BIZKAIA SILVER WEEK

The week before the International Day of Older Persons, at the end of September, the Bay of Biscay will wash the key reflections of ageing industry, experts, institutions devoted to it and older persons, themselves.

Population ageing is rapidly accelerating worldwide. For the first time ever, most people can expect to live into their sixties and beyond. These extra years of life have great implications for each of us, and the societies we live in. The Provincial Council of Bizkaia is devoted to create the context where cross-sectorial dialogues and solutions can be born.

Bizkaia Silver Week gathers in Bilbao-Bizkaia, the heart of the Bay of Biscay, major events on Silver Economy, Active & Healthy Ageing and Demographic Change, to establish a real dialogue on the future of ageing societies in Europe, so that we make ageing just one contextual element of new inclusive prosperity.

Triple perspective meeting point

The Demographic Change needs precise intervention and a comprehensive overview. Bizkaia Silver Week is a unique encounter where key agents from the triple perspective of ageing gather. If you can make a difference in any of those impact lines, Bizkaia Silver Week is the place to share, learn, exchange and accelerate your proposal.

  • Economic perspective: To promote business opportunities through new products and services designed or adapted for the quality of life of the older segment of the population, and their independent living, where technology should have a significant impact on meeting accessibility requirements, functional impairment or the care solutions.
  • Social perspective: Increasing the quality of life of the older population requires the adaptation of systems and policies, enhancing accessibility and the use of products and services as a whole, creating the right conditions to foster active and healthy aging that enables the understanding of the valuable contribution of older people to the society.
  • Public perspective: Ensuring the sustainability of the welfare system in this context requires the efficient delivery of public services in the social and health sector, where technology can play an important role, and there, it is absolutely relevant of promoting smart age-friendly environments that encourage active and healthy ageing as an element of health.

THE CONTEXT: BIZKAIA, THE BAY OF EUROPE

Bizkaia becomes the international meeting point of the Silver Economy, ageing policies, innovation and technology for a whole week. Moreover, this is not a simple coincidence; it has all its meaning since ours is one of the oldest societies in the world. The Provincial Council of Bizkaia is devoted to transform the Territory in a referential place to grow old, where technology and innovation is applied to health and ageing, leading the way to a new inclusive prosperity.

The population over 65 in Bizkaia has doubled in the last 30 years, and reached 21.6%. Looking ahead, according to population projections made by Basque Statistics Agency, this trend will continue until we reach a moment when nearly four out of ten in Bizkaia will be older people in 2050.

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has a proven track record in addressing various policy areas linked to the needs of older people in recent years, having deployed the Bizkaia, Age-Friendly Council strategy, assuming the Active Ageing Index as the main monitoring tool of this strategy (measured in 2014 and 2016 ).

The next step is the creation of “Nagusi Intelligence Centre”, steering a comprehensive Silver Economy strategy that aims to promote innovative economic activity for an ageing world. The “Nagusi Intelligence Centre” will accelerate the global position of Biscay as a reference region in Southern Europe to develop, test, validate and manufacture innovative products and services aimed at aging and well-being.

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