The Bassetti Foundation approaches longevity not simply as a biomedical ambition to extend human life, but as a broad social, political, ethical and technological challenge. Our central concern is what happens when increased life expectancy interacts with innovation, demographic change and unequal access to resources and influence.

This perspective shifts attention from simply “curing ageing” toward creating a “society for all ages.” In our A Society for All Ages white paper, we argued that longevity should be considered in tandem with innovation in neuroscience, robotics and artificial intelligence, asking how technologies affect different generations and how this affects choices made by governments, markets and citizens. Overall, the Foundation’s position asks that longer life be evaluated through the lens of responsible innovation: who benefits, who bears the costs, what social structures are required, and what kind of society longer lives should create.

The structures that drive these forms of innovation are predominantly driven by younger people, the voice of the older generation is often missing in participation processes. It is difficult to include as members of this generation might not feel that developments are relevant to them, they might not be so mobile, have the necessary technical vocabulary and experience, ability to express themselves and speed necessary to participate in public conversation.

This can lead to innovation in public planning and services (I am thinking here about smart city developments for example), that exasperate feelings of alienation in certain parts of society, and reinforce rather than address the problem of the digital divide between those born digital and those who still live in an analogue world.

At the Bassetti Foundation, we ask the question of how public governance at all level can incorporate the needs of all generations (after all, services for all suffer if some sections of society are seen as unproductive, a burden and also costly). This means avoiding the exclusion of older people, that makes them dependent on a younger generation, (often their children and grandchildren), who find themselves taking the reigns and actually carrying out digital practices for them (such as finding medical results through a health services app, or just ordering more bin bags).

Such considerations raise questions about the aims of choices made within civil society, political choices for institutions, economic choices for the market, and value choices for individuals and communities.

If we wear the lenses of demographics, the impact of all other transitions – those digital, environmental, and biological – is amplified.

Di: Francesco Samorè