Stephen Johnston's blog
Sometimes the point of brainstorming should be to focus on surfacing interesting questions, not on finding answers. This piece in HBR lays out the thinking and it makes a lot of sense. First some context. I spend a lot of time brainstorming and 99% of the time I enjoy it. I still have cold flushes […]
I gave a presentation to the Care Quality Commission on Monday about some ‘disruptive’ ideas on the future of ageing. Obviously lots going on, so the hard thing is to come up with 3 topics rather than 33. Anyway, in the end I outlined three big shifts relating to individuals (becoming active stakeholders), technology (emerging […]
While nobody doubts the need for doing things differently in preparing for our ageing societies, there’s less agreement on what needs to be done and how to do it. That daunting challenge is the one taken on by the new UK’s £98m Healthy Ageing Grand Challenge and the coming months will be the opportunity to show […]
As expected, last week’s Aging2.0 London event saw a full house, bold ideas and gastronomic marvels (ok, two out of three, but the crisps were tasty). What was on the menu however, was what I am calling “embedded innovation”. This is innovation with less roadbumps and took three forms: an integration with existing devices and form […]
I’ve just moved back to London after ten years in the US so this is perhaps a rather self-serving post (and one that also marks a shift to UK vs US spelling). I am excited to be back, not just for the obvious reasons (freezing sleet, warm beer, and erratic plumbing (obviously you should have separate hot […]
Summary: Keeping people independent will need a systemic approach One of the reasons why we’ve not mastered the ‘problem’ of ageing in place – or keeping people in their homes for as long as possible, is that nobody is in charge and financially incentivized to do this. Delivering on this goal, one of the key […]
Could we elevate the ubiquitous swipe to improve our cities? Every day millions of people, young and old, collectively make 1.6bn swipes on profiles they’re presented with on Tinder, one of the most popular dating apps. These swipes either send that profile to the virtual dustbin (left) or open up the potential for witty banter, […]
As cities take on disruptive challenges, in particular harnessing technological disruptions and managing aging populations (see earlier post about updating ‘age-friendly’ here), this note suggests a five-stage framework to guide cities along their innovation journey. It’s designed to be more descriptive than prescriptive – each city will implement in its own way and in line with […]