Plenary sessions – a brief SYNOPSIS


Contents 2


Executive Synopsis An overview of the Plenary Sessions, outlining the key issues raised by the speakers


5


Executive Summary Analysis and comment of the key issues raised over the three Plenary Sessions


8 9 11 12 14


AAL and the SME An interview with Fozzy Moritz Eckehard


New partnerships Constantijn Van Oranje- Nassau and the Europem Partnership Initiative


EP support MEP Lambert Van Nistelrooij assess AAL JP


Active Ageing Peter Winlev-Jensen and the aims of the EU’s Year of Active Ageing


President’s Summary AALA’s incoming president Mike Biddle looks to the future


16 Winning Innovation AAL Forum’s first winning


project and a bright future


Session One The first Plenary Session of the AAL


Forum 2011 was opened by the AALA’s President Lena Gustafsson, who started the session by showcasing the association’s new video and extending a warm welcome to the room, packed full of delegates. She quickly turned to the main theme of the day – that now was a turning point for the AAL JP and a time to turn project results into impact. In the face of society’s great challenges, she said, it was important to be innovative as innovation would help us meet those challenges, as well as create wealth and employment. She called for the Joint Programme to pioneer the tools and services for innovative social solutions, new ways to support those services and new ways to support our ageing population. The welcome letter from Nichi


Vendola, President of the Apulia Region of Italy and the host region for the conference, called for a sustainable future for the millions of EU citizens through the link between innovation and social relations. Kroes stated the need for public policy makers to make the most of innovations like those being created through AAL and develop inclusive policies that benefit an ageing Europe. Welfare is the engine of development, she said and to forget this would be a mistake. Following this Giuseppe Pizza, the


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Under Secretary at the Ministry of Research, Education and Universities in Italy. He told the delegates that AAL JP’s success can only be measured by the programmes it helps develop that support ageing and vulnerable people in society. Every member state must address the challenges society faces and it is science and technology that will help us in meeting these challenges. But we must work together, he said, and reach coordinated solutions and avoid duplication. Italy, he said, supports the AAL JP agenda and emphasized that the challenges it addresses must become part of a collective growth in Europe. In a welcome video address, Neelie


Kroes, VP of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda,


stated that Europe was in crisis and the only way to emerge from this was through innovation. New technology will drive this innovation, she said, but echoing the message of Lena Gustafsson, she said that we must now get ideas out of the lab and into the real world. With this aim in mind, she called on the public sector to remove barriers to innovation and speed the uptake of that innovation by integrating it into the services it provides. Everyone must work together throughout the regions of Europe and above all, we must change. Speaking for Antonio Tajani, VP of


the European Commission responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Mario Ali stated that if European business was to remain competitive it must innovate and change the way things are done – and he called not just for technical innovation, but for social innovation, too. One in four businesses is a social business, he said, and it is these that will provide the services in line with the Lisbon Treaty and protect the weakest in our society. He also highlighted the work that needed to be done to break down the barriers that still exist for social innovation to flourish, while calling for tangible benefits to emerge from programmes like AAL. Francesco Pacella, speaking for


Antonio Maria Gabellone, President of the Lecce Province and host to the conference, pledged support for the Joint Programme by Lecce as it looks to implement the sort of innovation on show at the Forum to address the demographic changes so evident in cities like Lecce all over Europe. Pietro Siciliano, Chair of the Forum


Programme Committee also extended a warm welcome from the region and called on young researchers within AAL to carry on the good work as the social innovation society needs is only possible with their brilliant ideas. Anne-Sophie Parent, Secretary


General of Age Platform Europe and a speaker representing the “end user” of much of this innovation, told the audience how a walk through Lecce had helped her understand how the ageing population was impacting on all society. The demand for change is there, she


AAL Forum 2011


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