European Success for COLLAGE

29 Jul 2013

Ireland will play a central role in Europe’s effort to add two healthy years of life to every European by 2020.  COLLAGE (Collaboration on Ageing), the Irish bid to become a Reference Site for the groundbreaking European Programme on Active and Healthy Ageing was awarded the top status of a 3 Star rating in Brussels on July 1st 2013.   COLLAGE was led by University College Cork and Louth Age Friendly County.

Through the European Innovation Partnership, the European Commission aims to enhance European competitiveness and tackle societal challenges through research and innovation. The European Commission has identified active and healthy ageing as a major societal challenge common to all European countries, and an area which presents considerable potential for Europe to lead the world in providing innovative responses to this challenge.

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing will pursue a triple win for Europe by:

1. enabling EU citizens to lead healthy, active and independent lives while ageing;
2. improving the sustainability and efficiency of social and health care systems;
3. boosting and improving the competitiveness of the markets for innovative products and services, responding to the ageing challenge at both EU and global level, thus creating new opportunities for businesses.

“The target of this pilot partnership will be to increase the average healthy lifespan of Europeans by two years by 2020.  This unique collaboration will achieve this by providing key stakeholders with the means to cooperate, united around a common vision that values older people and their contribution to society”. Professor George Shorten, Dean, School of Medicine at UCC.

The shared vision of enhancing the experience of ageing and realising the potential of an ageing population has brought together initiatives and institutions to form COLLAGE.  The strength of this collective commitment to work together demonstrates the breadth and depth of shared knowledge, experience and good practice which in turn offers the potential to improve lives, enhance society and create employment.