Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Lloyd's Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Gerontologist. 2024 Feb 1;64(2). doi: 10.1093/geront/gnad015.
An aging population creates fertile ground for devising innovations for older adults. By using patents as a proxy for inventive activity, this study sets the stage for understanding the latest innovations being designed for the older population. Insights will pave the way for a better understanding of inventions that could render society more age-friendly on the innovation front.
To identify the latest innovations targeted at the older population, we collected all patents (N = 326) issued in 2021, specifically those issued between January 5th and December 28th. Upon removing irrelevant data, 120 patents were retained in the data set. Both inductive and deductive modes of reasoning informed our content analysis of the data.
Three themes surfaced. About half (49.2%) of the patents focused on "Preventive Health, Safety, and Independence" (Theme 1). About 38.3% pertained to "Anti-Aging" (Theme 2) and 12.5% were about the "Pathologization of Old Age" (Theme 3).
This is the first study that evaluates the state of innovations for an aging population. While there are inventions aimed at optimizing the well-being of older adults, there are also those designed due to beliefs that see old age as a problem to solve. As the world experiences a demographic shift, it is imperative that collective ingenuity be harnessed to build a society conducive to all facets of the aging experience.
人口老龄化为老年人群体的创新提供了肥沃的土壤。本研究通过专利作为创新活动的代表，为了解最新为老年人口设计的创新奠定了基础。这些见解将为更好地理解那些能够在创新方面使社会更加适合老龄化的发明铺平道路。
为了确定针对老年人口的最新创新，我们收集了 2021 年所有的专利（N=326），具体来说，是在 1 月 5 日至 12 月 28 日期间发布的专利。在删除不相关的数据后，有 120 项专利保留在数据集中。我们的数据分析采用了归纳和演绎推理两种模式。
出现了三个主题。大约一半（49.2%）的专利专注于“预防健康、安全和独立”（主题 1）。约 38.3%与“抗衰老”（主题 2）有关，12.5%与“老年病的病理化”（主题 3）有关。
这是第一项评估老龄化人口创新状况的研究。虽然有一些发明旨在优化老年人的福祉，但也有一些发明是因为认为老年是一个需要解决的问题而设计的。随着世界经历人口结构的转变，必须利用集体的创造力来建设一个有利于老龄化各个方面的社会。
