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Combined futures of aging and business innovation

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Communications and convenience giant (Nasdaq: RIMM) RIM, maker of the ubiquitous Blackberry, foresees a number of defining trends ahead. These reflect the themes of my own research and are the cornerstones of the MIT AgeLab.

Motley Fool’s Dan Dzombak’s Jan. 26 article, “4 Key Trends RIM’s Futurist Foresees,” reports on a talk given by RIM’s Futurist Technology and Innovation Manager, Joseph Dvorak, PhD. Dr. Dvorak identifies four trends affecting the future of smartphones:

(1) The world is aging: the average age of the planet in 2000 was 26 years, by mid-century it will be 36 and the number of people over 60 will triple, to almost two billion people;

(2) Connectivity: Smartphones, other wireless devices and providers will blur activity, locate and drive the trends we already see in social media and engagement;

(3) Empowered Consumers: Consumers will continue to embrace tools that help them control and manage their relationship with businesses, for example, social networks that provide advice on everything from restaurant choices to financial services to ‘hey, where? is my package?’

(4) Purchase of ‘values’ (eg green consumers). Buying securities is not just for children. Where there is a rise in ’causes of color’ (my phrase) — buy green, support pink, and help red — aging baby boomers are increasingly interested in their social impact and legacy. That is, ‘what am I contributing and what will I leave behind?’

Perspectives and innovations

On their own, these trends are interesting and both business and government need to be aware of their potential impact in the future. However, the future of aging and innovation is a combination of these trends, not the extension of either.

What happens when older consumers are omnipresently connected, empowered, and make purchasing decisions on values ​​beyond cost and quality? For example, what would wireless health or care services look like in the pocket of an aging boomer? Will ubiquitous computing power, social networking, and value buying create virtual collaborative networks of service providers for embedded boomers today and frail boomers tomorrow? Can you imagine the emergence of an ecological transport service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, always ‘visible’ on your smartphone, for a social network of ‘friends’?

The business opportunity is not just about being aware of these trends, but about combining them, visualizing competing realities, and seeing these alternative futures as drivers of product and service innovation.

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