While technology develops at an ever faster pace, societies are ageing. This has been recognized as a great opportunity to put our brightest tech-minds together, and change the way we age – forever.
To honour our colleagues in the tech-care crossover sector we are so excited to be a part of, we present to you a series of groundbreaking new technology in the industry. First in this series: Cambridge, Massachutes-based Rendever.
Only a few decades ago, nobody owned a computer. Today, more than ninety percent of consumers in a country like The Netherlands spends a significant part of their day bent over a little handheld computer called a ‘smartphone’. It has become difficult to navigate modern life without one – technology is rapidly changing our world. And while technological development is accelerating, populations all over the Western world are ageing. The baby boomer generation is reaching seniority; according to the United Nations World Population Prospects, there will be around 2,1 billion people aged sixty or older by 2050. That is a number of people higher than the entire human population of the world at any point from the inception of humanity until as late as the 1920’s. And by the end of this year, there will be more people worldwide over the age of 65 than under the age of 5, for the first time in human history.
Given the fact that most new technology is aimed at connecting people, and that the challenges faced by older adults and the care sector tend to centre around isolation, it is not surprising that – like Gociety – many tech start-ups focus on developing technology aimed at reconnecting people to the world around them.
Today, we would like to draw your attention to the great initiative that is Rendever.
In their own words, this Cambridge, Massachutes-based start-up creates ‘a window for senior adults through which they can rediscover a previously vanished world’. Their Virtual Reality technology is capable of taking older adults back to their childhood home, their college campus, or the place where they got married. Users simply place the technology over their eyes, sit back, and enter another world.
In addition, Rendever can take users to places they’ve always wanted to visit but never did: they can find themselves at the top of the Eiffel Tower, all the while sitting in their own home or care community. Networking technology makes it possible for users to experience these things in a group as well: imagine a group of older adults virtually climbing Machu Picchu together, or enjoying an excursion through a famous European capital city. These experiences are highly beneficial to user’s well-being.
Like Gociety, Rendever offers their services both via professional caregiving institutions and informal caregivers and family members, to reach older adults in all kinds of living situations. We’re curious to see where the rest of this start-up’s journey will take them. Greatly inspired by their work, we wish them all the best!
