This document summarizes Geoff Mulgan's presentation on overcoming the paradoxes of aging and creating a more salutogenic world where people can thrive throughout their lives. The presentation discusses trends showing more older people working and starting businesses. It also notes challenges around health spending and maintaining independence in old age. Mulgan advocates developing social innovations to support aging, like elder universities, care villages, and time banks. He argues for transforming systems through new technologies, policies, markets, and behaviors to better support well-being and participation across all ages.

1. The Paradoxes of Ageing –
and how to overcome
them
Geoff Mulgan
Business of Ageing, Toronto 30 April 2012
Slide 1

2. Active ageing: a policy
challenge or an innovation
challenge?
Is a salutogenic world
possible?
Slide 2

3. Could we turn the participation trends around?

5. Michael Young (1915-2002) ‘probably the world’s
most successful entrepreneur of social enterprises’
Pioneer of new thinking about age; creator of OU,
U3A, Grandparents plus and many others...
With Peter Laslett, developed the idea of third and
fourth ages – adding years not to the end of the life
but the middle

6. The end of chronologism

7. The good news?
7

8. • Employment between the ages of 55 and 69 has increased in recent years
(2002/3 to 2008/9); amongst men (65-69 yrs) from 15.7% to 23.7% and
amongst women (60-64 yrs) from 29.5% to 35.0%
• Over 800,000 65+ now employed, 3.0% of all workers; doubled in ten
years
• Of 3,000 high growth start-ups - 25 or more employees – over a third
founded by over-50s
• A big motivator for over-50s to set up a new business: the opportunity to
work beyond official retirement age – 30%
• Over-65s the fastest growing age group for self-employment - last year
number setting up in business increased by 48 per cent, from 224,000 to
332,000
Slide 8

9. – B&Q retail chain long-standing policy of recruiting older
workers
– Sainsbury’s offer a 25 year window for retirement
between ages 50 and 75. Within this window employees
can reduce their working hours and claim part of their
pension while continuing to accrue further pension
entitlements
– Ernst and Young - ‘boomerangs’ – allows former
employees and retirees to return to the organisation
9

11. John Browne: a salutary warning
Slide 11 The Young Foundation 2010

12. Little or no narrowing of the morbidity gap
Life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and EU–healthy life expectancy at birth, Great
Britain 1981–2006
Source: ONS

13. The paradox
13

14. The things older people say they want are
made hard by our systems and structures:
•to be useful and recognised
•to be helped at home when frail by a circle
of support
•to end life at home surrounded by loved
ones
Slide 14

15. Innovation
15

16. Health spend as % GDP versus adult
mortality rate
16
15
Health spend as % GDP
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
40 60 80 100 120
Adult mortality rate
Source: OECD Health Data 2010

17. Change in health spend share of GDP
versus % improvement in adult mortality rate
3.0%
% growth in share of GDP (p.a.)
2.5%
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
0.0% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0% 3.5%
% improvement in mortality rate (p.a.)

18. • US Congressional Budget Office: health
spending to rise from 16% of GDP in 2007 to
25% in 2025, 37% in 2050 and 49% in 2082.
• European Union ageing predicted to drive
public spending up by 4 percentage points
between 2004 and 2050.
• Purchasing power of 60+ generation in
Germany nearly one third of total private
consumption and will grow to over 40% by
2050

19. More deliberate innovation and
experiment – not just in technologies
and clinical solutions
19

20. Specialised parks
prosthetics
implants
Elder universities
Employment (U3A)
agencies
Brain gyms
Co-housing
Career switches (ALI)
Home
hospices Care villages
Volunteer
transport (ITN) Timebanks
Slide 20

21. Changing tools for innovation suitable for ageing
User innovation
Innovation in services
Social innovation
Open innovation

22. NESTA INVESTMENTS
RESOURCE LEARNING &
EFFICIENCY FOR EMPLOYABILITY
INDIVIDUALS &
COMMUNITIES
AGEING NEEDS OF
YOUNG PEOPLE
WELL
IMPACT INVESTMENT
VENTURE INVESTING
FUND
CATALYSING START UP SUPPORTING A
SUPPORT DEVELOPING MARKET
SVI FUND BIG SOCIETY RESEARCH & POLICY
FINANCE FUND RECOMMENDATIONS

25. www.theamazings.org

26. Building capacity to develop and
spread radical social innovations in
local government – care/acute
interface a priority

28. Innovation networks to speed mutual learning

29. Age Unlimited: supporting older social
entrepreneurs in Scotland

30. From projects to systems …
30

31. To get from here... ...to here...
...many things need to change in tandem

32. Transforming the system?
New technologies, products and Recalibrated markets
services
New policies and regulations Behavioural change

33. Transforming the system? Whole System Demonstrators
as promising but partial example …
New technologies, products and Recalibrated markets
services
New policies and regulations Behavioural change

34. Transforming a system?
New technologies, products and Recalibrated markets
services
Social Impact Bonds
Age Unlimited Scotland
People Powered Health
New policies and regulations Behavioural change

35. Happiness
35

36. Wellbeing
Mental attitudes to ageing have a significant impact on health.
Median Survival
(years)
Those with :-
positive attitude to ageing 22.5
negative attitude to ageing 15.0
Gain 7.5
Impressive when compared to improvements in:-
- Blood Pressure, Cholesterol: Gain 4 years
- Obesity, Smoking, Exercise: Gain 1-3 years
‘Longevity Increased by Positive Self-Perceptions of Ageing’, Becca R. Levy et al,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2002, Vol. 83, No. 2, 261-270

37. Resilience and well-being
-2 -1 0 1 2
10
12
14
16
18
Divorce Widowed Remained married

38. High sociability associated with less
cold symptoms
Cohen et al, 2003

41. Peckham and the
salutogenic workplace?
41

42. What kind of economy allows us to thrive all
our lives? What economy makes people a
renewable asset not a disposable one?
42