IN THE AGE OF AGE-TECH: HOW BENGALURU’S ELDERLY ARE GETTING EMPOWERED

With social structures changing and families shrinking, many senior citizens are nagged by questions on how to productively use the silver years without feeling isolated or burdening others. Shilpa Elizabeth looks at age-tech, a new and emerging sector that harnesses technology to seek some answers

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Raghavendra (name changed), 73, is part of around six WhatsApp groups for the elderly. An electrical engineer who spent more than 30 years in Mumbai, he moved to Bengaluru post-retirement to live with his daughter. In a city of 1.4 crore people, the septuagenarian was starting to feel lonely given his daughter’s busy work schedule and his wife’s demise eight years ago. Then, he found his tribe online.

“They get me a cake for Christmas. I get Tirupati laddus for them. We are all now planning a trip together to Vietnam,” says a very cheerful Raghavendra, during a meetup held by Sukoon Unlimited, a city-based start-up building a community for seniors.

New research area

Research on longevity has been receiving unprecedented attention across the world. In 2024, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) announced the launch of the Longevity India Initiative, a project focused on efforts to extend human ‘health span’ and combat ageing-related challenges. Maverick millionaires like Bryan Johnson have even been attempting anti-ageing experiments.

But the elderly in India have been at an interesting, or rather puzzling, cross-section. With social structures changing and families shrinking to nuclear, how to productively use the silver years without feeling isolated and not burdening others has been a question troubling many lately.

Age-tech, a new and emerging sector, hopes to answer this question with the help of technology and ease the problems of people like Raghavendra.

Age-tech start-ups

Neeraj Sagar, founder of Wisdom Circle, started an online group of age-tech founders in India about two years ago. The group had its first offline meetup last year in Bengaluru where almost 40 founders showed up.“In a year that number has become 100,” says Sagar.