A brief history of Gerontechnology in the Netherlands

Jan Rietsema, Ph.D., Institute for Gerontechnology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

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Beste Herman,

Dear guests,

It is great honour and pleasure for me to present today at this very special lunch meeting a few topics about the development of Gerontechnology in the Netherlands and about Herman Bouma’s outstanding contributions to develop this applied discipline.

20 years except 53 days ago (1) Herman presented his inauguration lecture entitled ‘Techniek is voor mensen’ (or ‘Technology is for people’). The topic was the unprecedented penetration of information technology in society. On the one hand this creates new possibilities to obtain useful information. On the other hand there are many problems related to the accessibility of information and the usability of the devices. In his lecture Herman argued for a pro-active approach to prevent these problems. This approach includes research to human information processing and the actual use of the new devices. The results from this research can be used to design devices that are adapted to the human capabilities

Although, there was no explicit reference to problems of elderly people in this lecture, it laid the foundation for Herman's involvement in gerontechnology. The insight that the older section of the population needs special attention is from a few years later.

Parallel to international developments (mainly from the USA and already mentioned by Dr. Fozard (2)), there was an increasing interest in the 1970s and 1980s in the Netherlands in research on 'technology and ageing'. Until the mid 1980's the publications related to this topic were scattered and often oriented towards the care of elderly persons. Gradually this was changing, likely stimulated by the demographic shifts that were expected.

In 1985/86 Herman was member of the steering committee of the study ‘Technology for elderly people’ of the 'Stichting Toekomstbeeld der Techniek' (or 'Foundation Picture of the Future of Technology'). The result of this study was the conclusion that developments of technology have many challenges for the elderly, but more research is needed (3).

The first publication about ageing and technology by Herman dates from 1988 (4) and deals with the question how to direct technology towards the needs and wishes of the elderly. The most important factors in this process are the elderly themselves, who are pushed towards a pro-active and assertive attitude. The importance of user involvement in the gerontechnological developments is present in Herman’s presentations and papers since and belongs to the key characteristics of the field now. Herman's position as chairman of the Board of the Senior Citizens Technology Centre in Eindhoven one decade later can be seen as a logical next step.

The national and international efforts mentioned above resulted in the organisation of the 1^st International Conference on Gerontechnology, which was organised at the Eindhoven University of Technology and chaired by Herman Bouma. The term Gerontechnology was coined a few years earlier by Jan Graafmans of Eindhoven University of Technology (5).

In the proceedings (6) of this first conference, Gerontechnology is defined as the study of technology and ageing for the improvement of the daily functioning. We will see that this definition is developing in the years following the conference and is made more refined.

After the 1^st International Conference the activities in gerontechnology began to accelerate in the Netherlands. This was of course supported by the active participation of various research groups in the European Programme COST A5 ‘Ageing and Technology’, mentioned earlier by professor Pieper. Individuals and institutes in the Netherlands also actively participated in other networks, such as the Design for Ageing Network (DAN) (7) and more recently the Gerontechnology Education Network In Europe (GENIE) (8).

Shortly after the conference Delft University of Technology started a gerontechnology project in the department of industrial design. They defined gerontechnology as the application of ergonomic data on the elderly for the design of innovative products suitable for use by this target group. The focus in this project and this definition is on the link between gerontology and ergonomics(9).

Based on the success of the conference, Einhoven University of Technology realised a research programme and the Ministry of Welfare, Health and Culture awarded the TUE a grant to built up a centre of excellence and a gerontechnology network. In 1993/94 Dr. Fozard spent a sabbatical year in Eindhoven and we defined five ways in which gerontechnology can address elderly people. The developments at TUE resulted early 1994 in the establishment of the Institute for Gerontechnology (10) and Herman was appointed as director. This institute is the focal point for the development of gerontechnology and provide the integrative power necessary to organise and co-ordinate education, research and development and knowledge transfer in gerontechnology within and outside the university. This integrative power is necessary to gain full insight in the field of gerontechnology.

The Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO combined its knowledge and expertise related to the elderly people in the TNO Centre for Aging Research in 1994. This combination of TNO institutes is important to give efficient access to all relevant know-how and it emphasises the multi-disciplinary approach that is necessary for this field of research.

In 1996 the 2^nd International Conference on Gerontechnology was organised in Helsinki and Herman Bouma presented a key note (11) in which the challenges of emerging technologies and their impact on ageing in society are described. The requirements and needs of the elderly are at a very central position in this paper. The Netherlands was after the host country Finland the country with the most participants at this conference.

In this year also a description of Gerontechnology is included in three encyclopaedias (12). Compared with earlier publications a more systematic and sophisticated description this field of study is given.

In 1996 and 1997 the Rathenau Instituut did a study on elderly in the Information Society and the possible risk of exclusion (13), and Herman contributed as one of the three members of a panel that held public hearings to collect the opinions of experts in this domain. Herman’s technical background is very valuable to find the right balance in such studies. The conclusions and recommendations are useful for research in gerontechnology, that is aiming at full social participation to a high age.

In 1995 the Ministries of Economic Affairs, of Health, Welfare and Sport and of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment started a three year plan of action entitled 'The elderly and technology'. This plan of action made mainly small and medium sized enterprises familiar with the elderly people as consumers.

Today a national strategic conference is held, initiated by the same ministries. The aim of this conference is to define the direction of developments in the area of technology and elderly people in the Netherlands and in a European co-operation. A role of the governments is to initiate suitable action programs in gerontechnology to stimulate research, development and implementation projects. This message can be found in some of Herman’s publications, starting already with the one from 1988 (14).

He made a contribution to this with a proposal for a national NWO Priority Programme on Gerontechnology (15), which he wrote in collaboration with some colleagues. This proposal reached the 2^nd best place and unfortunately only one received funding. The core of this proposal is the development of an innovative technological environment for elderly that fits their daily environment and over which they have a perfect control. For this control an electronic coach is proposed that can take initiative and that is adaptive to the characteristics of the elderly. More than ever before in gerontechnology a positive approach of ageing is described and not only the requirements and needs of the elderly people are the basis, but their ambitions and aspirations.

One continuous problem in the development of gerontechnology is that it is an area of interest not only within disciplines, but mainly between disciplines. This does not fit in the organisational structure of many institutions and in the way of thinking of many persons. The last few years this is a major concern of Herman. His goal is to link the technological research with psychological, sociological and biomedical research and he connected these fields in many of his publications and presentations.

Gerontechnology research in the Netherlands is still at the forefront, but due to a lack of interest and organised efforts, other countries are rapidly catching up. In this perspective it might be that the decision in 1994 to establish the multidisciplinary oriented Institute Gerontechnology, the first in the world, came too early to be fully adopted by university.

We can not predict the future for gerontechnology, but is likely that it will show increasing activity and intellectual and scientific sophistication. The demographic shift will give it a high priority in academic and professional settings. I hope that researchers in the Netherlands will be able to continue their contributions to this development.

Later this afternoon Herman will present his farewell lecture entitled ‘Tot ontplooing komt: Gerontechnologie’ (or ‘Flourishing: Gerontechnology’). We do not know yet the content, but I am convinced that Herman will start a new chapter in the history of Gerontechnology. I wish that he will be able to continue his contribution to fill in this emerging area and work on this new chapter in the next century.

Personally, I started working in gerontechnology 6 years ago, and I am very grateful that I worked with Herman with an increasing intensity. I learned a lot and his knowledge and attitude are inspiring and influential for me.

Herman and Elly, I would like to wish both of you happiness and health in this new period in your life.

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