AGE-WELL Summer Institute takes place this week at UPEI

Find out about the work being done at the AGE-WELL Summer Institute at UPEI to help solve some of the challenges of aging.

The eighth annual AGE-WELL Summer Institute is underway this week.

This year’s Summer Institute is being held at the University of Prince Edward Island.

AGE-WELL is a technology and aging network for the country. The federally-funded network brings together older adults, caregivers, researchers, industry and government to create technology-based solutions to support older adults.

“The researchers are working on community support for older adults,” said Olive Bryanton, from the older adult and caregiver advisory committee for AGE-WELL.

Students from all over Canada are attending the Summer Institute.

“These are students who have never met each other and are coming together to work together to develop something new in one week,” said Dr. Samantha Sandassie, a senior education and training manager at AGE-WELL.

At the end of the week, the students pitch their solutions to older adults.

“These teams of students will be pitching basically a business case for the product they’ve developed over the course of the week to a panel of three expert judges,” Sandassie said. “[The judges] will be picking the solution that seems the most promising for us to continue supporting for the next year.”

This process allows the older person to see if these products the students are developing will really work for them, Bryanton said.

Sandassie said products from previous AGE-WELL Summer Institutes are in the early stages of validation and will be on the market in the next year or two.

“This is a really exciting opportunity for our students,” Sandassie said.

The pitch competition is open to the public and will take place at 11 a.m. on Friday in McDougall Hall at the UPEI campus.

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