AARP was founded by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, a retired high school principal nearly 60 years ago, in order to give a voice to retired Americans. Now, this 38 million-member organization is getting its startup mojo working. Over the last few years in search for startup innovations in the 50+ market, AARP has introduced new technologies to the market.
Now, sticking a bigger toe in the water, AARP houses its own true incubator to mentor and invest in late stage startups. “It’s a physical representation of the innovation at AARP,” said Andy Miller, SVP of Innovation and Product Development. I caught up with Miller and his team for a guided tour and of the Hatchery’s wide-open workspaces and pod-like teams.
The vision for the Hatchery includes a mix of internal AARP driven startups (mums still the word) and providing a home for mentoring and accelerating growth for some choice startups whose work will affect the 50+ marketplace. The feeder for the current crop of projects is MassChallenge, a Boston based startup generator.
Here’s a peek at what’s hatching.
Seniors in VR
Miller painted a picture where someday a homebound person might don their VR glasses and have their avatar take a stroll through the woods. Today, the Hatchery is home to Rendever, a company exploring the elderly’s experience of VR. Now being used in assisted care facilities, the founders say that VR helps relieve the loneliness and depression residents can face. Me, I wandered through Machu Picchu and Yosemite. I visited the house I was born in and I spent some magical moments inside of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. Other than the claustrophobic weight on my face, it was a pretty fantastical experience.
Stimulating Brains
Neuroelectrics, another startup, is using a very promising new technology called tDCS (transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) to stimulate certain areas of the brain, in an attempt to form new neural connections. The thought is that by exciting the neurons you create new pathways. While the device doesn’t have FDA approval yet, it’s looking hopeful in treatment of everything from epilepsy to depression, migraine to pain. But, as this picture attests it might just double as a rugby cap.
Physical Therapy Gamified
At my VRPhysio experience I went through a neck-related physical therapy session. A VR headset put me inside a game where I had to shoot ships by tracking them with my eyes. As the angle of the ship changed my neck had to move to the locations that the physical therapist deemed part of my therapy. Not into gamification, but I could simply have a VR session with my physical therapist.
Medical Billing Errors
The final demonstration came from San Francisco, Remedy Labs. They have created a simple way to minimize medical billing errors by eliminating typos and bad coding. Essentially you scan your medical bills and the coding is automated. Perhaps the least developed of the four concepts, this company is pivoting from being a consumer based product to a business to business product.
Here’s to hoping that AARP’s active involvement in the product development scene will spur others to tackle this enormous and lucrative demographic.
Robin Raskin is founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations that intersect lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces conferences and expos at CES and throughout the year focusing on how technology enhances every aspect of our lives through the eyes of today’s digital consumer.