Eurasanté organised its Local Info Day on January 27, 2021. The event was held online, alongside with AgeingFit 2021, the Silver Economy fair annually organised in Lille, France.
How can the Silver Economy support older adults in region Hauts-de-France?
Alexandra Bertrand, Consultant in Silver Economy at Eurasanté, presented SILVER SMEs to participants and explained how the project intends to create economic opportunities in this sector.
She presented the work carried out by partners since the start of the project in 2018, especially the knowledge exchange. The good practices collected within SILVER SMEs demonstrate the diversity of relevant topics and offers for the Silver Economy; participants were therefore introduced to examples such as:
- Gullogarden retirement home (Sweden) and Corda Ltd (Poland) for the topic “housing”
- Silver Normandie and the initiative carried out by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Creuse (France) for hubs and accelerators supporting SMEs from the Silver Economy
- La Exclusiva (Spain) and the University of Third Age (Poland) for the well-being of older adults
The Silver Economy is a dynamic sector in Hauts-de-France, an ageing region with an increasing demand for home care and prevention of dependency. Care, medical devices and textile are already strong sectors for the Silver Economy at regional level, they represent 80% of the regional turnover in the Hauts-de-France Region. The “Silver Health” especially is a major sector for the region, with more than 200 companies and 10.000 employments. Other sectors and offers and foreseen to grow, like housing and adaption, services and home care, innovative technologies and devices. SMEs developing new devices and technologies to support autonomy are in particular seen as the cutting edge of innovation in the region, which wants to support these new businesses in the development of their products and the identification of their business model.
How can region Hauts-de-France support the Silver Economy?
Leila Mehnane, Project Manager at the Hauts-de-France region, reminded participants that more than 1.6 million of people over 65 are foreseen to live in the region by 2050, compared to 920.000 in 2013. To cope with this challenge, region Hauts-de-France supports the development of the Silver Economy sector to increase the quality of life of older adults. The region for instance supports the following initiatives:
- Silver Surfer: annual calls for innovative projects, with possibilities to be assisted by Eurasanté in the development of a new product or service targeting older adults.
- An initiative to renovate and rehabilitate old houses in the Pas-de-Calais mining basin, a project conducted jointly by Eurasanté and the Cluster Sénior. This project will provide a showroom for innovations and home rehabilitation work to promote independence and secure housing.
The Hauts-de-France region is therefore already very active in the development of the Silver Economy. In the next years, and with the Action Plan implemented through SILVER SMEs, the region wants to further support actions promoting prevention and autonomy but also those facilitating care for dependent older adults.
