„Loneliness and the aging population“

Proposed by

For the aging population, loneliness is more than a state of mind — it is an emerging risk factor that has implications for personal, economic and societal wellbeing.
The increase in the aging population is well-known and well-documented. By 2050, it is expected that Japan, Singapore, Germany and Italy will have 40% or more of their population over the age of 60. With this increase in older citizens comes the potential for an increasingly lonely population, wrestling with the need to rebuild and reclaim its social capital, but without the means or wherewithal to do so.

Our society has a significant interest in preventing, identifying and addressing the root causes of loneliness, and in improving how older adults engage with the world. We think that a community application or mobile app could increase the visibility of the aging population in society and help reduce their loneliness. The mutuality could be a central platform in such an application.
1. Create a community application or mobile app aimed at the aging population
2. Find models to target people with risk for loneliness

1. How could you engage older adults to be active online?
2. What are predictive factors for loneliness?
3. How could the mutuality counter the marginalization in society which older people often experience?

• Access to the Bluemix API catalog