Episode 1

Why now is the best time to be investing and developing agetech with Keren Etkin, Founder of the Gerontechnologist

Welcome to the Second Season of the Caregiver Camp podcast! In the first Episode of the season, Caregiver Camp host Debbie Howard interviews brilliant gerontologist, Keren Etkin who is the founder of The Gerontechnologist, a media platform that covers the agetech ecosystem and provides online courses through AgeTech Academy. Keren is one of the most sought-after experts in agetech and has recently released her first book, The AgeTech Revolution - a book about the intersection of technology and ageing. 

Keren is a passionate pioneer for agetech and sees the future as brighter when technology solutions have the benefit not only to reduce the stress on adult caregivers but also to change the future of aged care. The time is ripe for innovation and opportunity, and the technology acceleration the world has experienced due to the global pandemic has presented a pivotal moment in time to shift what aged care currently looks like and make it new, improved, and better. 

In this Episode you will hear:

  • The future of agetech, going beyond Zoom and stepping into the metaverse 
  • Common misconceptions about older adults and what they want
  • The necessity of having older adults connected online in a time when everything from your banking, to your groceries to your social relationships is online
  • How employers can support their staff who are caregivers of older adults, with knowledge and resources to help ease the stress
  • The value that older adults can bring to agetech development - they know what they want and can be part of the agetech development system
  • How Amazon’s Alexa is pioneering joint caregiving with options to leave reminders for family members and even detect falls and provide emergency call services
  • The future of caregiving and giving more attention to what U.S President Biden has called a critical crisis that policymakers and society need to address

About Keren:

Keren Etkin has been named one of the most influential people in aging and is a sought-after public speaker and advisor for agetech startups, investors in the longevity economy, care providers, and organizations who work on innovation in aging.

Currently, in addition to running The Gerontechnologist, Keren is the founder/director of AgeLabIL - an interdisciplinary R&D center which focuses on agetech at Shenkar college.

Previously, Keren was the first employee at Intuition Robotics, the startup behind ElliQ, the world’s first social robot designed with and for older adults, and co-founder & VP of Product at Sensi.Ai, a startup that developed the first and only AI solution for remote care monitoring.

She holds an M.A. in Gerontology B.Sc. in Life Sciences.

Connect with Keren Etkin:

Website: TheGerontechnologist.com

LinkedIn

YouTube

Twitter

Spotify

Links mentioned in this episode:

The AgeTech Revolution is available to purchase on Amazon

Download the 2021 AgeTech Market Map

Connect with Debbie Howard:

Debbie Howard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiehoward/

Website: https://caregivercamps.com/ 

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About your hosts

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Tanya Krim

Tanya Krim is a long-distance caregiver for her parents who live in England. So she knows first-hand the emotional landscape and challenges of juggling work, life and caregiving. She chose to augment her 20-year career as a qualitative market researcher by obtaining her M.S. in Gerontology.

In the process, storytelling has become her passion as she believes that storytelling can offer multiple benefits to care recipients as well as their caregivers.

She is now applying her background to crafting meaningful, emotive, insight-rich Legacy Stories/Histories and spearheading storytelling training to help working caregivers as well as their care recipients reminisce, relive, revive and 'reset'.
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Debbie Howard

Debbie Howard is a former caregiver who served as both long-distance and live-in caregiver during her mom’s dying days in South Carolina, while running her Tokyo-based market research consultancy.
With the launch in 2016 of AMI (Aging Matters International) and TheCaregivingJourney.com, Debbie combined her caregiving experience with her 40 years in market research and communications to support companies and working caregivers in navigating their caregiving journeys with more ease and grace. https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiehoward/?originalSubdomain=jp
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Jonathan Brody

Jon Brody helped his mom age in place and live independently to the ripe old age of 93.
With over 30 years of marketing experience in the healthcare industry on both the client and agency sides, he has a deep knowledge of corporate needs including global strategy, market research & analytics.
He has bolstered this with his acquisition of an M.S in Gerontology from the University of Massachusetts. He is also a proud member of the Gerontological Society of America, American Society on Aging, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.