Older people are not renowned as being the most innovative, and indeed various biases operate against older people in terms of their creativity and propensity for fresh ways of approaching things.  Alas, a new study from Penn State suggests this misconception could be harming local communities by depriving them of a valuable source of innovation.

Indeed, the research found that older adults often lead the way in terms of innovation, because they can combine their extensive knowledge with unheralded levels of creativity to revitalize their local communities.

“The idea behind the project is how we can reframe old age as a time when people can contribute and have capacity and are valuable and creative,” the researchers explain. “It is very different from the traditional way of looking at aging, which is to see people as they age as requiring custodial care, becoming things that we need to take care of. We think that’s wasteful and, as old age becomes a longer period of time and as more people are in that phase of life, it’s just sensible to explore how older adults can do more and be more.”

Personal passions

At the heart of their hypothesis is the notion that older adults have a variety of passions, and that these passions can feed into new ideas and innovations.  What’s more, these innovations are often with the interests of the community at heart rather than any personal or commercial gain.

“A good example was the knitting group that met in the library and made a lot of scarves,” the researchers explain. “After they were done, they would put the scarves on the statues in front of the library for people to take in the winter. If people are cold, they can pick up a scarf, which I thought was pretty interesting and creative.”

In addition to having a number of passions that help to fuel ideas, older adults are also often in leadership positions within their communities, which can significantly help the adoption and dissemination of their ideas.

Technological natives

In another counter to popular perceptions, the adults in the study were also strong users of technology, whether it’s the use of programming skills or cloud based tools to help coordinate activity on projects.  They were using this technology to help facilitate the delivery of their new ideas to market.  Indeed, so pervasive was the use of technology among the older adults that the researchers believe there is merit in the technology companies specifically targeting this group.

“We need to think about technology in a different lens and incorporate the needs of older adults and reflect on some of their creative causes to support them to generate innovative ideas,” they say. “We see aging not as something that is problematic, but we see aging as an innovative process as long as we can support older adults in generating and improving innovation based on what they’re interested in. They become more active in life and also more active in the activities that they do.”

It’s perhaps fair to say that older members of local communities are an untapped resource when it comes to fresh ideas and creativity, and the authors urge community groups to do a better job of engaging their older members.

This could include providing support in learning the kind of technologies that are such a fundamental part of modern life, with workshops on smartphone usage or better use of social media a common method of not only providing valuable skills but establishing a rapport with the older community.