Active for Life – From Needs to Deeds

First ever Baltic Sea Region innovation camp for active and healthy ageing was held in Helsinki on the first week of October. The camp brought together health and wellbeing cluster experts, companies, researchers and end-users to discuss the needs and possibilities for new business opportunities in the Health and Wellbeing sector.

The phenomenon of population ageing and overall population shrinking is a serious global challenge. Europe, as one of the world regions most affected by the ageing challenge, is using it as a driver to promote healthier, active and independent lives for its ageing citizens, to improve the sustainability and efficiency of social and health care systems and to open new business opportunities.

Active for Life is a Finnish lead pilot action in Baltic Sea Region addressing this challenge. The pilot seeks to identify specific needs from the ageing population with potential for generating new innovative, globally competitive services and business opportunities. Based on those opportunities Active for Life promotes business cooperation between enterprises from the Baltic Sea region. Currently the pilot is active in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Germany.

In October 2011, Active for Life organised a user-driven innovation camp which brought together entrepreneurs, companies, business development experts, researchers and end users representatives from the Health and Wellbeing sectors. The aim of the four-day long camp was to analyse user needs evidence and ideate on what type of business opportunities could be created for the end-user groups.

During the camp the participants took part in a series of creative and innovative exercises. Methods included working on the user need data from different viewpoints and building on experiences.

The camp was a success. It left the project partners with a lot of ideas and enthusiasm to build well-being together in the Baltic Sea Region. For more information about the Active for Life, please visit the website: http://www.bsrstars.se/stardust/active-for-life/