No Industry for the Elderly: From Age-Friendly to Age-Inclusive [Senior Biz Insight]

Professor Kim Jeong-geun, Department of Silver Industry, Gangnam University

Walking assist canes are very useful products that help elderly people with physical activity. They aid safe walking for seniors who have difficulty walking and help maintain balance, ensuring safety when going out or moving around. However, there are few products that the elderly are more reluctant to use than walking assist canes. Instead, many seniors prefer to use hiking poles. Why is that? It is because of the attitude of wanting to deny aging themselves and the desire not to show others that they have difficulty walking.

One of the important golden rules in senior business is to develop products and services that do not look "old" or "aged." Even if the functional aspects that meet the needs of the elderly are satisfied, the shape, design, and the process of use must stimulate the desires of the elderly. It is important to inform seniors about the value of using products and services, but more importantly, it is crucial to understand what seniors truly want and their genuine inner feelings.

Looking at recent innovative senior business trends overseas, "connection with other generations and communities" is gaining attention as something seniors desire. While early senior businesses focused on addressing the physiological lower-level needs of the elderly, now the focus has expanded to solving higher-level needs where seniors feel respected and have a sense of belonging within their families and communities, and can realize their self-identity. In line with this change, senior business products and services are expanding their scope from industries solely for the elderly to industries connected with all age groups. In other words, senior business is evolving from an "industry for the elderly" to an "industry used by various generations together." Through three cases, we hope to consider ways to utilize these developments for the advancement of senior business in Korea.

The first case is the spread of intergenerational integrated senior housing models. Traditional senior housing focuses on providing safe spaces and various life support services needed in old age, but it faces the limitation of housing only people of the same age group. The true desire of seniors is to maintain independent and personal lives while living harmoniously with their children’s generation or younger generations.

Japan’s Kotoen features a structure where a daycare center and senior housing coexist, allowing elderly residents to exercise with children going to school in the morning and spend time reading books to the children instead of teachers at lunchtime. The Netherlands’ Humanitas nursing home provides affordable housing to university students in exchange for them becoming good neighbors who spend time with the elderly residents. Singapore’s Kampung Admiralty was built for senior housing but includes a food court, hospital, bank, and kindergarten used by local residents, making it a place where seniors can frequently meet community members. Recently, some local governments in Korea have built fancy and stylish retirement villages in remote areas separated from local residents to solve regional extinction, but these often become empty spaces ignored by seniors. The above intergenerational integrated senior housing cases explain the reasons well.

The second case is the spread of products applying Universal Design. Products and services created through senior business were once limited to those specialized for the elderly, but now the scope has expanded to products useful for all age groups by utilizing universal design. Practical products with stylish designs will not only be used by seniors but also by younger people without hesitation.

The kitchenware brand OXO from the United States is famous for its handles designed with universal design, making them easy to use regardless of age or gender. Patricia Moore, who designed this product, disguised herself as an 80-year-old for four years to directly experience the difficulties faced by seniors and created this product. Sweden’s leading furniture company IKEA introduced the "Hack Care" furniture line tailored to the lifestyle habits of seniors who often forget where they placed frequently used items. IKEA also collaborated with a Singaporean architectural firm and Italian designers to develop furniture modified for dementia patients and their families to live conveniently at home. Sensoria, a U.S. smart clothing manufacturer, created smart socks that monitor seniors’ walking habits to prevent falls and manage health conditions; this product is also popular among athletes and young runners as an IT product. As population aging becomes a global phenomenon, understanding the inconveniences of seniors is becoming an important competitive advantage for creating universal design products for everyone.

The third case is the emergence of intergenerational job models. In the past, young and elderly people were perceived as competing for jobs, but recent empirical studies and cases reveal that such generational conflicts are not true; rather, generations complement each other. Younger generations have high fluid intelligence with quick reflexes and adaptability to new technologies, while older generations have high crystallized intelligence with understanding and meticulousness based on experience and maturity.

Kamikatsu Town in Japan, a mountainous village with 52% of residents aged 65 or older, was worried about population extinction. However, since 1999, young people have revitalized the area by running a village business delivering leaves to Japanese restaurants together with local residents. The young developed ICT-based networks and sales channels easy for seniors to use, while elderly residents used tablet PCs to collect leaves. After establishing a village enterprise with both youth and elderly, the small town, once concerned about population decline due to aging, saw increased income for seniors and became a place where young people live. In the United States, the nonprofit organization CoGenerate provides tutoring services for low-income elementary students through intergenerational collaboration. University student tutors teach ICT-related subjects that interest elementary students, while retirees conduct counseling sessions for university tutors, contributing to improving academic abilities of children in the community. In the era of low birthrate and aging population, intergenerational division of labor and fusion are being developed as new job models to secure competitiveness in senior business.

Low birthrate and aging population are not problems to be solved in a short time. Perhaps we are facing a new normal era where low birthrate and aging are the new everyday reality. Senior business must ultimately create products and services that seniors enjoy using and that younger generations do not hesitate to use in order to succeed in the market. In the new normal era, age-friendly senior business leadership that understands diverse generations and effectively integrates and utilizes the desires of each generation is needed.

Junggeun Kim, Professor, Department of Silver Industry, Gangnam University