Ancona is a candidate for the Italian and European capital of the silver economy

"Our ambition is to be able to make Ancona the Italian and European capital of the silver economy, and also to think of the entire Marche region as the place where an ecosystem of innovations is created that can help people live more and better". The project of Mario Pesaresi, president of the Marche Foundation, began five years ago with the Innovaging initiative, which for the first time in Italy evaluated the involvement of start-ups from around the world in the silver economy. And the Marche region continues to represent a fertile area for investigation and experimentation: it is in the top 10 regions in terms of average age (47.3 years) and in 2022 had 25.7% of over-65s, more than double the number of the 0-14 bracket (12.1%), with an old-age index of 212.6 elderly for every 100 young people and a population turnover index of 152.1 inhabitants of pre-retirement age for every 100 young people entering the world of work. "This trend has intensified over the last two decades and is expected to accelerate further," Pesaresi notes. The increase in longevity and active lifespan combined with the declining birth rate (in 15 years, newborns have decreased by 39 per cent) therefore present extraordinary opportunities in a market that is still little considered today.

"And innovation plays a fundamental role in addressing this epochal change and the new needs," the Marche Foundation president added, "particularly in sectors such as health management, wellness, caregiving, leisure, and sociality. Objectives entrusted as of 2021 to AC75 SA, the first startup accelerator in Europe dedicated to the silver economy, which through the three-year Next Age programme (part of the CDP Venture Capital National Accelerators Network, ed.) has attracted 1.9 million euro involving Amplifon, Intesa Sanpaolo, Fondazione CariVerona, CDP Venture Capital Sgr and can count on the partnership of important universities and research centres. These resources are in addition to the almost 3 million CDP that the Marche Foundation has invested over three years in 21 start-ups, which after acceleration have already raised 4.2 million.

The Ancona Longeva initiative stems precisely from the desire to continue to occupy a space for the dissemination of new solutions to people's everyday problems. And this is where AC75 SA's role comes to the fore: proposals mostly come from start-ups and innovative companies, which have a shortage of resources and alone struggle to cope with a complex and multifaceted market; on the other hand, there is resistance to innovation and change in demand given that the recipients of innovations are elderly people and often with health problems. In order to overcome barriers and scepticism, the decision was made to go public and dialogue with the over-65 target group with a series of initiatives to disseminate and test innovations (two of the experimentations were Bended and Mysurable, ed.) and to listen to the voice of those directly concerned, in order to create a long-term collaboration between AC75 SA and the active players in the area. Parallel to the dissemination activities, a questionnaire was administered, which made it possible to understand how people, especially those of an advanced age, are broadly interested in new solutions but distrustful and still look at technological innovations with circumspection. Pesaresi emphasises that 'demand is unaware and passive with respect to new ways of solving ageing problems with new technologies' and this gives the cue 'to see important opportunities in this area'.

The experience of Ancona Longeva, made possible thanks to a solid public-private partnership, has made it possible to test a series of hypotheses underlying the project and to receive stimuli and suggestions, which have made it possible to develop ideas for the future, starting with the strengthening of public facilities and their capacity for assistance and care with the support of new prevention technologies, monitoring and assistance even remotely, and the need to enhance the role of accelerators as catalysts for a multitude of actors with common interests, who need to be accompanied towards the realisation of innovative products that can have a profound impact on society.

The next step is to involve other individual cities in order to create a trait d'union between an innovative ecosystem, mainly made up of young people, and an important part of society that views ageing with concern. However, Mario Pesaresi is looking even further ahead, in the conviction that the silver economy should not be considered a ghetto, but rather the driving force behind innovations, and asks: "What if young people also have the same problems as the over-65s and, therefore, innovations for ageing are then found to serve the whole of society?