OSIRIS Interreg BSR

The European Silver Economy is the part of the economy that concerns Europe’s older citizens. It includes all the economic activities relevant to the needs of older adults and has an impact on many sectors. The Silver Economy is closely linked to Europe’s current demographic change as well as to the effects on older adults’ quality of life. It is estimated that by 2025 healthcare costs will double and the budgetary pressure on health budgets will be huge. The dependency ratio for people over 60 years of age in the Baltic states will grow from 25% to 50% by 2025, and family members will be the most affected, with the impact hitting their productivity, wealth and availability for work. Demographic change is a phenomenon that has a major impact on the economy of all countries in the Baltic Sea Region. However, the challenges related to the aging of society need not be a burden, but can in fact be opportunities for economic growth.

The project aims to enhance Silver Economy growth opportunities in the Baltic region by improving the capacity of innovation actors to apply smart specialization approaches for tackling the challenge of the region’s aging society. It seeks to boost market uptake and scaling of user-driven technology innovations that accommodate age-specific needs and preferences, and demonstrate a significant impact on the quality of life of the aging population, including age-friendly living environments, health, safety, and leisure.

This consortium consists of 13 direct partners and eight associated partners from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Russia and Finland representing the business, government and academic actors of the Triple Helix model for economic growth and regional development. Among the direct partners, six public universities represent the academia helix actors, two private companies and three business support organizations correspond to the business helix actors and one local authority and one public innovation agency are the government helix actors.

The project partners are designing and piloting a Smart Silver Framework as an innovative cooperation model for building an innovation ecosystem able to screen and accelerate the uptake of innovative products and services in the silver economy market. By deploying Smart Silver Lab as a governance structure, this framework connects research organizations and business into a unique process for the joint co-creation of innovative products and services and facilitates the full engagement and participation of all target groups. The virtual collaborative platform – Digital Silver Hub – integrates six regional Smart Silver Labs to support transnational networking as well as the learning process and knowledge diffusion between innovation actors and regions.

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