Elders Up / Time to Share Consortium Meeting
The Elders Up! / Time to Share project is finalising the launch of the Skills Matching Service, a new concept in workplace knowledge exchange. The idea is to link elders/seniors who have vast amounts of knowledge, skills, and experience, with SMEs, Start Ups, and other organisations that require such skills and knowledge to assist in furthering the growth of their business or organisation. The overriding sense amongst the consortium members is that there is so much to gain from such a collaboration, and it is hoped that a further by-product of the scheme is that elders/seniors will cease to be viewed by society as a demographic that has little to contribute to the workforce, when they could be viewed as integral to it for as long as they wish to be involved.
The consortium overseeing the project is made up of the following bodies: Active and Assisted Living; Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council; Connected Care; Technical University of Cluj-Napoca; Idener; Ayia Marina; Red Ninja; ISOIN; and GeoImaging. As the project partners take their seats around the table at Liverpool Science Park, @OpenLabsLJMU, the delegates begin the day by reflecting on the fact that the Elders Up! Project is now in its twenty-fourth month. It seems poignant at this stage for the members to take a moment to reflect on the work done so far.
The project is soon to enter its final phase of testing before the scheduled launch in November 2016, and Elders Up! is to be re-branded as Time to Share: time2share.eu. The rebranding gives the project a dynamic feel that’s better suited to a project aiming to match the workplace skills and knowledge of elders/seniors with those who are in need of such assistance. The ethos behind the project, held by all present at the meeting, is to lessen the impact of current cultural stereotypes that tend to neglect the skills, talents, and knowledge-base of those people who have left the conventional workforce: for example, those who have entered retirement.
The attendees feel that one of the most negative effects of retirement is that people with decades of experience in a vast array of fields suddenly reach a stage where their experience is deemed simply unwanted, for want of a better phrase. For example, up until the day prior to their retirement an individual is still valued for the job that they do and the knowledge they possess. Anecdotally, many companies try to glean as much from the individual prior to their departure, perhaps having them shadowed by others in order to take advantage of their skills, or by having them train others to do their job following their departure.
And then they retire… No one asks them to use their skills/knowledge… Those skills and that knowledge is still there, like an extremely valuable repository… But there’s no outlet for it… Nobody benefits from it…
But that’s all about to change because it’s Time to Share!
The project partners present their findings, seeking feedback from around the table. Stockport Council relates its findings with respect to testing sessions held to gauge user interaction and ease of use. Connected Care share similar findings and the conclusion is that whilst there has been some success, certain cross-cultural issues need to be addressed. For instance, all of the over 70s were found to use smart technology in the UK (iPad and iPhone, primarily), whereas in Cyprus and Holland traditional Windows laptops are prevalent.
All user groups expressed that there was much improvement from the previous round of testing and valuable insights were gained in order to improve the user experience. The technical aspects of the project are discussed next, with Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Idener, ISOIN, and GeoImaging all coming up with ideas to help fine tune the algorithms that will help to cipher the required information. One of the reasons for putting so much emphasis into this area of the project is that it will help provide the user with the optimum configuration for their individual levels of cognitive ability (there’s a lot of science at this point).
Finally, Red Ninja plot out the re-branding options and the coming events where project partners will collaborate further in the run up to the launch date. The coming together of minds from across Europe is a huge success so far, and a sense of excitement fills the room as the project nears fruition. Soon it will be time for SMEs and Start Ups to benefit from the project. Get ready, because it’s Time to Share!
Date: 15th and 16th June 2016
Place: Liverpool Science Park, Liverpool John Moores University, @OpenLabsLJMU
