information: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/accessibility/eincl-policy/2006-04ws/index_en.htm ; http://www.einclusion-eu.org/NewsItem.asp?CaseTitleID=1540 . +18: e-Inclusion: Reducing the risks and reaping the benefits of the Information Society: an important policy issue for SEN@ER and the seniors in Europe. e-Inclusion is about using Information and communication technologies (ICT) to empower all Europeans. This means more than just increasing access and making services widely available and easier to use, although these steps are important. It means also assisting people to use ICT to make their lives richer and more fun and by helping them to participate more fully in their lives as members of their families, neighbourhoods, regions, countries and as Europeans. In 2000, the Lisbon strategy set the ambitious goal: to ensure that every citizen should have the appropriate skills needed to live and work in a new Information Society for all. The strategic challenge for eInclusion is twofold: to fully exploit the ICT potential to overcome traditional forms of exclusion, while ensuring that all citizens benefit from the Information Society. Inclusion is one of the three pillars of the new i2010 initiative. The eInclusion activities of the European Commission are of utmost interest for the SEN@ER regions since the older citizens are one of the target groups for which the risk of a digital divide needs to be turned into "digital cohesion" and "digital opportunities" across the Union. It is against this background that from 11 - 13 June 2006 the European Commission, together with the Latvian Government and the Austrian Presidency of the EU, has organised a high-level conference on the theme "ICT for an inclusive society". Practitioners, representatives of civil society, representative groups and industry, and Ministers from all EU Member States have met to set the eInclusion policy agenda for the coming years. The conference included a ministerial meeting and has demonstrated through presentations and the exhibition how ICTs can contribute to an inclusive society. At a policy level a ministerial declaration on "ICT for an inclusive society" was agreed on at the conference in which clear targets as to the availability, accessibility and use of ICT and the internet for 2010 were agreed on. The declaration contained the following statements: "The Ministers of EU Member States, accession and candidate countries, EFTA countries and other countries responsible for eInclusion policy ... recognise that ... to convincingly address eInclusion, the differences in internet usage between current average use by the EU population and use by: - older people; - people with disabilities; - women; - lower education groups; - unemployed; - "less developed" regions; should be reduced to a half from 2005 to 2010 [and] agree to focus on the following priorities and commit to the indicated policy goals: address the needs of older workers and elderly people ... reduce geographical digital divides by ... aiming for broadband coverage to reach at least 90% of the EU population by 2010 ... improve digital literacy and compentences [and in this respect:] Countries will put in place by 2008 digital literacy and competence actions ... tailored to the needs of groups at risk of exclusion. Furthermore they [declare that the] current gaps of digital literacy and competence between - the unemployed; - immigrants; - people with low education levels; - people with disabilities; - elderly people; - marginalised young people; and the average population should be halved by 2010 [and further priorities:] ... promote inclusive eGovernment by ... ensuring accessibility of all public web sites by 2010 ... and invite the Commission to: [monitor progress] ". All of these efforts are aimed at 2008, when the European Commission DG Information Society and Media will launch a "European Initiative on e-Inclusion" to give the issue the visibility it needs and to make sure that practical solutions are implemented. More information on the Riga declaration is available from: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/events/ict_riga_2006/doc/declaration_riga.pdf . +19: European Commission: "Broadband for All" - Commission mobilises all its policy instruments to bridge the broadband gap. The Commission considers wide broadband coverage in Europe as crucial for fostering growth and jobs in Europe. This is why EU telecoms legislation, structural and rural policy instruments need to be mobilised in full respect of state aid rules in a joint drive to bring high-speed "broadband" internet access to all Europeans, in particular to the EU’s less-developed areas. This is the conclusion of "Bridging the Broadband Gap", a European Commission Communication presented today jointly by the European Commissioners for Information Society and Media, Competition, Regional Policy and Agriculture and Rural Development. "Broadband internet connections are a prerequisite for e-business, growth and jobs throughout the economy. Competition and open markets are certainly the best drivers of broadband in the EU", said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "However, broadband connections must not be limited to the big cities. If the EU and its 25 Member States make a clever use of all policy instruments, broadband for all Europeans is certainly not out of reach by 2010. But the time to act is now." "Where there are genuine market failures, the EU Structural Funds play a vital role in stimulating investments in broadband infrastructure and services, boosting competitiveness and innovation and enabling all regions of Europe to participate fully in the knowledge economy", added Commissioner Danuta Hübner, Commissioner responsible for Regional Policy. Rapid progress in broadband take-up across Europe in the past three years can largely be ascribed to a combination of competing infrastructures and effective telecoms regulation. The broadband penetration rate at the end of 2005 is estimated at 13% of population or about 25% of households, reaching almost 60 million lines throughout the EU. Despite fast growth, broadband has yet to reach some of the EU’s less-developed areas because of low and uncertain returns on investment. In 2005, broadband was available to about 60% of businesses and households in the remote and rural areas of the EU15, and to more than 90% in the urban areas, but the gap is greater in the new Member States. Broadband speeds are often lower in the countryside too, which makes it difficult to carry the large volumes of data needed for e-business, e-government, e-health and multimedia content applications. Rural broadband speeds average less than 512 kbps, whereas urban ones are rising and now often exceed 1 MBps, permitting the use of rich services. To accelerate the roll-out of advanced broadband communications in Europe, the Commission today proposes two main strands of action: - strengthening national broadband strategies, which should set clear targets and reflect regional needs, including a strategic approach to making use of EU and national funding in less-developed or rural areas; - stepping up the exchange of best practices, in particular by the setting up of a website that will act as a single meeting point for local authorities and industry players to exchange information and gather experience. The Commission will also hold a large "Broadband for all" conference at the start of 2007 to showcase the benefits of broadband services to the rural communities. More information on the "Broadband for all" Communication: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/industry/comms/broadband/index_en.htm . The Communication itself can be found here: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/i2010/docs/digital_divide/communication/com_bridging_bb_gap_2006_en.pdf . +20: IEE - Intelligent Energy Europe Programme: new save call published - funding opportunities for (social) housing providers in SEN@ER regions. Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) is a main means of converting EU policy for smart energy use and more renewables into action on the ground, addressing today’s energy challenges and promoting business opportunities and new technologies. IEE supports European projects, one-off events and the setting up of local/regional energy agencies with a total budget of EURO 250 million, covering up to 50% of the costs. The programme currently supports more than 200 international projects, 30+ local/regional energy management agencies, and almost 40 European events in the areas of - new and renewable energy sources; - energy efficiency, notably in buildings and industry; - energy aspects of transport; - co-operation with developing countries. The current call for proposals which has been published in May 2006 addresses the SAVE sub-programme. This is the most relevant one for SEN@ER. SAVE aims to exploit the immense potential for energy savings in four areas: - buildings (construction and use); - social housing; - industry; - equipment & products. With these objectives it is of high relevance for (social) housing providers in the regions of the EU Member States. Typically the programme is funding projects addressed to optimising resident energy behaviour, developing and providing effective energy awareness services, self-assessment and benchmarking schemes to assess residents' success in energy saving (including input of behavioural parameters), optimisation of invoicing conforming to legal requirements, direct heating control, extension of tenant portals etc. The call provides a great funding opportunity for European projects, events and the creation of new local/regional energy agencies. European organisations can apply for financial support for their projects until 31 October 2006. Approximately EURO 50 million will be made available to co-finance up to 50% of the project costs. Organisations from EU Member States, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein can apply. More information on the call is available from: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/call_for_proposals/index_en.htm . Further good news is that IEE - Intelligent Energy Europe will continue during 2007-13! The European Parliament adopted on 1 June 2006 a Euro 3.6 billion "Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme" (CIP), which includes a budget of Euro 730 million for the second IEE programme 2007-13. For more details read the full press release on http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/716&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en and go to the CIP website on http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/enterprise_policy/cip/index_en.htm . +21: Help for elderly people to spark new research ideas: the Ambient Assisted Living project. New technologies and services can help elderly and disabled people live longer at home. The Ambient Assisted Living programme will focus on this vision but can only begin after agreement on how to combine national and European initiatives. Political accord is the key, notes a project preparing the groundwork. This ageing population - due to the combined effect of increasing life expectancy and falling birth rates - poses enormous economic and social challenges for society. Experts already paint very gloomy pictures for employment, healthcare and pensions, predicting spiralling costs and overstretched service-providers. They also highlight difficulties in harmonising the different national social-care systems now in operation across Europe. Yet demographic change also offers new business and economic opportunities, not least for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) products and services. Which is why Europe is gearing up to launch the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) programme, inspired by ambient intelligence and concentrating on users’ needs. A major recommendation is to assess the needs of users before launching any AAL products or services. That means looking at differences between the target groups - elderly and disabled people, and those who believe they are disabled - and disparities between countries. AAL recognises ICT’s potential in areas such as safety and security, care and comfort. Applications can be delivered through new materials, embedded systems, innovative hardware and software. But it warns against overly complex solutions - such as a robotic window cleaner, when self-cleaning windows would suffice - and over-reliance on technology. To link national and European work on AAL, the project partners first assessed ministries, national programme agencies and research institutes. The partners conclude that policy action is necessary to boost AAL opportunities and to overcome barriers to it. At European level, the right policies could stimulate or better match supply and demand in the AAL sector. National policies would target social, cultural and care-system differences. The project recommends a single new ‘Ambient Assisted Living 169’ programme, linking national technology funding programmes with European Commission funding based on Article 169 of the European treaty, which allows new forms of joint R&D activities between European Union Member States. Source: based on: http://istresults.cordis.europa.eu/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&ID=81815 . Contact: Michael Huch, VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, Steinplatz 1, D-10623 Berlin, Germany, Tel: +49-30-310078193, Fax: +49-30-310078225, Email: mailto:huch@vdivde-it.de . [Section Six ends]. ++ Section Seven: Conferences, Projects, Miscellaneous. +22: Turismo y Salud: Online portal for health tourism in Spain. MAPE Turismo y Salud, S.L. is a company that has a wide experience in the tourism sector, health, IT applied for tourism and health. After an intensive research of the international and European markets and after having identified the needs related to mobility of citizens, healthcare and insurance sectors, MAPE has succeeded to group and manage the different suppliers of services and designed and offer of an innovative product for the above mentioned sectors. Cooperation and management between the service providers and identification of the user real needs are the key of the product. The website has been launched this August 2006 with Spanish and English versions. German and French version will be available this autumn. See more at http://www.turismo-salud.com and http://www.tourism-health.com . +23: Marketing to the Middle-Aged - and learning for the Silver Economy. The nVision service of the Future Foundation has published an analysis of the lifestyles and attitudes of the UK's 35-54 year olds under the title "Marketing for the Middle-Aged". It provides interesting insights into common themes, life experiences and typical life events of those people and the possible impacts on marketing strategy. Although not addressing the core age group(s) of the Silver Economy, i.e. people aged 55+, the report is one of the very few sources of comprehensive marketing-related data that at least comes close to this age group. And after all - for the people born in the 1950s it is now only a small step to entering the Silver Economy target group and to their demand becoming relevant for silver product and service providers. At present, the group of the middle-aged consists of around 16.8 million people in the UK. They account for more than a quarter (28.5%) of the total population or a third (34.9%) of the adult (16+) population. At the younger end of the 35-54 year old age group, life-transitions are often characterised by a mother’s return to work, moving to a larger house, and household income growth. Towards the other end of the age range, the majority are likely to experience children leaving home, the consequential relaxation of the financial burden which they represent and the anticipation of retirement. It will thus also be important to understand this age group as a cohort, to explore the life and times of their early years, to locate what makes them behave/think/buy the way they do in the present day. Analysis of their typical life-transitions and their socio-cultural history define a degree of homogeneity in this broad group and thus allow effective and efficient marketing and communications to the middle-aged to be developed. A sample version of the report is available upon request from http://www.futurefoundation.net/publications.php?disp=247 . For further information please contact Christian Bennewitz from The Future Foundation at mailto:christianb@futurefoundation.net . +24: Towards a Multiage Society: The Cultural Dimension of Age Policies. The UNESCO and a number of partners are going to hold a conference on Active Ageing and Culture on the 29 - 30 November 2006 in Brussels. UNESCO's Member States, National Commissions, active ageing and cultural organisations, researchers and policy makers are invited to discuss the importance of culture in relation to active ageing. Culture and active ageing seem to be difficult to link politically. Thus, the aim of the conference is to create a basis for a future co-operation between the two areas. Through panel discussions and workshops the theme will be explored. The conference speakers and participants come from international, national and regional active ageing and cultural organisations from all over Europe, the UN and the UN system, researchers etc., all experts in their fields. The conference is organized in co-operation among EUNIC Brussels/CICEB, UNESCO's Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, AGE and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Key moderator at the conference is Steen Langebæk, President of AGE and Vice-President of all Danish Cultural Institutes. Furthermore, a thematic film festival will take place at the Cinema at Berlaymont from 22 to 28 November. On November 29, the EESC hosts another cultural aspect of the programme: a vernissage with young German photographers, "Forever Young", who have worked together with the organizers on the theme this past year. In addition, during the conference, conference participants are invited to experience theme related cultural events at the national cultural institutes (EUNIC Brussels/CICEB partners). More information on the conference is available at: http://www.unesco.org/shs/most/ageing/conference . +25: The future for employment in social care in Europe. The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions will hold a conference on the future of employment in social care in Europe, 2-3 October 2006, Helsinki, Finland. This conference will be organised by the Foundation in cooperation with the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) during the Finnish Presidency of the EU. This event will address how labour supply in care services can be improved to meet the increasing demand of an ageing population. The aim of the conference is to identify key points for the creation of quality jobs in social care for the next 5-10 years through debate among practitioners, researchers and policy-makers. Three main workshops will examine: - Working conditions - Improving working conditions and qualifications of care workers (non-medical staff providing support in the community). - Diversity - Improving gender and age balance; increasing number of migrant workers. - Work-life balance - Improving work-life balance for care workers. A programme for the conference will be available at a later date. Participation is by invitation only. More information can be obtained from the information liaison officer: Teresa Renehan by phone at +353 1 204 3126. [Section Seven ends]. ++ End Notes. +26: Contact. If you are interested in further information regarding the Silver Economy Network of European Regions please visit our website at http://www.silvereconomy-europe.org/ or contact us: Responsible as SEN@ER lead partner region at the regional government of North Rhine-Westphalia: Ministry for Intergenerational Affairs, Family, Women and Integration of North Rhine-Westfalia Dr. Claus Eppe Head of Unit Silver Economy, Media Competence Horionplatz 1, D-40213 Düsseldorf Phone: +49 (2 11) 8 618-3320 Fax: +49 (2 11) 8 618-4460 mailto:claus.eppe@mgffi.nrw.de European SEN@ER Secretariat: Ingo Meyer, Christiane Krupp, Werner B. Korte empirica Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH Oxfordstr. 2, D - 53111 Bonn Phone: +49 (2 28) 9 85 30-0 Fax: +49 (2 28) 9 85 30-12 mailto: sener@empirica.com http://www.empirica.com/ http://www.silvereconomy-europe.org/ . +27: Disclaimer. You receive this newsletter because you are subscribed to our mailing list. If you do not wish to receive further newsletters from us please send a message to mailto:sener@empirica.com. We apologize for any inconveniences caused by cross-postings or unsolicited mailings. +28: Copyright notice. Copyright 2006 Silver Economy Network of European Regions http://www.silvereconomy-europe.org/, mailto:sener@empirica.com . This newsletter or part of this newsletter may be reproduced as long as this copyright notice (including the website address) is included. Please also inform the editor when you are reproducing the content of the newsletter. +29: TEN Standard. This Newsletter conforms to the Text E-Mail Newsletter (TEN) Standard. The TEN Standard is designed to ease navigation of plain text email newsletters by all readers, including those using special access technologies, especially vision-impaired people. More information can be obtained here: http://www.headstar.com/ten/ [End Notes ends]. [Newsletter ends].