ICE-TEA: International Consortium on Ethics in Technology and Aging: Achievements and Future Directions for AGE-WELL Catalyst Program in Healthy Aging Initiative on Ethical AgeTech

We live in a rapidly advancing technology-based society, where innovations significantly impact our daily lives, including health and healthcare. AgeTech encompasses technologies such as e-health, robotics, artificial intelligence, and mobile devices to support the health and independence of older adults. While AgeTech offers many benefits, it also presents ethical challenges. Technologies can streamline and economize services but may also disrupt lives. In-home health monitoring systems raise privacy concerns, while the “digital divide” can exacerbate health disparities. Importantly, these ethical considerations are often overlooked or underappreciated by technology researchers and developers.

In 2023, we received funding from AGE-WELL, Canada’s Technology and Aging Network (www.agewell-nce.ca), for a one-year catalyst project ICE-TEA: International Consortium on Ethics in Technology and Aging to explore the ethical dimensions of AgeTech and to lay the foundations for a substantive, longer-term research and knowledge mobilization initiative. The key aim was to achieve a stronger ethical focus within the AgeTech sector and ensure ethical thinking is part of the research, design and development of technology from start to finish. The initiative centers around the perspectives of older people to promote ethical design thinking by encouraging and supporting culture change within AgeTech research and industry, promoting the development of more effective, appropriate, and inclusive technologies.