Redesigning the Ecosystem for Aging Adults

Historically, innovation and private sector investment has centered on framing older adults as a problem and selling the solution to the government, healthcare system, service providers, and adult children. The market’s priorities are misaligned with what older adults want for themselves.

The SCAN Foundation has partnered with Village Capital on a new initiative to fundamentally shape and improve the ecosystem that designs products and services for aging adults. The goal of this research was to better understand the challenges older adults in the United States face and a clear path forward toward leveraging both philanthropic and investment capital to address private sector solutions to these challenges.

More than 40 qualitative interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs, investors, and key ecosystem players. In addition, Village Capital conducted quantitative market research to identify natural groupings of innovation and market activity to create an overview of key verticals and subsectors of products and services for older adults: health, finance, independence, connection, and engagement.