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Forever “halonoe of aging population bring opportunities too By Alex Mihailidis and John Muscedere By 2035, Canada will be considered a “super- aged” country with one in four Canadians older then Paradoxically, the pandemic opened up oppor- tunities; it forced of technologies to deliver healthcare and social supports and demon- readiness for safe and 65 years. While this he our workforce, it also has big repercussions for our health and social systems. Seniors account for almost 44 per cent of provin- cial and territorial healthcare budgets and unpaid care provision costs Canada an estimated $1.3 bil lion in productivity losses each year. The challenges of aging and managing age- telated chronic diseases can compromise an indi- vidual’s independence, reduce their quality of life, d social systems, and force man older Canadians who would rather age in place into long-term care. Canada already has a disproportionately high rate of older adults living in long-term care, yet the need is still not being met and demand is expected to grow. It is not economically feasible to continue to build and staff long-term care homes in response to an aging population, nor is institutionalization what older Canadians want. Urgently, we need to empower all Canadians to age well with dignity and autonomy. Our govern- ments need to develop and implement health and social innovations that enable healthy aging both at home and in the community. The pandemic revealed the shortcomings of our care systems for older Canadians. We need to improve how we support older adults and caregiv- ers in Canada. Canadians agree. A Nanos poll found an over- whelming majority (92 per cent) of Canadians support government investment in programs that enable healthy aging. And there's good news here: frailty and institu- tionalization are not inevitable as we age. The decline in a person's functional ability as they age can be delayed using targeted individual and population technology-enabled health and social strategies and innovations. The Canadian Frailty Network's Regional Centres for Healthy Aging are one such innovation. Combining technology - a custom web plat- form, smart devices, virtual activities and resources —with health and social care initiatives — individual- ized healthy aging assessments, personalized goals, and customized referrals to ponies based pro. these Cer i dence- ad healthy aging practices to Canadans in an accessible manner. We stress ‘technology enabled’ as an essential part of the solution. It’s time to do things differently. efficient technology-enabled healthcare delivery, support for independent aging at home and the ability to stay connected. The federal government recently invested in an initiative called envisAGE, led by MEDTEQ+ and Age-Well, that will help companies deliver“AgeTech” solutions. But we must not neglect research, which is critical in order to feed the innovation pipeline. Governments can harness research to help pave the path for innovation in healthy aging. That's why we launched a new research col- laboration, Healthy Aging Canada, a partner- ship between Age-Well and the Canadian Frailty Network, to help change the lives of aging Canadians through innovative technology- enabled social and healthcare solutions, with a focus on equity, accessibility and shared commit- ment to accelerate research into action. Our mission is to bring together researchers, stakeholders (e.g,, older adults and caregivers), and mobilizers (e.g., industry, government and health- care providers) to advance healthy aging research and tech and other innovation. Providing optimal care and enabling a high- er quality of life for a larger cohort of older Canadians requires a coordinated approach to the delivery of services. In addition to a public health approach to healthy aging, accelerated develop- ment and adoption of technology-enabled solu- tions at home, in the community and in care settings is a critical strategy for governments to create an integrated system that is responsive to older adults’ needs and can accommodate their tising absolute number and proportion in the population. We must leverage COVID-accelerated digital adoption of technologies and the exposed need for social and healthcare programs that are tech- nology-enabled to rapidly transform individuals’ and systems’ readiness and resilience. Canada is aging. But we can do so gracefully, by embracing healthy aging innovations in our per- sonal lives, and in our health policies and systems. Dr. Alex Mihailidis is CEO of Age-Well and the Barbara G. Stymiest Research Chair in Rehabilitation Technology, University of Toronto and KITE Research Institute at University Health Network. 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