Newcastle poised to lead the way on ageing innovation
21 Jan 2020
The North East of England has been reflecting on world-wide trends such as an ageing society. With a global reputation for research excellence into healthy ageing they are facilitating innovation-led economic growth and helping people live well for longer.
With co-investment from Government, Newcastle University launched the UK’s National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA). Newly appointed director Nicola Palmarini will be joining the Newcastle delegation at MIPIM to talk about how Newcastle is pioneering the longevity economy and how big data and innovation is not only helping the city create a place where people can live well for longer, but opening up opportunities for businesses in a market that could be worth billions of pounds.
NICA was established to work across academia, industry and with the public to explore, test and bring to market products that promote healthy ageing and wellbeing as we grow older. NICA is housed alongside the National Innovation Centre for Data, NIHRIO and other businesses in an iconic new building, The Catalyst, at the heart of Newcastle Helix, a 24 acre, £350 million vibrant innovation district in Newcastle’s city centre.
The city is also home to one of two UK Aging 2.0 chapters, an international network of ageing innovators across more than 20 countries and Newcastle University’s Campus for Ageing and Vitality is also widely recognised as one of the strongest assets in Europe for expertise in the field.
Internally recognised researcher, teacher, writer and TEDx speaker Nicola Palmarini who has recently been appointed to lead the UK’s National Innovation Centre for Ageing said:
“Here in Newcastle people from across all sectors are collaborating to help enterprise to flourish and to support people to live better. The city’s vision and multi-faceted approach has helped us to create a unique narrative and business approach we’ve defined as ‘Ageing Intelligence™’ which brings the ability to personalise user experiences and harness the power of data to generate insights into customer needs and wants, taking advantage of new opportunities generating new revenue streams.”
His internationally recognised career has demonstrated his deep commitment to exploring the impact of technologies and their applications in the life of the aging population and people with disabilities. Moving from MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in Massachusetts, USA, he now brings his expertise to Newcastle, to focus on innovations to improve health and wellbeing.
Photo credit: GSSArchitecture
