The IFA December e-News is now available!

IFA welcomes the BMO Financial Group as a Patron Member

BMO is committed to bringing Canadians retirement solutions that gives them insight into how they can get the most out of their retirement years.  In 2008, BMO Financial Group launched the Retirement Institute, dedicated to providing thought leadership, insight and strategies to those approaching or in retirement. BMO continues to be at the forefront of retirement issues and welcomes the opportunity to partner with IFA on an exciting three-year sponsorship agreement as a Patron Member.

Over the last two years, BMO has hosted more than 50 Take Charge of your Retirement workshops for clients across Canada.  These engaging and innovative workshops, hosted by Dr. Amy D’Aprix, BMO’s Life Transition Expert, provide the essential considerations both personally and financially, that we should all be considering when planning for retirement.

BMO’s network of Financial Planners and Investment Advisors are extensively trained and fully equipped to meet the changing needs of our clients planning and transitioning into retirement.

Caroline Dabu, Vice President of BMO Financial Group said, “The IFA brings forward the critical issues that are facing individuals heading into or in retirement as well as larger societal challenges with an aging population. We look forward to a partnership with IFA to raise awareness of these issues.”

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal – Canada’s first bank – BMO Financial Group has been committed to corporate and social responsibility and the principles of sustainable development. By helping to create vital, healthy and safe communities, we best serve our customers and our business. And we help create and maintain the foundation of a prosperous and resilient society – it just makes sense.

Is Long-Term care Technology keeping pace with Demand?

By Robert Rosenblatt

United States - The September 2011 AARP Bulletin has full-page ads for two brands of neck pendants used to protect against falls: you just press a button, which sends a call to an emergency center that can dispatch someone to your home. These ads have been around for years, but they don’t signal any new innovations to help older adults stay mobile and live independently at home. But Majd Alwan is an optimist. “From a technology standpoint, we’ve come a long way from ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up,’ ” says Alwan, vice president for the Center for Aging Services Technologies at LeadingAge, a trade association for nonprofit assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

There are promising products now slowly entering the commercial market, including a better pendant that measures gait, steadiness and mobility. Further down the product development road are “live shirts,” garments that measure blood pressure, respiration, body temperature and other vital signs, and signal a constant data flow; a version already exists for pro athletes. Interested in reading more, click here.

Developing Country Donor Support Programs

Support for older people is becoming an increasing priority issue in the developing world and this will only continue as the proportion of older people increases in the future. With this demographic swing new and emerging NGO’s are engaging with the IFA with many seeking greater access to information, knowledge, capacity building partnerships and direct support for older people in their own countries. To assist building capacity partnerships, the provision of information, access to education and learning experiences through forums such as conferences and membership support the IFA has three (3) specific donor support initiatives where you can make a difference:

1.   Developing Country Associate Membership Sponsorship

2.   Conference Bursary Program

3.   Building Capacity Grants

This is an opportunity for donors to show their support in a way that will directly benefit older people in developing countries. If you want to make an immediate impact you can help by filling an online Donor Support Payment Form or downloading it today! 

IFA November eNews

The IFA’s eNews sent to subscribers on the 28^th of November contained five articles where the link to the full pdf was broken. For those wanting access to those articles please click on the following links:

• The Geneva Association: Japan’s Challenge: How to activate the Potential of the Silver Workforce in an Ageing Society.
• Bringing People Together – Rainbow Life Project
• Old School VS New School
• Age Friendly Workforce Asia Report 2011
• Active Transportation in Canada Report 2011

An Invitation to Host the 12th Global Conference on Ageing 2014

The International Federation on Ageing (IFA) is inviting unique and innovative proposals from prospective host organizations in respect of its 12th Global Conferences on Ageing. The Board of Directors is particularly interested on submissions that build upon the themes and intent of the IFAs 10th and 11th Global Conferences on Ageing in Australia and the Czech Republic and recommends ways that information from our conference can be best used to influence policy.

The IFA brand has helped ensure success of these conferences and the IFA has considerable experience in working with host organizations to make conferences successful. The IFA believes that innovative conference models can be created that respond to the traditional aims such as the exchange of information and networking, and provide a meaningful forum to focus on a number of key issues in greater depth whist still retaining flexibility to attract practitioners, policymakers and academics through paper and poster presentations.

Submission Guidelines for Prospective Hosts

The Economic Potential of Senior Australians Advisory Panel -

2nd Report

The Economic Potential of Senior Australians Advisory Panel presented the second report to the Australian Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler MP, at Parliament House on 2 November 2011.

Changing face of society -Future cohorts of senior Australians, in general, will enjoy an extended life course and face the potential of an extended productive life in their middle years.

At the same time, enhancements in technology and the opportunities of a country linked by broadband open up possibilities for older people to remain connected to family, society and workplaces, and to overcome the limitations of geographical barriers.

The combination of these two factors provides the opportunity for older Australians to continue contributing to society, to the workplace and to their own wellbeing to an extent not previously experienced.

It also provides opportunities to develop new industries tailored to providing the services and goods for a larger, actively engaged and wealthier senior market.

Enabling opportunity -This second report, Realising the economic potential of senior Australians: enabling opportunity, examines four key enablers to realise these opportunities: healthy living and communities; housing; participation; and lifelong learning.

You can view the full report here.

Well Connected Cities

Executive Workshop - Eindhoven, Netherlands – 21 to 23 November

As cities grow, city systems become more complex.  Pressure to increase service delivery levels and decrease energy consumption requires us to become smarter, more collaborative and harness digital capabilities to meet basic human needs in an urban environment.

Living Labs Global and partners are offering an executive level workshop to help service providers, city leaders, planners, agencies, architects and designers build the next generation of digitally enabled public services.  This programme will help you develop the capabilities to transform city systems, enhance social capital and community engagement, and enrich the local economy; a city where citizens and business can shape the services to reflect their personal needs and priorities.

The workshop is delivered by an expert team that blends practitioners with experienced academics from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art.  Guest speakers will share case studies on intelligent lighting, designing measures to prevent chronic diseases how to become a zero emission city.

The Workshop takes place prior to the Summit on Service Innovation in Cities on 24 November 2011.

For more information, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or visit the website.