This challenge aimed to support companies to overcome the barriers to innovation in addressing the growing market opportunities arising from an ageing population.
Our vision
The challenge vision was to allow people to remain active, productive, independent and socially connected across generations for as long as possible.
It would achieve this by enabling businesses, including social enterprises, to develop and deliver products and services which support people as they age, and the innovative business models that enable them to be adopted at scale.
Our funding
Taking an ecosystem approach to innovation and research, the Healthy Ageing Challenge was a transformative initiative, with both social and economic impacts already felt across the UK by the time it completed.
Research and innovations addressed key societal challenges aligned to seven themes:
- creating healthy active places
- design for age-friendly homes
- living well with cognitive impairment
- managing common complaints of ageing
- maintaining health at work
- supporting social connections
- sustaining physical activity
Key highlights of the Healthy Ageing Challenge
Investment and funding
Activities included:
- total investment: £161 million
- challenge investment: £98 million
- industry co-investment: £63 million (exceeding the business case objective of £23 million)
- follow-on private investment: £19.8 million secured by February 2024
Research and innovation
Activities included:
- projects funded: 242 projects in total, with 126 SMEs funded and 43 social ventures
- projects led by large corporates: 10 major projects led by large corporations
- publications: 133 publications reported from research projects by the end of the challenge
- innovations: over 52 innovations emerged from research institutions
Skills and inclusivity
Activities included:
- inclusivity: 80% of projects were inclusive of lower-income groups, ensuring broad-based benefits and accessibility
- workforce development: 80% of projects reported the development or improvement of workforce technical skills and knowledge
Community and engagement
Activities included:
- community of practice members: 2,200 members engaged in a collaborative learning community
- events: 234 events organised, including 57 international events, facilitating global knowledge exchange and collaboration
- social media: over 4,000 followers, reflecting strong engagement and interest in the initiative
Academic and institutional collaboration
51 universities actively participated, contributing to the breadth and depth of research and innovation efforts
The Healthy Ageing Challenge has successfully leveraged significant funding, fostered extensive collaboration, driven impactful innovation and harnessed research from the arts, humanities and social sciences.
These efforts have not only helped galvanise the healthy ageing domain, spanning multiple sectors, industries and disciplines to support society, but also stimulated the economy.
With strong engagement from across the community, industry, and academic institutions supporting the comprehensive and far-reaching impact of this initiative, it’s encouraging to see that adding life to years will continue to remain a priority in the UK and globally.
Strands of work
Trailblazers
£24 million was invested in flagship collaborative projects with businesses across the UK, to create new services and products that deliver sustainable impact at scale.
Investor partnerships
The investor partnership programme provided £10 million of challenge fund investment alongside private investment to fund small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) bringing inspiring products and services to market.
Social ventures (delivered in partnership with UnLtd)
This strand committed £7.1 million to support social ventures’ ambitions to expand their mission to help people age well.
Research
We invested £12.3 million in research projects examining the social, behavioural, and design aspects of healthy ageing, providing critical insights for business and social venture innovators.
Catalysts (delivered in partnership with Zinc.vc)
£8.3 million was invested in 72 catalyst projects to accelerate the translation of their research, going on to build businesses and social ventures, licence their innovations or stimulate social movements that deliver impact.
Designed for Ageing
£20 million invested in near-to-market innovations with the potential to scale, harnessing the best of UK design talent and inclusive user engagement.
Longitude Prize on Dementia
A collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Society to fund breakthrough innovations for the care of people living with dementia using artificial intelligence, delivered in partnership with Nesta Challenge Works.
Design Pathfinders
This scheme supported SMEs through collaboration with the Design Age Institute.
International
Opening up international markets in collaboration with the Northern Health Sciences Alliance.
Covid Fast Response
Agile, community-led responses to address Covid-19 related issues and fuel post-pandemic recovery.
Community of Practice
Open to the entire healthy ageing ecosystem, £2 million was invested in a shared learning community for funded projects to connect, collaborate, and overcome common challenges.