Guest Thinkers

MIT AgeLab is launching a new website. The updated content reflects the expanded research agenda of the Lab in transportation, health behavior, financial & longevity planning, and business & policy […]

The past four decades have seen major transformation in the roles and evolving responsibilities of employerswith regard to the lives of their employees. While business has changed with the ‘times,’ […]

Discussions of China tend to focus on size – a nation of over 1.3 billion people certainly deserves attention from business and investors worldwide. But, ‘total’ numbers reveal little about […]

Ken Gronbach writes on CNBC.com that “Aging Boomers Could Spell Big Trouble for Walmart.” If true, this really is disruptive demographics when the world’s largest company is thought to be […]

Few people can imagine their own old age – old age is always something that happens to parents, relatives and friends met at 30th reunions. Putting denial aside, with any […]

Communications and convenience giant (Nasdaq: RIMM) RIM, the maker of the ubiquitous Blackberry, sees a number of defining trends ahead. These reflect the themes of my own research and are […]

Product development and launch was easier when the consumer was young enough to see everything as new and novel. While admittedly fast moving and hard to keep, the ‘tween through […]

Who is online? As thefigure shows, the majority of adults from 18 to 50 are living some form of digitallife. Even older adults 65 and older are growing in numbers […]

This is the second of afive-part interview of Joseph Coughlin on disruptive demographics and businessinnovation conducted by Rohit Sakhuja on WMBR MIT Radio’s Paradigm Shifts program. Inthis segment Coughlin envisions […]

The iPad. It’s new. It’s cool. And, it’s a terrific designexperience that is likely to excite and delight your grandmother…and you. It isa stellar example of what designers should consider […]

Ironically, the growth of new disruptive technologies is only rivaled by the growth of disruptive demographics in an aging marketplace. These two forces collide and are reconciled by designers on […]

Innovative product design is increasingly crucial as the generally educated and wealthier boomer consumer rises to the fore of the marketplace with a lifetime of technology experience and rising expectations […]

“…Should I stay or should I go now?If I go there will be troubleAn if I stay there will be double…”           The Clash (1982)       […]

A baby boomer turns 64 nearly one every seven seconds. Perennially youthful, butno longer young the nation’s largest generation is now well into middle age andbeyond. Born between 1946 and […]

Too many designers, marketers and concerned observers have declared universal design to be the universal answer to meet the new needs of the growing numbers of older baby boomer consumers. […]

It’s that time of year again. It’s summer time and olderdrivers are in the news. Perennially trapped between humor and horror thedebate on older drivers continues in every state house, […]

The future of financial services will be more than managing money. The longevity gains of the last century present a financial risk that previous generations rarely encountered — a lifespan […]

Family caregiving is a privatejob of love and work. Recently it has been getting public agenda status from anunexpected industry – financial services. While caregiving is a well studiedtopic among […]

I had the pleasure to participate in the AARP-sponsoredAtlantic Magazine Forum “What’s Next? How Technology will Revolutionizethe Boomer Generation” in Washington, DC at the infamous yet iconicWatergate office building. Alexis […]

MIT News Office‘s Peter Dizikes came by the AgeLab to discuss our research on older drivers and mobility. He posed three questions to me addressing: Source: Peter Dizikes, MIT News […]

The convergence of technology and aging continues toreceive prominent attention from researchers in medicine, engineering andgerontology. The UCLA Center on Aging held its third annual Technology & Aging Conference“Science Changing Lives” […]

My commentary onthe transportation needs of an aging America (How to Avoid a Surge of Shut-Ins)appeared October 20, 2010 in the New York Times Opinion section Room for Debate. I […]

Earlier this month Bank of America Merrill Lynch produced a webcast on “Health Care in Retirement”. Thewebcast was part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Help2Retire webcast series.I was pleased […]

According to the American Association of Retirement Communities, nearly 15,000 baby boomers retire every day – and visit and selecta community to live – an extraordinary number by any estimate. […]

Older drivers. Safe? Not safe? A perennial question andstory for families, legislatures and ultimately the media. Each accidenttriggers passion, a call for policy, but mostly a call for help. Unfortunately,the […]

Much to the dismay of theirchildren, baby boomers are online and doing more than checking out pictures offamily members and exchanging recipes. Boomers are moving to online communitiesto help them […]

TheMIT Enterprise Forum Northwest held Boomers, Technology & Health: Consumers Taking Charge in Seattle, Washington on January 19, 2011. The event examinedthe role of baby boomers in future technology innovation […]

The auto industry is slowly coming back. Not just in termsof revenues but back to boomers. For nearly all products, the baby boomers of Australia,Europe, North America, as well as […]

Sun, sea and sand – for many these are the ingredients ofthe ideal retirement destination. But does a leisurely walk on the beach or fairwaycontribute to healthy aging? While these […]

MIT AgeLab AGNESAge Gain Now Empathy System Old age is not new, but integrating the demands of older consumers into the design process for products that are fun and fashionable […]