RRF Foundation for Aging is interested in supporting efforts that leverage technology as a practical tool for enhancing the quality of life of older adults.
- Within our grantmaking framework, technology is regarded as a “cross-cutting theme” that has relevance across all priority areas and program pathways.
- Our focus is on the application of technology and the dissemination/adoption of technology-based solutions that have already been created.
Technology-enabled solutions offer compelling opportunities to improve quality of life for older adults. To be most beneficial, these advances must be further enhanced by efforts to provide appropriate training and support to enable older people to understand the full value and utility of these tools. They also must be designed with extensive input from the end users — including aging service providers and older adults themselves. RRF is interested in partnering with organizations that work to ensure that all older adults, including those in underserved communities, have access to technology and the internet and have the knowledge to utilize technology-based solutions.
Please note, RRF does not fund basic research and development for new technology or equipment.
Sample Projects (Click to learn more)
MATTER is launching an accelerator for Innovations in Aging and Technology, focused on how innovation can be leveraged to enable human connections among older adults to help reduce social isolation and loneliness. The accelerator will help entrepreneurs build their startups, enabling community building with like-minded entrepreneurs while also providing hands-on guidance and support, and is designed to drive these innovators to develop solutions that meaningfully improve social and intergenerational connectedness.
Read our spotlight piece on RRF’s engagement with innovation leaders and thought partners to spur action around AgeTech here.
The current gold standard for home modifications requires a systematic home assessment by trained professionals, often Occupational Therapists, as a prerequisite. However, lack of knowledge of best practices and a limited supply of trained professionals hinders this approach. Conditions in rural areas are even more concerning. Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison, are working to leverage technology to address this problem; they are working to develop a standardized digital home assessment tool that uses 3D modeling technology to enable home assessments to be performed effectively and efficiently off site.
Researchers at Wake Forest University have been studying the use of dance movement to improve social connectedness, physical activity, and quality of life in older adults, including caregivers, persons with neurological diseases, and homebound older adults. Unfortunately, many older adults who would most benefit from dance are the least likely to have access to it, including those who are social or geographically isolated. Thus, the overall aim of their project is to use qualitative research methods and a human-centered approach to develop a smartphone application optimized by population, form, and function to deliver an interactive in-home dance intervention centered on social connectivity.
