AARP's Future-Focused Mission: New Ideas

AARP Innovation Labs’ mission is to bring together the best, most creative entrepreneurs to share ideas for keeping people 50 and older top of mind as they design new products and services. With the Hatchery at the center of AARP Innovation Labs, Andy Miller, senior vice president of innovation and product development at AARP, says it’s his mission is to build a “culture of innovation.”

Miller’s team at AARP works with a bevy of businesses to explore new concepts and help some of them grow their ideas into viable products with appeal to 50-plus consumers. The team uses design challenges, pitch competitions, and AARP’s relationships with universities and other start-up accelerators to co-create products and services.

For example, AARP worked with MassChallenge HealthTech and formed collaborations with two start-up companies using virtual reality. MassChallenge is a large accelerator, and its program gives start-ups access to mentors, professionals in their field and business “champions” such as AARP.

In past challenges, for example, AARP discovered VRHealth, which uses virtual reality to allow patients who have had strokes or other disabling events to do physical therapy at home, and Rendever, which entertains and engages residents of long-term care facilities with virtual reality experiences. Residents can put on a headset, alone or along with others, to have adventures that are beyond their physical limitations — a journey back to childhood haunts, for example, or to a new distant land.

AARP has collaborated with start-ups focused on advancing health care and improving patient well-being including Folia Health, Orbita and Pillo. Folia Health develops web and mobile tools to enable caregivers to capture and share daily observations that can be shared with a patient’s doctor; Orbita uses artificial intelligence and voice technology to improve patient monitoring; and Pillo, a robot and voice-first countertop device, leverages voice and health data to guide users on medication and care plan adherence.

 “[They] are focusing on some of the biggest health issues of our day, including diabetes management, remote patient monitoring and social isolation,” Miller says. “With 10,000 people turning 65 each day, these technology solutions align well with AARP’s social mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age.”