I am delighted to have been asked to take part in The Age of No Retirement?– a landmark event at the OXO Tower in London that will bring together employers, policy makers, corporations, designers, artists, academics, inventors and social commentators to explore the social and economic opportunities of a Britain in which the average person now lives.
As organiser Dr Jonathan Collie of Trading Times explains : “We are used to hearing about the demographic time bomb, the baby boomers who stole our prosperity, and the unsustainable cost of the ever-growing older generation.
But people are now living longer, healthier and more productively than ever before. In other words, we are younger for longer. So we need to start thinking in terms of positives, and what this means for the UK: a fit, educated work force that possesses that most valuable of assets – experience. And we can’t let all this talent go to waste.”
The event will be using talks from experts, open stakeholder debates, and participatory workshops, plus the involvement of artists to bring the insights to life. At the end of two days, the organisers plan to pull the collectively co-authored insights together and record them in one unique collection of new ways of thinking.
I am taking part in the session entitled “Walking sticks by Prada; hearing aids by Nike. Well, why not?” and am looking forward to joining in this important debate about our working futures.