What’s Next Living Longer Better Smarter episode 86: Innovation and Inspiration

Our podcast guest, Amelia Hay, says, “If you feel socially isolated, it is as unhealthy as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.” Amelia is VP, Startup Programming & Investments at the AgeTech Collaborative from AARP. Its global mission is to find innovative technologies that improve people’s lives as they age.

“We invite people with ideas to pitch to us, like Shark Tank. If we like what we see, we may ask some people to join our accelerator program so they can develop their ideas,” Amelia says.

For example, Amelia cites the latest winner from Age Tech’s Aging Made Easier Pitch Event: Vermut. This app matches users with like-minded people nearby. Users can join events, create their own events, and make friends in their communities. Vermut received a $10,000 prize.

Fernando Dellepiane, the co-founder, says Vermut was designed to combat loneliness and isolation. It allows people to meet a community in which they can make friends. Everything is based on activities and experiences for groups. Dellepiane says the name Vermut comes from a tradition in Latin countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Argentina (where he’s from), involving drinking vermouth. It is a gathering of friends before lunch or dinner. And just mingling around and having a social moment before going to your family and having your meal.

Dellepiane says Vermut is having success in Europe, where it was introduced. Now, it is expanding into the U.S. You can find it by searching for it in your phone’s app store.

Our next podcast guest is Tejasvi Manoj, a 16-year-old high school student from Frisco, Texas. She is developing Shield Seniors, an AI-powered website providing real-time cybersecurity assistance for older adults. She started working on it last summer when her grandfather almost became a victim of cybercrime.

“ Someone who was posing as our family member texted him asking for money,” Manoj says. “He was about to send this person the money, but luckily, our family caught on and realized that this was actually a scammer. After hearing about this, I decided to do some research as I became intrigued about how cybersecurity worked for seniors.”

Manoj says the FBI receives more than two thousand cyber complaints per day, representing billions of dollars in damages. She created the tool based on the premise that many older adults do not know basic cyber safety practices.

Shield Seniors, still in development, will include essential information tailored for older adults, including guidance on creating robust passwords, recognizing scams and fraud, and overall strategies for safeguarding personal privacy.

Manoj says she also plans to work on a mobile app for Shield Seniors. She can be reached on LinkedIn if people want to discuss her project.

For more, watch our What’s Next Living Longer Better Smarter podcast