The Matav Association, Israel's leading non-profit nursing care organization, and Tech for Good, which supports investments making a social impact (investments that provide both a financial return and social value), have announced their cooperation in setting up an incubator for startups developing products and services for senior citizens.
In the framework of the incubator, the entrepreneurs will receive consultancy from Matav's social workers about the real needs and barriers to be expected in marketing products for senior citizens, and will be able to carry out pilots with Matav's assistance. The entrepreneurs will also receive business consultancy services from a Tech for Good team, and a work space will be allocated to them in the buildings of Yoel Hassin, founder of an impact fund.
The joint venture is being launched now, and the partners expect to receive 60-70 separate offers of services and products. Founded in 1958, Matav employs thousands of volunteers in nursing, meeting and easing loneliness, operating day clubs, etc.
Matav CEO Lior Strassberg said, "The question of correct aging will attract the attention of the entire economy in the coming decades. This is a difficult and complicated economic, logistic, health, and emotional issue for the economy and for life. We have already been active for decades in treatment of senior citizens. All the figures show that it is worthwhile for senior citizens to grow old at home and in their community. When elderly people grow old at home, they preserve the capabilities that wither in institutions, and they are surrounded by a heterogeneous human environment that has a positive effect on their functioning. Furthermore, only a small proportion of the population can afford protected housing at a good level."
The incubator will therefore focus on solutions that will make it possible to extend the time that a senior citizens spends at home.
Tech for Good CEO Nir Shimony adds, "Treatment of senior citizens is obviously not technological vertical. We are looking for ideas in various areas, such as virtual reality, remote medicine, and smartphone devices that overcome the communications gaps between senior citizens and the younger generation, and we do not know what else may come. We are especially interested in subjects like relieving loneliness, treating dementia, and helping family members providing care."
Shimony added, "Impact investment is growing rapidly worldwide, but not even one shekel from the major funds in this area has reached Israel. We want to foster startups in this sphere and connect them to this problem."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on September 3, 2017
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