“MORE YEARS, BETTER LIVES”
A DRAFT STRATEGIC RESEARCH AGENDA ON
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE
This is a draft European strategic research agenda on Demographic Change. It has been prepared for
consultation with Member States and other interested parties, by representatives of the 14 European
Member States and Canada, who are participating in the Joint programming Initiative "More Years: Better
Lives". The aim is that the agenda will then influence the design of research programmes on relevant issues
across Europe.
The draft agenda is being circulated for comment. Responses should be sent to **** by **** November
2013. It will then be amended, and a final version will be published early in 2014.
Respondents are invited to comment:
1. Is the argument coherent and convincing?
2. Is the description of Europe's demographic situation and future comprehensive. Are important
issues missing?
3. Will the agenda be useful in shaping innovative and interdisciplinary research on demographic
change across Europe?
4. Will the work described in the "Research Priorities" section address the main demographic
challenges and opportunities facing Europe?
5. Will the work described in the "Research Priorities" section foster evidence based policies?
6. Please indicate, for each of the seven research priorities:
a. How important is research on this topic for Europe as a whole?
b. How urgent is research on this topic?
c. How important is it in terms of the research priorities of your country/organisation?
d. In principle, would your country/organisation wish to take part in collaborative work, or
commit funding or other resources to research on it? (this does not, of course, represent a
firm commitment at this stage)
e. What kind of research is necessary (new research or developing/implementing existing
research)?
f. Is there significant research already in progress, at European or national level, which we
should be aware of?
7. Are there important relevant issues not listed in the seven priorities, and not being addressed by
existing research initiatives?
More details of the Joint Programming Initiative “More Years: Better Lives” can be found on the JPI website
at http://www.jp-demographic.eu/
2
1. Preface
Demographic change is one of the "Grand Challenges" facing Europe1. Fertility rates are below
replacement level, and internal and external migration are changing societies but, most fundamentally, the
continuing extension of lifespan means that Europe is an ageing continent. For over a century, average life
expectancy has risen by over two years every decade, and in the next 50 years the proportion of people
over 60, is expected to rise from one in six to one in three2.
Longer life should be good news: more years could mean more opportunities for people to live rewarding
lives, and to contribute (in many ways) to a healthy and creative society. However, there are real
challenges. As they age, individuals' quality of life is often limited by poor health, by poverty and age
discrimination, while the economy, and social cohesion are challenged by a changing dependency ratio. We
have yet to find good ways of distributing employment across the extended lifecourse, and many countries
are trying to sustain a four (or even five) generation population with welfare models designed for three.
Demographic change affects the shape of the lifecourse for young and old, although the most dramatic
change is the growth in numbers of older people. However, older people are not a uniform group: they
vary widely in ambitions, expectations, resources and capabilities, and most no longer conform to
traditional stereotypes of "old people".
Although countries and regions within Europe differ greatly, we face many common challenges and
opportunities, and many issues where more or better research could improve policy and practice, and
hence the lives of individuals, and the operation of the economy and society. Accordingly in 2010 nine
Member States agreed to use the EU's Joint Programming Initiatives framework, to explore how they might
coordinate their research into the implications of demographic change. The aim was to share knowledge; to
reduce duplication of effort; to ensure that the best possible use is made of funds and expertise; and to
capitalise on the opportunities for comparative studies. As the work proceeded, other states joined the JPI,
with a total to date of 14.
This document is the first outcome of this work. It is a shared Strategic Research Agenda, which aims to
guide all the countries, and other research funders like the European Commission, in prioritising and
designing research activity related to demographic change: an issue which cuts across many fields of
academic study and public policy. It was produced in discussion between the representatives of the
participating states, the national research bodies, five transnational working groups of scientific experts,
and representatives of European stakeholder groups.
There are no simple "European" solutions to the challenges of demographic change, since Member States
and their Regions vary greatly in history, culture, economic circumstances and welfare models. The aim of
our strategy is to ensure that policymakers and practitioners, at all levels, have the evidence needed to
ensure that, all the citizens of Europe have the most satisfying and productive lives possible. The JPI's
General Assembly believes that the research proposed in this paper will help to ensure that demographic
change becomes an opportunity for Europe and its citizens, and that the potential social and economic risks
are minimised.
1
The six "Grand Challenges" identified by the European Commission are: Demographic Change, Food Security, Sustainable
Agriculture, Marine and Maritime Research, and the Bio-economy; Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy; Smart, Green and Integrated
Transport; Inclusive, innovative and Secure Societies; Climate action, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials
2
Eurostat (2012) Active ageing and solidarity between the generations, Brussels
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Contents
1.
Preface ................................................................................................................................ 2
2.
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................... 5
3.
The "grand challenge" ....................................................................................................... 9
A unique challenge ....................................................................................................... 9
Opportunities and risks ................................................................................................. 9
"A new lifecourse"? ....................................................................................................... 9
Learning from, and with, each other: a comparative perspective ................................ 10
What works: finding politically acceptable solutions .................................................... 10
Costs and benefits ...................................................................................................... 11
Recognising diversity: building a fair society ............................................................... 11
Securing wellbeing and healthy ageing ....................................................................... 12
Developing appropriate technologies .......................................................................... 12
Improving living conditions .......................................................................................... 13
The role of learning ..................................................................................................... 13
Migration ..................................................................................................................... 14
The goal of this Joint Programming Initiative ............................................................... 14
4.
What research in already going on? ............................................................................... 15
Mapping ...................................................................................................................... 15
Foresight..................................................................................................................... 17
5.
Four research domains ................................................................................................... 19
Quality of Life, Health and Wellbeing .......................................................................... 22
Economic and Social Production ................................................................................ 25
Sustainable Welfare .................................................................................................... 30
Governance and Institutions ....................................................................................... 35
6.
Seven Priority Research Topics...................................................................................... 39
7.
Research Infrastructure, Capacity, and Data ................................................................. 42
8.
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 46
9.
Annexes ............................................................................................................................ 47
Annex 1 - The JPI process .......................................................................................... 47
Annex 2 – the Foresight priorities and this Agenda ..................................................... 48
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Annex 3 – The JPI Data Project ................................................................................. 49
Annex 4 – JPI Participating countries.......................................................................... 50
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2. Executive Summary
Demographic change
Demographic change presents both opportunities and challenges to Europe and its citizens, as societies
age, and patterns of migration and fertility change. These will affect all citizens, and have major, long term,
implications for Europe, its Member States and Regions.
Systems and institutions designed to ensure the health and welfare of citizens are already changing and will
change further in the future. Yet many of the implications are not well understood. Furthermore, the
evidence base required to make good policy is uneven, within countries and regions and across Europe.
A Joint Programming Initiative
Recognising the scale and importance of the issues, many European countries are seeking better evidence
to inform policymaking, and in 2010 nine of them (later 14, including Canada) came together to explore the
potential for collaborative and comparative research, using the EU model of Joint Programming Initiatives
(JPI). A General Assembly of national representatives created a Scientific Advisory Board, and five
transnational expert working groups3 to explore the issues, and the current state of knowledge. Their
reports, which identified more than 150 distinct research ideas, were discussed by the General Assembly,
and with a Societal Advisory Board, drawn from relevant European stakeholder organisations.
Reflecting on these reports, the Assembly agreed that, since many of the most important issues cut across
traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines and policy areas, a Strategic Research Agenda needs to be
holistic, both interdisciplinary and comparative. It needs to explore what it means to born into, grow up in,
and grow older in a world where both the five generation family and single person households are
becoming more common, and where extending lifespan is challenging traditional notions of social and
economic sustainability. Importantly it needs to recognise that, while health is an important dimension of
an ageing society, active and healthy ageing is as much a social issue as a biomedical one.
Four research domains
To make the agenda manageable, the ideas from the five working groups were then distilled into a
framework of four overlapping research domains (Figure 1) each addressing a single broad question. The
four domains are:
Quality of life, health and wellbeing: how can we better understand the meaning of
wellbeing across the new lifecourse, and ensure the best possible quality of life for all
people, throughout their lives (including the final stages), recognising the diversity of
circumstances and individual aspirations.
Economic and social production: how can the extension of average lifespan promote
economic and social production in ways that are sustainable, equitable, and efficient in the
use of human, financial, and technical resources?
Sustainable welfare: how is it possible to secure adequate levels of social welfare for all
people, i.e., for all generations, nations, social or ethnic subgroups, in the context of the
changing age balance of the population?
Governance and institutions: how are the institutions and processes of decision making
changing, and how they might need to change, at all levels from local to European, to ensure
that services respond to changing needs and that all citizens and stakeholders can be
3
The five groups were: Health and Performance; Welfare and Social Systems; Work and Productivity; Education and Learning;
Housing, Environment and Mobility. Each comprised national scientific experts nominated by the participating states.
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Figure 1
involved in decisions affecting their lives?
Prioritising research
These four provide a coherent and comprehensive framework, including 26 distinct research topics. All
these are important and all are worthy of attention, but for practical purposes it is necessary to prioritise
research issues which are either particularly important or urgent. The criteria used was to choose topics:
- Which are directly related to demographic change, rather than broader social or economic issues;
- Which address all, or most of, the four domains;
- Where international and comparative approaches are yield benefits above and beyond those of
individual member states;
- Which are not being addressed by other major programmes4;
- Which call for innovative research, crossing the traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines and
public policy fields;
- Where there is likely to be significant impact on public policy.
Seven key research issues
The result is a Strategic Research Agenda of seven broad topics as follows:
1. How do we understand and measure quality of life, health and wellbeing, and the role of
health in promoting these, across the lifecourse?
We need better, agreed measures of quality of life, health and wellbeing across the extending
4
For example, our focus on the social implications of demographic change is intended to complement the strong concentration of
the EU Horizon 2020 programme on biomedical issues.
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lifecourse. These need to recognise how these change over time and with age, and how they are
affected by changing health, and factors like location, employment history, migrant status etc.
2. How do we understand the comparative performance of different welfare models and
trajectories?
In the light of changing population structures, we should capitalise on the diverse experiences and
structures of Member States to explore what works, in what circumstances, and for whom, in terms
of welfare benefits, care systems and funding, health structures, housing and mobility.
3. How can we develop effective models for linking policy areas?
Institutional and policy boundaries often mitigate against the most rational use of resources,
especially in the care of older people. How can we best link health, work, social care, housing,
transport, and education policy to deliver the most efficient solutions?
4. How can we ensure that demographic change does not lead to social polarisation, exclusion,
and inequity between generations?
Who will benefit and who will lose from demographic change? What is driving polarisation? What
would equitable solutions look like, and how might they be achieved? A core issue is ensuring
intergenerational equity as the proportion of older people rises.
5. How can we ensure that all citizens, of all ages, are able to participate fully in society and
economy?
How can social, political, civic, cultural and economic engagement be encouraged among the
groups who are growing in numbers, and who may be at risk of disengagement (including the old
and very old, and migrant groups, and those with limited physiological functions)?
6. How can we better understand changing models of social and economic production?
As a growing proportion of people are outside the formal paid economy, how can we understand
and value the changing balance between formal and informal economic activity, voluntary activity
and other forms of production outside the paid economy, for old and young people?
7. How can we ensure that existing and emerging technologies meet the needs of an ageing
population?
What kinds of technological change will be most helpful in enabling people to remain active
participants in society and the economy across the new lifespan, and how will people be enabled to
maintain the skills and knowledge to use them?
Approaches to research
In designing research studies, it will be important to retain a focus on:

What works in practical policy terms, which calls for a closer linkage between policymakers,
researchers, and practitioners;

The importance of innovation – social and technical, in thinking, systems, and models;

The development of research infrastructure and capacity, especially for interdisciplinary work;

The development and improvement of quantitative and qualitative data sources to inform policy
and interdisciplinary and comparative studies.
In the course of preparing the Agenda, it became clear that, while quantitative data sources are critical to
research on demographic issues, no one had an overview of how adequate existing sources, which come
from many sources and relate to very different scientific disciplines, are. Accordingly, twelve of the JPI
members agreed to mount a "fast track" project, to map data sources relevant to demographic change. The
resulting critical analysis of 337 national and European quantitative databases is now publicly available
online5. It provides an invaluable new resource to researchers and policymakers and particularly for those
5
http://www.jpi-dataproject.eu/
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addressing the research agenda which is proposed in this Agenda. The project report also identifies ways in
which the evidence base could be strengthened.
Next steps
This draft Strategic Research Agenda outlines what the JPI General Assembly believes to be the major
challenges, and the broad research issues in need of attention as Europe faces demographic change. The
intention is that, after consultation with the participating countries, a final agenda will be agreed. This will,
in turn form a basis for prioritising and commissioning research, capacity building, developing and
consolidating data resources, and organising knowledge exchange activities by national research agencies,
individually or in collaboration, and will influence the research agendas of agencies of the European Union.
Gathering the evidence
The "Europe 2020 Strategic Agenda"6 commits all Member States to the pursuit of "smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth" across Europe. Demographic change presents Europe with a complex range of issues,
challenges and opportunities. If policymaking is successful, the result could be both a sustainable economy
and improved quality of life for all people of all ages. It would enable older people to remain active and
contributing members of wider society; and ensure that those at greatest risk from poor health and social
exclusion, are protected. This will not happen by chance: in the past the reverse has often been the case.
Achieving the goal calls for long term strategic thinking and policymaking, based on good evidence.
Gathering this evidence, and relating it to the policy challenges is the aim of the present strategy.
6
Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Brussels, EC 2010
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3. The "grand challenge"
A unique challenge
The demographic challenge facing Europe in the next decades is unique in human history. A large
proportion of those born today are expected to live beyond 100. The historic ideal of "retirement" as a few
years of "holiday" at the end of working life, is no longer sustainable - socially, psychologically and
economically - when most people live for two, three or even four decades after leaving paid work. Longer
lives might mean more and better opportunities for all, but welfare and economic models developed for a
lifespan of 70 years of less are placed under great strain by one of 100 years. When we move from a world
of three generation families to one of five, what happens to family relationships and relationships (social,
financial, emotional) between generations. What will it mean to age, in a world where many people will
live for several decades after leaving paid work?
Demographic change is not the only factor at work: many other things are changing the nature of lives in
Europe in the 21st century. However, the purpose of this research agenda is to help us better understand
the nature of demographic changes and its implications, in order to inform policies and practices which will
secure the best possible quality of life for all the people of Europe.
Opportunities and risks
Demographic change can be positive: more years should be an opportunity for people to lead more
rewarding lives for longer. It opens the possibility of multiple careers; of a better distribution of work across
the lifecourse. Average real retirement ages are rising, and there is evidence that many old people
welcome the chance to stay longer in paid work, not only for financial reasons but for the intrinsic interest
of the work, for social engagement and the sense of being contributing members of society, which work
provides. Longer "retirement" provides opportunities for people to contribute through unpaid activity, not
only through caring for elders and grandchildren (without which social care provision would collapse in
many countries), but also in civic, educational and political roles. Extended retirement provides
opportunities for people to explore new activities and satisfy aspirations which the pressures of mid life
made impractical.
However, demographic change may also bring problems. It can produce intergenerational tensions, as a
shrinking proportion of younger adults is called on to pay for the welfare of the swelling retired population.
Although, for most people, much of the extended lifespan will be spent in relatively active good health,
healthcare costs will rise as more people experience complex, severe and expensive health limitations, and
experience them for much longer periods. Extended lifespan means longer paid working lives, but health
and disability will limit the possibilities for many. Meanwhile, in most countries, declining fertility means
fewer young people entering the labour market, with implications for the "economic dependency ratio"7.
Increasingly complex patterns of migration are developing, as people retire from Northern countries to
warmer Southern ones, and skilled workers migrate from Central and Southern Europe to the North and
West to fill growing gaps in the labour market (including the growing social care workforce).
The research agenda should help us understand how to maximise the benefits and minimise the
disadvantages of demographic change.
"A new lifecourse"?
One consequence of extending lifespan is a reshaping of the lifecourse. Young people's entry into adult life
is happening later, while "retirement" in many countries is becoming a more gradual process, and also
happening later. We may be seeing the replacement of a three phase model of the lifecourse
(youth/worker/retired) with a four phase one, with adult life beginning later, in the mid 20s, and a new
"third age" of active later adult life extending from the early 50s into the mid 70s and beyond. In this
7
Although, paradoxically, at present we see rising unemployment among young adults, including the highly educated.
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context some redistribution of employment across the lifecourse may be desirable – improving
employment opportunities for young adults, reducing the pressures on people in their 30s and 40s, and
allowing people in their 60s and beyond to remain active contributors.
Learning from, and with, each other: a comparative perspective
A Joint Programming Initiative is, by definition, a European enterprise, and one central objective of the
Agenda is to use the diversity of Europe to explore the relative performance of different approaches to
common issues. While it is rarely wise to simply transplant models from one context to another, there are
lessons to learn about whether, and in what circumstances, some systems and approaches are more or less
efficient, effective or acceptable. Furthermore, systems and structures are changing, as countries respond
to changing economic circumstances and social expectations.
Countries and regions vary for a range of historical, cultural and economic reasons. Across Europe, there
are wide differences, for example, in life expectancy, retirement behaviour, health and social care systems.
Expectations of the role of the state, family, the private and third sectors vary greatly, and responsibility for
many aspects of welfare provision is moving in many countries, between central, regional and local
government, and between public, private and third sector agencies, especially in the wake of the economic
crisis of the late 2000s, with implications which are not always well understood.
Despite an underlying drive to social and economic convergence within the Union, European nations vary
greatly in how they understand and manage these issues. Historically, the relationship between the state
and the individual has been seen very differently, and while some countries have very centralised
institutional and cultural structures, in others much power is devolved to regions, cities or localities. The
commonly used classification of four kinds of "welfare state" (liberal, corporatist-statist, social democratic,
and Mediterranean)8 helps to describe and explain some of the distinctions of North/South, and East/West
which remain powerful within Europe, but is increasingly outdated, especially in the context of the
expansion of the European Community to the East. Within these broad categories there remain many
significant differences, and patterns are changing, sometimes in contradictory directions. These create
valuable opportunities for comparative studies of how institutional and democratic structures operate and
can be improved.
Not only do nations differ from each other at any given time: they also change over time. Recent decades
have seen the rise of a neo-liberal state in countries where post-war welfare state models were seen to
have exhausted themselves, while the end of the Cold War has brought fundamental challenges to
governance at all levels in Central Europe. Most recently, the economic crisis of the late 2000s has raised
questions about the relationships between Member States and their citizens, as well as issues about the
governance and regulation of global enterprises and financial markets, and we have seen the rise of
political parties hostile to migration and ethnic and cultural minorities. The patterns are far from uniform,
with the (sometimes conflicting) pressures to seek democratic legitimacy, and to increase efficiency,
leading in some countries to greater devolution and in others to greater centralisation. The same is true for
the role of the state itself: in some countries powers, responsibility and accountability which formerly
rested with national governments have transferred, in varying ways, to the private or third sectors, in
others the state has reclaimed powers and functions from the private sector. Some powers have moved to
global institutions or corporations, while the relationship between Member States, their citizens and the
European Union in its various forms is also changing.
Research needs to make better use of this huge and rapidly changing diversity within Europe, for
comparative studies of what works, well, and in what circumstances.
What works: finding politically acceptable solutions
These changes raise questions both of efficiency and of political acceptability: "technocratic" solutions
which may be eminently rational and efficient, may fail to command public consent and legitimacy, while
8
Esping-Andersen (1990)
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traditional forms of accountability may become a barrier to unavoidable change. In a democracy, rational
and efficient long term solutions to policy challenges may be difficult to implement where they are
perceived to threaten the interests of particular groups: old versus young; the employed versus the
unemployed; established populations versus migrant groups; women versus men, etc. A particular
example is policy on retirement, where the long term pressure to raise real retirement ages is resisted by
older people seeking to preserve the status quo; and the problem is particularly difficult where different
groups have different propensities to vote and be politically active.
The problems are aggravated by the pace and uncertainty of change, which can cause anxiety and
confusion among citizens, who may react in very hostile ways when they feel their interests threatened by
unaccountable agencies – be they governmental, commercial or supra-national. In many countries there is
public concern at lack of accountability of firms and financial institutions, and in many countries
participation in democratic processes is declining. This reflects a widespread view among the public at large
in some countries that traditional models of formal democracy, with votes for Governments every four or
five years, and shareholder ownership of firms, are not sufficiently representative, or effective in holding
government and managers to account to wider societal interests. There is also a fear that some systems
and institutions are outside any form of public accountability.
Research is needed to inform the development of systems where all citizens (including the old and the
young) are able to participate fully in society, and that their voices are heard in matters which affect them.
Costs and benefits
Policymakers will always be concerned with the costs and benefits of change, and of intervention. In
relation to extending lifespan there has been much anxiety about the alleged "demographic deficit"
produced where a growing population of older, retired people is being supported by a shrinking population
of "working age". However, such concerns often fail to recognise and understand changing patterns of
retirement, and the changing role of unpaid and informal activity, especially in care for older people.
Another concern in public debate is whether encouraging older people to stay longer in paid employment
(to reduce the costs of pensions) has the effect of excluding young people from the labour market,
although economists generally dismiss this9.
In many areas we need to understand better the costs and benefits (and unintended consequences) of
particular interventions, especially where these cross the boundaries or Government Departments or policy
fields. For example, if improved public transport enables people to stay longer in their own homes, the
savings in health and social care budgets may outweigh the cost of subsidising public transport. We also
need to understand better the ways in which unpaid "work" of older people (especially, but not only, as
carers for older relatives and grandchildren) benefit society. More controversially, better measurement of
wellbeing might enable us to better evaluate competing public policies.
The research need here is to improve our understanding of these issues, to better inform public policy, as
well as to develop innovative methodologies in the social sciences.
Recognising diversity: building a fair society
Demographic change does not affect everyone in the same ways, and the challenges and opportunities are
not evenly distributed. Some people experience limiting disabilities in their 50s, while others remain fully
active, physically and mentally, into their 80s and beyond. People do not become more alike as they age,
and public policy needs to be informed by an understanding of the way in which people vary in aspirations,
capabilities, resources, and circumstances. Given the different life expectancies and health trajectories of
men and women, gender will be a significant factor in change, as will social class. Other factors include the
growing impact of ageing migrant and ethnic minority communities, and the ageing of people with long
term disabilities and health conditions which would, in previous generations, have proved fatal in early life.
9
Since the number of jobs in an economy is not fixed, and areas with high employment among the old also generally have high
levels of employment among the young.
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Those with more initial education in general live longer, while those who have spent their lives in heavy
manual work die younger. Furthermore, the gap between rich and poor, and urban and rural, is expanding
in many countries, with different impacts on different age groups, and raising issues about the distribution
of both income and wealth, between groups and between generations.
Research needs to explore how demographic change is altering the relationships between groups in
society, and how equitable outcomes might be achieved.
Securing wellbeing and healthy ageing
Although demographic change affects many (perhaps most) areas of public policy, and quality of life is
about more than health, health is a central issue. Life expectancy is steadily rising, partly due to
improvements in public health, in medical and care services, and discoveries in the biomedical sciences.
However, healthy life expectancy is not keeping pace, and a growing number of people are experiencing
limiting health conditions for longer than in the past. This research strategy is not directly concerned with
the biomedical dimensions of ageing, which are being extensively studied by many others10. However, it
should be concerned with how people can be helped to remain healthy, active and productive for as long as
possible, and that the quality of life for those with limiting conditions can be maximised. Such an approach
needs to take into account the full spectrum of individual factors, social determinants of health and
progress in therapies, including new pharmaceutical and technological opportunities. It calls for attention
to prevention – developing and maintaining good health across the lifecourse, and prevention of
communicable and non-communicable diseases; as well as helping people to recover from, and mitigate
the effects of, limiting health conditions in later life. Unhealthy living and working conditions in mid-life, for
example, have long term consequences for health and activity in later life, while lack of opportunities for
social engagement among older people, perhaps resulting from housing or transport policy, can lead to
social isolation, declining mental health, and premature (and expensive) dependency. Chronic diseases are
now much more a challenge in ageing, than acute ones, and specific models which respond to this new
problem are urgently needed. We need to better understand the nature and implications of variation
between groups, generations, cohorts and cultures, and what kinds of intervention are most likely to be
productive and equitable.
Research is needed to understand better what wellbeing looks like for people at different stages of the
lifecourse, and how it can be promoted.
Developing appropriate technologies
Technological innovation offers the opportunity to mitigate some of the risks, and costs, of aging. New
medical technologies and treatments are enabling people to live longer and healthier lives, and to remain
longer in their own homes. Modifications to transport technologies, and mobility aids are increasing the
independence of older people, while communication technologies can reduce the isolation of those who
are no longer mobile. In the workplace, technological change can reduce the physical effort involved in
many jobs, making it easier for people to stay longer in work, even in some traditionally physically
demanding roles. Work is going on with unpredictable implications at the interface between
biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology, and in robotics. One key issue is what
technologies the very old and frail are willing or able to use, and how to ensure that everyone can keep up
to date with constantly evolving technologies, especially given very variable levels of take up between
countries and generations.
Many of these developments can reduce the costs of an ageing society, to the individual or the state, but
others raise the costs significantly, and the benefits will not necessarily be equally shared. However,
"technologies" are not all alike. Some are very directly relevant to older people, others benefit everyone.
Some may make life more difficult for older people and many of the social outcomes are unpredictable in
the early stage of development. In many fields, technological development takes place in the private sector,
10
See notably the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, which focuses strongly on biomedical issues.
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led by agencies outside the control (or even influence) of public policymakers. Some technological
developments raise new ethical issues about the balance between what is technically possible, and what is
appropriate to the individual's quality of life, and civil rights, and these issues need to be better
understood.
Our aim here is not to investigate technologies for their own sake, but to better understand how
technological change can benefit an ageing population, by initial design or adaptation, and how individuals
can be helped to acquire the skills to make full use of it.
Improving living conditions
Little is known about housing and living conditions in general, and especially in relation to older people,
their needs and aspirations. Housing stock and housing markets change very slowly, and traditional
patterns of housing and urban design reflect a three generational world, where few people spent very long
in retirement. For many decades, housing has generally been designed around a nuclear family living
together, and transport systems have generally assumed that people can drive. A growing proportion of
single person households, and of people who do not or cannot drive, or walk far, needs different kinds of
urban design, and design of the house itself. Some will want to stay in the family home, others will want to
move to smaller, or adapted, accommodation. Some will want to live with people of a similar age, others
will seek mixed age communities. New forms are emerging on an ad hoc basis but unless the housing
market is flexible, it is easy to move, and the housing has been built, many older people will be trapped for
many years in unsuitable accommodation, becoming isolated, lonely and depressed. Alongside this, the
housing opportunities for young families may be restricted because family housing is occupied by older
couples or single old people.
Communities also need to be designed to encourage social interaction, and make it easy for those with
limited mobility to engage socially with a wider community, in whatever way they would choose. We need
better understanding of the role and nature of neighbourhood services and structures, and of the options
for promoting mobility, which is restricted for many older, and sometimes younger, people by physical and
financial barriers, and by simple lack of public transport.
Research is needed to explore the preferences of different types of older people, and the integration of the
full range of environmental issues, including, inter alia, housing, urban design, transport, town planning,
and communication technologies.
The role of learning
Lifelong learning has the potential to make a major contribution to wellbeing, employability and health
across the new lifecourse, and the idea has had much policy support from European, International and
national policymakers for many years. Many of the "younger old" need better access to learning to
maintain employability, while, as people age further, their needs include learning to manage health
(generally and for specific conditions), to undertake civic and political roles; to take on new roles (including
growing caring responsibilities); to manage money (since many older people face very different financial
challenges after retirement). In some countries, adult education has traditionally provided an important
opportunity for people to meet and engage with others, especially as their circumstances change with
moving house and bereavement. Perhaps most critically, older people need opportunities to learn to take
on new roles and responsibilities, and to use new and changing technologies, without which their access to
many public and private services may become increasingly limited. Although the use of technology to
support learning is expanding, there is much work still to be done to make it readily accessible to most
older people.
However, despite the needs, and potential benefits to the individual and society, resources for learning of
any kind remain very heavily concentrated in the first two decades of life, and evidence on the scale and
nature of older people's learning is extremely sparse. In many countries there are few or no public
resources for learning for people after retirement, or even after 40, and in many, public policy has recently
concentrated increasingly on the "working age" population. In most countries there is no adequate
infrastructure of institutions or organisation to support older people's learning. In some countries there is
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a modest private or self help adult education sector, but most learning after middle age is self organised,
experiential and independent.
The effect of this has been a concentration of opportunities: those with most previous learning, and thus
the skills to identify learning needs and to find ways of meeting them, are much more likely to be doing
some learning than those with less education, and perhaps greater needs.
Research is needed to better understand the costs and benefits of older people's learning, and how public
policy and institutional structures can improve access and relevance.
Migration
One critical dimension of demographic change is migration, into and out of Europe, between countries and
regions within Europe, and within regions, communities and neighbourhoods. Migration can change the
total population size (up or down), it also changes the structure of the population, with implications for
social costs and benefits. An influx of young adults can boost the workforce and the paid economy, but, of
they stay, it leads later to increased costs in childcare and education. An influx of older people, who may be
families joining younger settled family members, or retirees seeking warmer climates, has implications for
health and social care systems. Many older people move at retirement, or later, to live near to children,
perhaps losing the supportive social networks of their former communities. The aspirations and needs at
retirement of longer established migrant communities from outside Europe are generally unknown. Some
will want to return to their countries of origin, but others will face retirement for which there are no
established models. A critical problem, as the JPI project on data has demonstrated, is a lack of good data
on the scale and nature of migration within Europe.
Research needs to improve knowledge of the scale and nature of migration, and on attitudes and
aspirations of those who migrate, especially as they age.
The goal of this Joint Programming Initiative
Demographic change will not lead naturally to a better life for all. Many of the consequences are poorly
understood, and economic, political and social pressures may increase social and economic polarisation,
damaging the life chances of many. If policymakers are to reduce these risks, to ensure a sustainable
economy and good quality of life for all, they need access to good research: on what is happening; what
policy options have been tried, with what effects, for whom; and on what might be done. The purpose of
this agenda is to identify what kinds of research are most likely to be helpful to policymakers and
practitioners, and most likely to advance scientific knowledge, across the many academic disciplines
involved.
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4. What research is already going on?
In preparing this Agenda, the General Assembly was keen to understand the nature and scale of current
research activity relevant to demographic change. Two studies were undertaken by the Department of
Demographic Change and Futures Studies at VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH in Berlin. The first was a
mapping of current research, and the second was to review current and recent Foresight studies, which
seek to understand new and emerging issues.
Mapping
The primary aim of the mapping exercise was to give an overview of the scale and scope of funding activity
in demographic research among JPI participating countries, to help identify gaps and opportunities in
research funding. Each member state nominated a national contact point, and these individuals collected
the information on funding activities in their respective home countries, using a common template, based
on the five JPI Working Group themes11. This was supplemented by a review of material in the ERA-AGE 2
funding database
Many of the identified funding programmes have multiple purposes, covering several of the JPI's domains
and working group fields. The level of funding activity also varies across countries. In some, demographic
change appears at the top of the political agenda and hence of funding priorities, while others have no, or
only a few, funding programmes specifically targeted at demographic change and/or older people. The
number of projects identified provides only a very approximate guide to the volume of activity or funding.
Health and Performance
In the field of “Health and performance” 53 funding programmes were identified. The following issues were
addressed:
the compression of morbidity, and improving health at older ages, including basic research
into the principal forces that drive ageing, as well as the determinants and potential levers to
influence the aging process, including behavioural, biological, clinical, cultural, historical,
social and technological aspects. Some research focused on strategies for promoting health
and preventing illness, improving diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, supporting and
stimulating bodily functions, and increasing the evidence base of healthcare.
the fundamental biology of the ageing process at the molecular, cellular, and organism level
to better understand age-related changes and impairments. Particular attention was given to
research areas like cellular senescence, the biochemistry of stress, repair and accumulation
of damage, the ageing in biological systems in neurosciences and immunology, as well as the
ageing population and evolution to understand the primary mechanisms of ageing and
underlying genetic determinants of life span and reproduction potential.
old-age care. Here funding programmes were promoting research into the interplay of family
caregivers and care institutions, assistive technologies to maintain the autonomy of seniors,
ways to improve the quality of care, and questions related to palliative and end-of-life care.
health as a public and policy issue, including evaluations of the role and effectiveness of
policy interventions, as well as other activities that aim at contributing to the development
of policies and practices in public health, increasing public awareness, and translating
research findings into policy responses to promote healthy aging.
11
Because this work was undertaken when the five working groups were still developing their ideas, the map was compiled using
these five areas, rather than the four domains which emerged in the nest stage of evolving the Strategic Research Agenda.
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the relationship between work, the working environment and health. Here, programmes
were studying the determinants of sickness absence, disability, work-related illnesses,
withdrawal from the labour market and exclusion from working life, as well as the
prerequisites and options of health promotion in organizations. Funding was aiming to
develop effective instruments for improving occupational health and promoting a
satisfactory working environment.
improving research organization and increasing the impact of research. Here, funding was
allocated to the transfer and application of scientific-technical knowledge to foster the
prevention, diagnostics and treatment of diseases and promote healthy ageing. Additional
attention is given to activities fostering synergies, interdisciplinary networks and cooperative
research to expand the current knowledge base, build the capacity for ageing research,
develop agendas for future research, and disseminate research results to the public,
policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders.
Social Systems and Welfare
In this field there were 41 funding programmes. Research was concerned with three broad areas: pensions,
service organisation and delivery, and evidence-based policymaking. The following specific issues were
addressed:
the transition from work to retirement, and on a more macro level, the sustainability of
pension financing and the sufficiency of pension provision.
older people's use of services and understanding their definitions of quality, addressing
unmet need, involving older people and taking account of their needs and preferences,
considering the importance of information advice and advocacy, and improving service
where treatment effectiveness or patient needs are not well established, e.g. for ethnic
minorities.
activities that bring together researchers, policymakers and service users to focus on the
issues important to older people, disseminate scientific knowledge among stakeholders and
incorporate older people’s views in the public debate and policymaking.
Work and Productivity
Although 36 programmes addressed “Work and Productivity” in some way, there was considerable overlap
with “Social Systems and Welfare”, and few programmes were targeted specifically towards research into a
lifecourse perspective on production and productivity. Themes considered in these programmes included:
better utilisation of the skills and experience of the older generation in the workplace,
rethinking the organization of work (e.g. flexible working time models, benefits of mixedage teams)
approaches to personnel recruitment.
assistive technology to compensate for cognitive or physical weaknesses related to age.
Housing, Urban-rural Development and Mobility
A total of 30 funding programmes touched on the issue of “Housing, Urban-Rural Development and
Mobility”. Among them, three major topics were addressed:
assistive technologies which extend the time that people can live in their preferred
environment: by reducing barriers, increasing their autonomy, self-confidence, mobility and
connectedness. This was by far the largest area of work in this field.
inclusive design of products and built environments.
the intersection of basic research and housing practices, considering issues like building
construction, urban planning, housing policy, regional and community planning,
Housing conditions
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Education and Learning
This was the field receiving least attention. Only 21 funding programmes addressed "Education and
Learning” and work was usually merged in funding programmes targeted at broader social and economic
issues There were three exceptions:
Skills of older people: “Maintaining, promoting and expanding skills of the elderly in
economy and society” of the German Ministry for Education and Research,
Learning across the lifecourse. “Education research and post-vocational degree occupations"
in Denmark, which allocates funding to comparative and practical research about
determinants of teaching, learning and competence along the entire life course.
Older people's participation and motivation to learn. "Older people's learning in 2012", a
survey by the UK's National Institute for Adult Continuing Education.
Foresight
Foresight studies attempt to look forward to identify emerging and future research areas in need of
attention. Again national informants identified relevant studies in their own countries, using the five
working group fields. None of the identified Foresight studies covered the whole of the territory covered by
this JPI, nor did most of them adopt the kind of cross sectional and interdisciplinary perspective which is
central to our approach.
The key research areas identified as important or urgent were:
Health & Performance:

biomarkers for measuring individual biological age and for early diagnosis of cognitive decline and
dementia,

the development of new treatments,

ICT and robotics in health care,
 the role of networks in supporting older people and ethical aspects of healthy ageing.
Social Systems & Welfare:

the population’s value orientation and preferences in relation to demographic change,

how to link pensionable ages to life expectancy
 the development of effectiveness indicators for public services.
Work & Productivity:

age management strategies at company level, especially with regard to SMEs (recruitment
practices with regard to older workers, work-life-balance for older people, prevention of
stereotyping),

skill shortages in SMEs
 research on robotics and technological assistant systems in the work place.
Housing, environments and mobility:

ways to flexibilise infrastructures at a technical level (energy, transport, water, information and
communication)
 strategies and concepts to enable sustainable settlement management.
Education & Learning:

the potential of diverse technologies to assist people in learning and education,

strategies for improving the basic skills of older people,

incentive systems for employers to invest in upgrade vocational training for older people.
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From this list, a consultation with Foresight and Demography experts not involved in the JPI identified a set
of priorities. These have been taken into account in the development of the present strategy12.
12
See annex 2
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5. Four research domains
The purpose of the Strategic Research Agenda is to identify a research agenda which can inform
policymaking in relation to demographic change. Together, the initial reports of the 80 experts in the five
scientific working groups13 identified over 150 interesting and relevant research issues, (and there are, no
doubt, many more).
To produce a manageable and intellectually coherent agenda, which reflects both the demographic and
policy challenges, there was consultation with the General Assembly, Scientific Advisory Board and Societal
Advisory Board, and a survey of stakeholders.
The result, of this was a decision to group the research topics into four broad "domains" , which are
explored in more detail in this chapter. These are:
Quality of life,
health and
wellbeing:
How can we ensure the best possible quality of life for all people, throughout their lives
(including the final stages), recognising the diversity of personal circumstances and
individual aspirations, and the role of social relationships in individual wellbeing?
Economic and
social
production:
How can the extension of average lifespan promote economic and social production in
ways that are sustainable, equitable, and efficient in the use of human and technical
resources?
Sustainable
welfare:
How is it possible to secure adequate levels of social welfare for all people, in the
context of the changing age balance of the population?
Governance
and
institutions:
How might institutions, and processes of decision making change, at all levels from
local to European, to meet emerging needs and to ensure that all citizens are able to
be involved in decisions affecting their lives across the extending lifecourse?
Figure 1: Demographic change : the four research domains
13
The full working group reports are available on the JPI website at http://www.jp-demographic.eu/
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As Figure 1 indicates, the four are not distinct, they overlap and reinforce each other, and indeed the most
important issues may fall in the area of overlap. This chapter outlines the domains, and identifies a small
number of key research topics in each. If there is an overarching concept, it is the pursuit of quality of life,
health and wellbeing. Although the text on this domain is shorter, the issue of what will promote quality of
life and wellbeing for all is a thread which runs throughout.
Responding to all of the research topics indentified here calls for knowledge and expertise from more than
one academic discipline, and each calls for responses in more than one conventional policy field.
The result of this clustering was a shorter list of 26 research topics, all of which deserve attention. The
process of reducing these to a priority list of seven is described in the next chapter.
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Quality of Life, Health and Wellbeing
How can we ensure the best possible quality of life
for all people, across the extending lifecourse
(including the final stages), recognizing the
diversity of personal circumstances and individual
aspirations?
Key topics
 How can we properly understand "successful ageing", and measure quality of life/wellbeing across
the lifecourse?

What is the role of health in securing quality of life?

What are the implications of demographic change for social inclusion?

How do we understand the social dimensions of quality of life?
Context
Demographic change has the potential to improve or damage the quality of life of everyone. Policymakers
seek to intervene to ensure that the outcomes are positive. Our research strategy aims to provide evidence
on what a good quality of life looks like, at every stage of the lifecourse, how it can be measured, and what
policies might maximise it.
However, It is much easier to state the objective than to define it in measurable terms, and despite work by
a number of agencies and researchers, there is no general consensus about definitions of "quality of life",
"wellbeing", and "happiness", the relationships between them, and how they might be reliably and
consistently measured.
"Quality of life" and "wellbeing" are outcomes, closely linked to notions of "the good life", but these are
difficult to measure. Ultimately they are subjective, definitions and perceptions will vary between
individuals, contexts, and over time; and individuals with identical circumstances and resources may report
differing levels of quality. They also have a relative dimension, both because one person's wellbeing may
impact on another's, and because perceptions of wellbeing can be more closely related to relative position
than to absolute resources or opportunities. This has, of course, important implications for equity and the
distribution of income and wealth.
It is much easier to measure the inputs likely to lead to high quality of life, which are generally agreed to
include health, education, income and other resources, housing, access to infrastructures, social relations,
culture, empowerment and social rights as well as emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction. For this reason,
these inputs are sometimes used as proxies for quality of life or wellbeing. However, it is unclear how
reliable such measures are. For example, as people age, their objective capabilities and opportunities
diminish, and many acquire some disability, however, despite this objective decline in health and capability,
this does not always result in a diminution in reported wellbeing.
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Research topics
How can we properly understand "successful ageing", and measure quality of life and wellbeing
across the lifecourse?
"Successful ageing" involves the interaction of a complex combination of social, biological, physical, and
mental factors. Together they contribute to individual wellbeing. However, there is no common agreement
on the definition of "Quality of Life", or "Wellbeing". Despite attempts to define it, by the World Health
Organisation; the United Nations; the EU through the "Active Ageing Index" created during the European
Year of Active Aging 2012; and significant research in some countries, there is still a need for agreed and
integrated concepts and instruments to support social policy across the lifecourse. We define "Quality of
life" as a comprehensive concept which embraces:

objective social indicators of collective welfare,

social development and human rights,

subjective reports of wellbeing,

a range of domain specific concepts and measurements (for example, health-related quality, and
work satisfaction) .
Most recently some commentators have proposed that aspects of sustainable environmental quality should
be added to the list. We need more comparative research over the life course, between generations,
between cultural and regional traditions, and across different welfare regimes in Europe to better
understand both the diversities and the commonalities between concepts of quality of life and wellbeing,
and to understand why certain ways of life are evaluated as worth living and other ways as violating
principles of justice and fairness.
What is the role of health in securing quality of life?
Health is closely associated with quality of life and wellbeing, and definitions of mental health sometimes
treat them as if they were identical. As people age, declining physical and mental capacity becomes an
increasingly important component: good health certainly improves quality of life, and poor health damages
it. However, reported wellbeing does not always reflect objective physical health: it is common, for
example, for people who experience sudden disability to initially report diminished wellbeing, but for
wellbeing levels then to rise again, as they come to terms with a transformed life. Here one critical issue is
how much policy emphasis to place on direct health interventions as against other initiatives – in finance,
social engagement, housing, transport or education – which may have equal or greater impact on quality of
life. In this context it will be important to understand the role of public health, as well as individual
difference (including lifecourse influences, gender, genetic inheritance, and environmental factors).
How do we understand the social dimensions of quality of life?
Quality of life is not an exclusively individual issue, for two reasons. Firstly, all citizens are not equal, and
demographic change does not affect all citizens equally. Among the factors which determine resources,
opportunities and capabilities are: age, gender, social class, occupation, previous education, ethnicity, and
disability. Demographic change will alter the relative and absolute impact of these factors on individuals
within these categories, and between groups. What will be the impact of these factors on who is included
and who is excluded from full participation in society?
Secondly, individuals do not, in general, live in isolation from others, and research on Quality of life has
consistently shown the importance of social relationships. Each of us needs other people to play the
complementary roles in partnerships, families, neighbourhoods, social networks, communities, and
organizations. The changing nature of the family, with more generations living at the same time, in
changing kinds of relationship must have a bearing on individual quality of life. However, one of the
systematic deficits of much research is that individual quality of life is treated as independent and a matter
of individual preferences. However, our preferences always reflect the adjustments and compromises we
have made over the life course to be able to live together with others in particular places and relationships.
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For example, one issue is how to compensate for the loss of partners and other relationships as people age.
Quality of Life – both individual and collective – thus depends heavily on the quality of social relations
characterized by cooperation, trust, and caring for others. We need a better understanding of the
conditions and potentials for social cohesion which grows in social networks, communities, organizations,
and municipalities through personal relations and supported by local and integrated services and
integrated environmental planning.
This calls for methodologies for understanding and measuring quality of life which enable us to evaluate
the impact of changing circumstances, and which take proper account of the interaction between the
individual and others. They also need to take into account the implications of changing technologies, which
can, for some, maintain social contact even when mobility is severely limited. We also need to understand
how to develop social innovations which combine inclusive and sustainable welfare, governance, and
economic productivity with social cohesion and care for others in ways which are sustainable for the future
and equitable between generations.
Cross domain issues
Quality of life is the central issue from which this whole Agenda flows. Each of the other three domains is
important partly in so far as it helps improve the quality of life. The critical questions are how employment,
governance,institutions and welfare systems can support the highest possible quality of life for all citizens.
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Economic and Social Production
How can the extension of average lifespan
promote economic and social production in
ways that are sustainable, equitable, and
efficient in the use of human and technical
resources?
Key topics
 How do we understand the changing social and economic value of paid and unpaid work?

What models of labour market organisation/regulation/ legislation support the effective use of
individuals' skills and experience across the lengthening lifecourse?

How should management practices and policies be developed to better suit a more age diverse
workforce?

What is the role of health in securing and maintaining employability, and how can it be improved?

What is the contribution of the management and organisation of work to quality of life across the
lifecourse?

How can workplace governance ensure the best use of human resource in organisations?

How can learning best contribute to maintaining productivity across the lifecourse?

What are the implications of gender differences in changing workforce demography?

Are different issues raised by an ageing minority ethnic and migrant workforce?
Context
As average life expectancy increases throughout Europe, there is political pressure to extend working life, by
raising real retirement ages, in order to reduce the proportion of the lifespan spent in dependent
"retirement". However, there is strong public resistance to this: on the grounds that it breaks an implicit
social contract; that older people lack the necessary health and physical capacity for some work ; or that
older people should retire to "make space" for unemployed young people to enter the labour market. There
are counter arguments: today's older people are generally healthier than their parents at the same age;
work performance does not necessarily decline with age (at least into the late 60s); occupational health
research suggests that older people compensate for declining physical capacity using experience and
networks; and, in general, areas with high employment of older people also have high employment rates for
young people.
The extension of the lifespan brings changes in the balance between paid and unpaid activity. The
implications of this are not fully understood, particularly because of the difficulties of measuring and valuing
unpaid activity in the informal economy, and work which is undertaken on an unpaid basis, in the family and
the wider community. The issue arises now in some part of Europe as "unemployment" becomes endemic
among young adults. However, it is particularly important in the context of an ageing society, because the
point of "retirement" from paid work does not necessarily mark a change in productive contribution: it can
simply represent a movement from one kind of activity to another – formal to informal, or paid to unpaid.
From a comparative perspective these issues are important, since some activities (notably caring for the
young and old) are undertaken in some societies on an unpaid basis, where in others, they are provided on a
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paid basis, through the state or the private sector. A further issue is the opportunity offered by extended
lifespan to redistribute paid work more appropriately across the lifespan, perhaps reducing pressures on
people in their 30s and 40s, when work and family pressures are often at their greatest, and making space
for more young people and older people to enter or remain in the paid workforce. In some occupations
there are opportunities to develop longer career patterns, allowing people to move into less physically or
mentally demanding roles, as mentors and trainers, as they age.
Research topics
How do we understand the changing social and economic value of paid and unpaid work?
For most people, "work" includes a combination of paid and unpaid activity. Formal economic productivity
measures the relationship between inputs and measured output, calibrated through market transactions
and underpinned by the employment relationship. Social production, on the other hand, embraces unpaid
and paid welfare services in the household, in communities, and in the voluntary sector. To develop
understanding of the connections between ageing and work, particularly (but not exclusively) care work,
there is a compelling case for a fresh mapping of the shifting boundaries between paid and unpaid work and
the formal and informal economies. Work in the informal economy is often paid (`cash-in-hand’), but is not
carried out in the official, regulated economy and thus is not a source of tax revenue. We require new
research that illuminates the potential benefits and the opportunity costs of individuals’ movements
between unpaid social production and paid work. We also need to better understand the significance of
extended paid working lives for measures of output and labour productivity.
Research should thus be directed at two broad issues that are at present insufficiently understood,
particularly following the major upheavals in recent years in the labour markets, employment systems and
economies of European member states. Firstly, to specify and measure the benefits and costs of expanding
paid employment for the scale and scope of social production. Secondly, with respect to employment,
studies should address three critical stages in the life-course: access to employment (at any age); the
conditions during working-life; and the factors governing exit, retirement and the balance between paid and
unpaid work. These dimensions need to be investigated in turn at three levels: the individuals (micro), the
organisation (meso), and wider society (macro).
What models of labour market organisation, regulation, and legislation support the effective
use of individuals' skills and experience across the lengthening lifecourse?
The quality and duration of paid working life is influenced by a combination of labour market structures,
policies and regulation, production regimes, vocational training, industrial relations and occupational health
and safety regimes. Factors like the scope and coverage of employee participation in decision-making, task
discretion, autonomy, team-working, and equal opportunities also have an impact both on the quality of
life, and on productivity. There is both convergence and divergence in European employment systems,
reflecting differing national priorities and stakeholder interests, and coalitions. However, with respect to
the ageing population, member states are faced with similar problems. Who is ultimately responsible for
decisions on the labour market participation of older workers: the state, employers, civil society, or the
individual?
Research is required to explore the impact of regulation on the incentives for recruiting and retaining older
workers, the disincentives for dismissing them, and the impact on retirement patterns of different financial
rules for early or deferred retirement. What are the connections between national and international
framework conditions, such as age equality legislation, the pattern of employer demands, work
organization and individual life courses? How is European and national legislation on age and discrimination
being interpreted in different member states, and with what effects?
The organization of employment and working conditions holds the key to extending the possibilities and
prospects for people at all ages, but may be decisive in the retention of older workers. Established theories
of discrimination may no longer be adequate to explain employers’ conduct and behaviour in
contemporary work organizations: little is currently known about why some employers in some sectors and
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firms show a greater propensity to employ older people than others. Accordingly, there is a need for new
research on employers, and the role of governance structures within and beyond the workplace, to better
understand their role in determining the choices available to older workers. If, as is commonly argued, job
gains are occurring mainly in those sectors of the labour market that provide either high or low qualified
jobs, with a thinning out of the middle ground of skilled manual work, what are the implications for an
increasingly age-diverse workforce? What policy interventions aimed at raising the quality of work may
close the gap between unskilled workers leaving employment early and the highly educated persons who
work longer?
How should management practices and policies be developed to better suit a more age diverse
workforce?
Management is critical to economic and social production, with a vital role in enhancing the employability
and productivity of workers of all ages, including the management of a more age diverse workforce. Is it
possible to identify the management practices and employment systems that secure the most effective and
equitable use of all the talents of the workforce? Why are some employers more successful than others at
integrating older workers into their organizations? How far is labour productivity determined by the skills,
character and conduct of employees rather than by the jobs that people do?
There is an urgent need to develop evidence-based models of "age diverse" workplaces. There are three
significant gaps. First, is it possible to identify clusters of human resource policies and practices that can
promote productivity in organizations with ageing workers? Are new models of work-life-balance and
flexible working time arrangements supporting or discouraging older people from continuing in
employment? Second, can monitoring, performance measurement and reporting mechanisms in
companies be designed in order to support improved productivity and innovation on the one hand and
sustainable employability and active ageing on the other? Third, how can a viable life cycle design of work
systems be more closely connected to technological and technology-related innovation?
What is the role of health in maintaining employability, and how can it be improved?
An individual's health is important in determining the timing and nature of retirement, especially in
encouraging "premature" retirement through disability pensions or early retirement schemes. However,
health is only one of the factors influencing retirement decisions. For the individual, intrinsic satisfactions,
social engagement, and financial issues are all relevant, and influenced by the management and
organisation of the workplace, as well as partner's employment, and caring responsibilities. Statistically it is
clear that the timing of retirement also correlates with educational level, type of occupation and job tasks,
Occupational health research has traditionally focused mainly on health risks and only recently started to
examine factors that may promote motivation, well-being, work participation, and productivity in older age.
Such resource oriented research approaches need to be systematically developed and promoted to address
the challenges of longer working lives. The determinants of health and quality of life in the workplace
involve a combination of factors: individual (i.e. capacity, skills, motivation and health); company based (i.e.
leadership, working conditions, training, and work environment); and social (i.e. labour market,
employment systems, voluntary work options). Which are most important in securing the well-being,
workability, employability, productivity and participation of older people? There is a lack of evidence based
work-related models to support the prevention of disability and a lack of evidence that would support
models to increase the re-integration of those with disabilities and/or chronic diseases at work. There is a
need for both etiological research (i.e. large cohort studies identifying work-related factors which, when
modified, would prevent disability and promote health and well-being), and multi-disciplinary research and
approaches to cost effective interventions. Finally, we need better indicators reflecting the relationships
between the rapid changes in work, health, and retirement in order to monitor trends, forecast
developments and inform policy.
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What is the contribution of the management and organisation of work to quality of life across
the lifecourse?
The ability to earn money and contribute to society in rewarding ways is an important component of
quality of life. Well organised work (paid or unpaid) provides meaningful activities which give orientation,
structure and fulfilment to life, and is good for mental and physical health. The ability to contribute to
society, before and after "retirement" enhances self-esteem and social recognition. Those who extend
their working life beyond "normal" retirement age generally report that a sense of purpose, a structure to
life and positive engagement with work colleagues are significant elements of motivation to stay, while
people who take on similar roles on an unpaid basis (for example through voluntary work, before and after
"retirement") report similar benefits. This is true for some people in all kinds of work, but not all
workplaces and jobs provide these positive opportunities. Unfair discrimination is known to have a
seriously damaging effect on wellbeing, and age discrimination is widely reported by older people in the
workplace. Furthermore, poor management and insufficient possibilities to influence work and working
hours during the working life can have an impact on mental and physical health which continues into
retirement
We need to better understand how capabilities, and aspirations for productive work change over the life
course, how capabilities can be promoted by lifelong learning; how they interact with the opportunities in
formal and informal labour markets; and with design of work places and work environments (including the
uses of new technologies); and how human resource management can enable people to balance paid work
with other commitments over the life course. We also need to understand how different retirement
trajectories – sudden retirement, phasing out over years, and career or job change – affect quality of life
before and after final retirement.
How can workplace governance ensure the best use of human resource in organisations?
Extending lifespan creates a need, both economic and social, to extend the number of years people spend
as contributing members of the community (through paid and/or unpaid activity). It also offers the
opportunity to redistribute activity across the extended lifespan, with less pressure in the middle years
balanced by a longer paid working life, and better employment opportunities for young people. There are
good economic and social reasons to explore these changes, but they do not necessarily match the
individual priorities of employers or individuals, especially in the short term. Individual preferences vary
greatly. For example, deferring retirement may be more acceptable, and practical, for those in non-manual
occupations. Models of workplace governance vary greatly across Europe, in the role of social partners, of
legislation and regulation and enforcement, and vary considerably in their impact. Do structures which
encourage participation by giving strong influence to existing workers, tend to exclude "outsiders" (new
entrants, the unemployed, disabled and old). The research issue is to better understand how such
structures and systems enable the best use to be made of individual talents across the lifecourse, including
a rethinking of the balance between paid and unpaid work in the different phases of the extended lifespan.
How can learning best contribute to maintaining productivity across the lifecourse?
Lifelong learning is often proposed as a tool to enable people to remain longer in the paid labour market
and to return to paid employment after redundancy, although there has been little empirical study of this,
and studies tend to use formal qualifications as a proxy for learning, which may be particularly
inappropriate for older workers, whose experiential learning is not captured in this way. Learning also has
the potential to underpin career advancement and employability of older workers, and support them in
undertaking a range of roles in civil society, for example in education and caring, both before and after exit
from the formal labour market. Pre-retirement education may also have a role to pay in improving
retirement decision making, with benefits both for the employer and for the quality of the individual's life
in retirement. Research on access to employment should connect movements in and out of the labour
market in early years with lifetime prospects and with systems for the formation and maintenance of skills
across the extended working life.
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What are the implications of gender differences in changing workforce demography?
Gender is an important determinant of employment and career trajectories. Men and women have
different rates of wage growth; women are still more likely to suffer career limitations through childcare
and elder care responsibilities, and the latter are becoming more extensive as older parents live longer.
Women are more likely to work part-time, and retire earlier than men although they then live longer.
Informal care involves large numbers of women, limiting their paid employment, which leads to low
incomes for women and low pensions when they retire. Better formal child care and better elder care
might change this and lead to a more even distribution of work in the labour market for men and women
and later retirement for women. How might the balance be made more equitable? The difference in wage
development leads to differences after retirement; the pensions are in many countries influenced by
individuals’ wage levels in the years immediately before retirement. All these factors tend to result in
women typically making smaller contributions to pensions, and receiving smaller benefits.
Are different issues raised by an ageing minority ethnic and migrant workforce?
Income and career trajectories also differ, for a variety of reasons (including discrimination), between
ethnic groups, and between native born and migrant groups. In many countries, migrant communities are
at present relatively young, and it is unclear how far their needs and expectations will differ from those of
the host community as they age. Many (both refugees and migrants), are in low wage occupations and in
physically demanding sectors such as construction and agriculture, where work is associated with earlier
retirement, poorer health, and smaller (or no) pensions. How can low status jobs and migrants’ situation be
improved to promote extended working lives, and healthier retirement ?
Cross domain issues
Employment is integrally linked to quality of life. Research suggests that, contrary to popular belief, work is
good for health and wellbeing, and in some countries growing numbers of people are working longer for
reasons to do with life satisfaction, sense of purpose, and social engagement, as well as money. The
opportunity of longer lives to redistribute work across the lifecourse, might improve wellbeing for people at
all life stages.
The development of welfare provision and employment systems are inextricably linked. How will the
frontier between paid and unpaid work shift as governments attempt to re-balance their economies by
shrinking public service provision? How will single or dual adult households with dependent children or
other dependent family members be affected by changes in welfare benefit systems, and what will be the
impact on their availability for paid employment? How will the changes to welfare systems, spurred in
many member states by austerity measures, affect the boundary between work in the formal and informal
economies?
Governance in the workplace can also have a major influence on employment patterns. We do not know
enough about how far worker participation in decision making can influence work and life satisfaction, and
how far this might influence retirement decisions and behaviour.
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Sustainable Welfare
How is it possible to secure adequate levels of
social welfare for all people, in the context of
the changing age balance of the population?
Key topics
 What can we learn from comparative
studies about the relative adequacy ,
affordability and sustainability of different welfare models?

What is the impact of welfare models on quality of life?

What do we mean by “dependency”14?

How best to integrate social and health policy to deliver the most effective and efficient solutions?

How can we develop fair and sustainable ways of distributing resources between generations?

How can the potential contribution of informal services to the welfare of older people be
developed?

How can we ensure that the impact of migration is an asset rather than a risk to quality of life?

What models of care are most appropriate and effective for people at the end of their lives?
Context
In the broad sense, all Governments must be concerned to secure the "welfare" of their citizens. In the
twentieth century, all European countries developed models to secure this, but they differed greatly in how
broadly they interpreted the term; in what was seen as adequate and affordable; and in the relative roles
which they saw for the state (national, regional and local), the private sector, civil society and the individual
and family. They also differed in their views on what degree of state intervention is proper and/or
affordable, and in the extent to which welfare systems should be engaged in redistributing wealth and
income across the lifecourse.
Investment in the welfare of the population benefits society as a whole: a population which is healthy, well
housed and educated, and confident in the long term sustainability of its economic and political systems, is
more stable, productive and happy. However, the economic crisis which began in the late 2000s has raised
questions about the short term affordability, and long term sustainability, of models which have been in
place and evolving for generations. Although, by historical standards, most of today's citizens have better
expectations of health, wellbeing and life expectancy than any previous generation, individuals worry about
maintaining adequate levels of social welfare across the extending lifecourse, and about the security of
their (explicit or implicit) social contract with the state if and when they become dependent, through
illness, disability, unemployment, or old age. This is most notable in relation to issues of retirement age
and pension entitlements, which have very long term implications, both for the individual and the state; for
intergenerational equity; and for the trust of individuals in the state itself. There are also important issues
about change in the bonds between generations and intergenerational transfers, with increasingly complex
family structures and growing labour market uncertainty. For some this is strengthening the role of the
14
As in the contested notion of "dependency ratio"
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family in supporting and conferring advantage on younger generations, while for others the links are being
eroded.
A further issue is the complexity and diversity of decisions. In the health field, constant improvement in
pharmaceuticals, and in medical and care technology make it possible (for a price) to cure or alleviate
conditions which would previously have been fatal. Some of these significantly reduce costs or increase
efficiency, but others result in a net lifetime cost increase: for example, some disabled people who would in
previous generations have died in childhood are now living into old age, but with continuing lifelong
support needs. Decisions on such interventions raise complex direct ethical issues as well as ones of cost
effectiveness, and their justification in terms of quality of life and opportunity costs is an area where
research is a constant requirement. They also raise questions of equity, of who has access to such
interventions within and between countries, and there is a danger that such developments will further
polarise societies and countries within Europe.
The central questions are therefore how to arrive at agreement on the relative responsibilities of the
parties (principally the state, employers, local communities, individuals, and families); what levels of
welfare are acceptable, and how the efficiency of current welfare systems can be improved, including
better linkage between areas of public policy. Research can assist by clarifying our understanding of the
nature of welfare and of the relative merits of alternative ways of securing it. In this field, above all, close
working relationships between researchers, policymakers, and service deliverers, to explore "what works"
best, with what costs and benefits, and in what situations, will be crucial.
Research topics
What can we learn from comparative studies about the relative adequacy and affordability of
welfare models?
A range of different models for securing the welfare of citizens exists across Europe, with different levels of
intervention and support, and different views of the proper balance between the state, private sector, civil
society and the individual and family. There is considerable scope for comparative work, to explore the
relative strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, bearing in mind that they have evolved over time
in very different social and cultural contexts, and direct transfer of models is rarely feasible or desirable.
Comparative studies need to examine: who benefits, in what ways, from different approaches; who is
included and excluded (in terms of factors like gender, class, ethnic and religious identity, citizenship
status); what are the costs, and who pays them; how equitably resources are used; and how affordable
they are in the long term; and how politically acceptable they are to the relevant populations.
What is the impact of different welfare models on quality of life?
The quality of life for an individual is substantially affected by the structures and processes created by the
welfare regime in which they live. These create underpinning security against misfortune and changing
circumstances, and express the ways in which decisions can be influenced. A critical issue is the extent to
which such systems enable individuals to exercise autonomy and control in decision making over issues
which affect their lives and those around them.
What do we mean by "dependency"?
Discussions on the "dependency ratio" are complicated by the absence of a realistic and clear definition.
Conventional definitions in economics, which compare the population over and under a national pension or
retirement age (usually 65) are not very meaningful, since they ignore the effects of early retirement, and
the role of those who continue to contribute, through work - formal or informal, paid or unpaid - after that
point. They also ignore the extent to which the environment supports or discourages independence. Many
older people are only independent on the state because of the unmeasured voluntary work of partners,
children and neighbours. The objective of research here should be to improve our understanding of how
people contribute and draw from society, through formal and informal means throughout the extending
lifecourse.
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How best to integrate social and health policy to deliver the most effective and efficient
solutions?
For practical and historical reasons, public policy is constructed in "silos", with separate departments,
professions, and legislative frameworks. The current structures evolved to meet the needs of a very
different world from the one which is emerging, and sometimes lead to major inefficiencies, and damage to
the quality of life of individuals. Savings in publicly funded childcare or elder care can thus lead people
(usually women) to withdraw from the labour market, reducing their economic contribution in the short
term; damaging their career progression; and later reducing their income in retirement. Similarly, in many
countries policies for health and social care are developed independently, with the result that old people
end up unhappily and unnecessarily in (expensive) hospitals, rather than in their own homes with (much
cheaper) social care support, because the latter is inadequately funded.
Similar issues arise in relation to health and transport and housing policy. Better adaptation of housing and
neighbourhood design can make it possible for older and disabled people to live more independently, with
reductions in healthcare costs and improvements in wellbeing. Inflexibilities in the housing market also
result in many older people occupying houses which are too large, and poorly adapted to people with
growing physical limitations. However, not enough is known about the diversity of older people's
aspirations for housing, nor do we have good models of how to make the housing market more flexible. In
the transport field, decisions to cut public subsidies for public transport can increase the isolation of older
people particularly those who are no longer able to drive, leading in the longer term to poorer mental
health and growing dependency.
The key research issue here is to explore good models for integrating public policy across departmental
boundaries, recognising that demographic change is an issue affecting all areas of public policy, and calling
for interdisciplinary solutions. The diversity of models across Europe provides scope for powerful
comparative study.
How can we develop fair and sustainable ways of distributing resources between generations?
In a three generation society, the distribution of resources between generations was relatively simple:
people in middle age earned money which paid, through taxation or returns on investment for the care of
the young and the old, or they achieved this by providing unpaid support. The most obvious tools for this
redistribution are pensions systems, which have been evolving across Europe of over a century, on the
basis of a relatively short period of retirement, following a long working life, and for much of the 20th
century, state pension age in some countries was no higher than average life expectancy. This is no longer
the case, raising issues about the sustainability of current models. Once again, Member States vary greatly,
in the nature of their systems, with a divide between state, occupational and individual schemes, and
between schemes where people save into a fund, and those where pensions are paid from general
taxation. Schemes also vary greatly in their generosity, from those which offer something close to a
replacement of former income, to others which pay at a bare subsistence level.
Pensions represent a transfer of wealth between generations, since, whether pensions are financed from
lifetime savings or directly by taxation of the current workforce, they rely on the success of the formal
economy to generate funds, either through the financial returns on savings, or through taxes on earnings
and profits. There are therefore questions to be answered about what is an appropriate balance in this
relationship.
If growing life expectancy means more people in retirement - dependent on pensions (in whatever form),
and supported by a shrinking working population - the result can only be either: an improbably large
increase in labour productivity; reduced pensions (leading perhaps to growing pensioner poverty); a higher
tax burden on working adults; or a transfer of the burden to future generations through increased
borrowing. All of these possible outcomes are politically challenging for any government. Countries have
developed different solutions, and there is scope for comparative research to explore which models work
best and most equitably, in what circumstances.
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A further dimension of this issue is inheritance, by which accumulated wealth is passed between
generations. The underlying effect of this is to concentrate privilege, sometimes compensated for by
taxation of inheritance. In a four or five generation society these patterns become more complicated, with
changing implications for the distribution of wealth, and the financing of dependency in later life.
How can the potential contribution of informal services to the welfare of older people be
developed?
Older people in the active "third age" make a very large contribution to collective welfare. This is most
noticeable in relation to social care, where older people are major providers of care for yet older people,
and for grandchildren (thus often enabling their own children to remain in the labour market). Many
continue to do this into their 80s and beyond. The extent of this varies dramatically between countries
within Europe, from those where most social care is provided within the family, to others where it is
assumed to be largely the role of the state. Older people are also active as voluntary providers of other
services, for example in civic and political roles, in the heritage industry, and in adult education.
Much of this activity is undertaken willingly, and often is assumed to be "normal". However, caring roles
can become increasingly onerous as the parties age, and it is difficult to "retire" from these responsibilities.
There are legitimate questions about where the boundaries between "voluntary" effort and the proper role
of the state lie. Research should explore the experience of individuals and the impact of different models
on those who "volunteer" and for those who receive support, and seek to establish a better understanding
of legitimate boundaries.
How can we ensure that the impact of migration is an asset rather than a risk to quality of life?
Migration, inward and outward, and within and beyond the European Union, is an important element of
demographic change, and a politically sensitive topic. For some member states migration helps address
general or specific labour market problems, including in the care sector. However, there are questions
about the impact on the "donor" countries, sometimes deprived of skilled workers who move to better
paid but less highly skilled work elsewhere. Substantial numbers of people migrate at retirement from
Northern to warmer Southern countries, either permanently or for part of the year. Within the EU they are
entitled to access to the host country's welfare services, but these do not always correspond to those of
their original country, and some return "home" when they find, for example, that social care support is
assumed to be provided by the (absent) family. National rules on pensions, healthcare and other
entitlements for such migrants are not always clear, or understood by those who migrate. Educational
provision, in languages and broader cultural issues, to enable such migrants to integrate into their new
societies is generally poor or non-existent.
The research issue here is to better understand these patterns of migration, their scale and effects on the
migrant, and both countries involved, and particularly the implications for transferability of welfare
benefits and obligations.
What models of care are most appropriate for people at the end of their lives?
Although average life expectancy is rising steadily, everyone eventually reaches the end. For many people
this is preceded by a period of dependency, and as people live longer, the complexity of their medical
conditions, and the length of time they are experiencing them, is increasing. In terms of public welfare
expenditure, this is often the most expensive phase of life, with high costs of medical intervention and
social care. The design and delivery of services needs to secure the best possible quality of life in this
phase, but it is clear that conventional measures of this may be inappropriate. There are implications for
patients themselves and their carers, who are increasingly being expected to play a role in managing their
own conditions, and this in turn raises issues for managers and health professionals. This issue also raises
questions about the role of assistive and communication technologies in managing care in the final stages
of life.
While health and care providers are trained to seek full recovery, and improvements in medical
technologies and treatments, rehabilitation and chronic care have made this more common (though
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sometimes expensive), recovery is often not possible, raising questions about the appropriateness of
intensive medical interventions for people whose life expectancy is limited or uncertain. For some, a "good
death" may be better achieved with palliative care in the home, than with intensive attempts to prolong
life. Elder abuse is also a challenge in all care settings and in all Member States. All these issues raise
complex ethical issues, as well as practical ones for the management and organisation of services, for the
training of staff, and perhaps of relatives and caregivers.
Here we need research into the best policy approaches and management strategies to develop and secure
the quality of life for people in the final stages of life. This will include exploration of new service models.
Cross domain issues
Welfare is fundamentally an issue about how the legislative and regulatory frameworks and systems
created by the state secure the quality of life of their citizens. There is thus a close relationship between
the work proposed on definitions and measurement of quality of life and wellbeing, and research into
welfare systems. Similarly, the welfare systems are embodied in institutions and governance structures,
and it will be important to link these fields of research to explore the issues of how citizens are engaged in
development and decision making on welfare issues. Finally, work on welfare, employment and production
are two sides of a coin: those who are in employment are contributing to the costs of welfare for those
deemed to require support. Welfare systems should support individuals to remain active contributors for
as long as possible, while providing a safety net to protect those who are unable to contribute
economically.
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Governance and Institutions
How might institutions, and processes of
decision making, need to change, at all levels
from local to European, to meet emerging
needs and to ensure that all citizens are able to
be involved in decisions affecting their lives
across the extending lifecourse?
Key topics
 What factors support social, civic and
economic participation across the lifecourse?

How can we achieve better integration between services providing health and social care?

What kinds of policy for housing, urban design and transport are most effective at enabling
individuals to remain active and independent throughout the lifespan?

What policies and institutional structures can ensure that people have access to relevant
opportunities for learning at all stages of the lifecourse?

What are the implications for older people of the spread of routine use of information
technologies?
The context
In a changing economic and social context, people are supported by a wide range of institutions and
agencies in the public, private and third sectors. This section of the strategy is concerned with the nature
of those institutions, how they are organised and funded, and how they are controlled and managed.
Because demographic change alters the balance between groups within the population, it raises two
fundamental questions about governance. Firstly, how well are current institutions and organisations
meeting the changing and emerging needs, and how might they change to do this better. Secondly, how
far, and by what means, can individual citizens and other stakeholders influence those institutions and their
work.
One critical governance issue is the relationship between institutions, services and agencies. Many of the
challenges of an ageing society require the participation of a range of distinct agencies – health, social care,
transport, housing, education. However, institutional structures and funding systems often make it difficult
to implement solutions which would be best for individuals and most cost effective. There is, for example,
evidence that providing education to older people in residential care can significantly reduce costs of
medication and support, for very little cost. However, while the benefits are felt in health or care budget,
the costs fall on education providers, who thus have no incentive or resources to make provision.
The fact that different groups have different propensities to participate in democratic processes makes the
balance between the welfare of all and the interests of those who vote particularly problematic. Older
people for example, are much more likely to vote in traditional democratic processes, while young people
are more likely to interact in less formal and online forms, whose role in governance is still emerging. As
the balance of numbers shifts in favour of the old, these differences may raise questions about
intergenerational equity and consent to decisions. At the same time, although age is not synonymous with
disability, and some people will live into their 90s fully physically and mentally capable, the proportion of
people with disabilities which limit their physical access or mental capacity to participate in civic activity will
increase. Research needs to consider what kinds of process might ensure intergenerational equity, and
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increase the participation and autonomy of those in traditionally excluded groups, while recognising the
diversity of people within those groups.
In some countries there is concern about diminishing participation in political and civic life, and declining
trust in government and the state, may limit the ability of governments to address major long term issues.
We need a better understanding of how policy making, administration, implementation, management and
evaluation of public policy and institutions can empower individuals and foster quality of life for all citizens,
with special concern for those who are vulnerable or isolated. One neglected element of this is civic
education to encourage active participation.
Research topics
What factors support economic and social participation across the lifecourse?
We need to better understand the factors which encourage or discourage individuals from participating
actively in the formal processes of democracy (voting, political parties etc) and in the less formal ones of
the workplace and the local community. We need to better understand how these vary with age, birth
cohort, and by other variables like gender, ethnicity, social class and disability. We need a clearer
understanding of how governance is currently exercised; of how it is changing in different fields and
countries; and with what impact on democratic participation, accountability and public trust, among which
groups and sub-groups. Key topics for investigation include: what kinds of institutional structures promote
active engagement by citizens of all ages; and what kinds of process, including formal and informal
education, increase the ability of citizens to participate in decisions affecting their lives. The answers to
these questions will be different for different groups of people: the very old may be limited by physical or
mental constraints, while the young are limited by disaffection with conventional democratic processes.
Since effective participation and accountability depend on public confidence and consent, the feasibility of
positive institutional and social change depends critically on public attitudes, and research needs to better
understand how public attitudes are changing and are shaped.
Learning, in the broad sense, has an important part to play in enabling individuals to play a more active role
as citizens, in formal and informal structures and systems. Although civic education has a long history in
many countries of Europe, it is not well developed or widely understood, and access to opportunities to
develop the skills and knowledge which could unlock the talents and time of older people for the good of
the broader community, is very unevenly distributed. We also need to understand better how to ensure
that people make critical decisions on their life choices on the basis of the best information, and at the best
time.
How can we achieve better integration between services providing health and social care?
The organisation of health and social care is causing concern in all countries, given the rising costs of
healthcare, and the uneven scope and quality of social care, especially (but not only) for the very old.
Where different agencies are responsible for health and social care the quality of care may be endangered,
and the results can be expensive, with individuals whose needs could best (and most economically) be met
in their own homes with social care support, ending up in expensive hospital beds. However, "joining up"
budgets between services can be problematic. Accountability for the quality of care can be unclear as
individuals move between agencies, and this is a particular problem for people who are heavily dependent,
or incapable of taking decisions for themselves. There is also often political resistance to change, even
when the intended outcome is expected to be improved quality of care for individuals, as for example with
plans to rationalise hospital provision. A key issue is to find the optimum balance between public, private
and third sector provision, and the best mechanisms for linking health and social care services. It is also
important to explore the training needs of staff in health and care services who may be increasingly called
on to manage multidisciplinary roles. Very different models of delivery exist across Europe, in relation to
the role of the public and private sectors, and the place of voluntary effort, especially in social care. The
research issue is to better understand the comparative merits of these approaches, and whether some are
more effective at promoting individual autonomy and independence, and reducing public costs.
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What kinds of housing, transport and urban design policies are most effective at enabling
individuals to remain active and independent throughout the lifespan?
A changing population age structure is leading to changes in patterns of household formation, especially
with growing number of people in single person households in the earliest and latest stages of adult life.
Well managed, housing and transport systems, and good design of urban and communal spaces, can enable
people to remain autonomous much longer, living in their own homes with relatively low levels of outside
support. However, a growing population of old people implies the need for more kinds of supported living,
from modified homes to residential care, and forms of transport which do not depend on the ability to
drive.
However, it is important not to equate age with disability, nor to assume that all members of particular age
groups have similar preferences. Some prefer age segregated communities, while others prefer age mixing,
but planning to meet these preferences is a long term process, especially if housing design and location is
to be appropriately related to transport systems, access to community facilities and communication
services. Wellbeing is also enhanced by an appropriate degree of physical and mental challenge. Research
needs to understand these changing patterns and demands, how those making planning decisions can
accountable to the relevant populations, and how individuals can be better engaged in decisions on the
development of housing and transport systems which support their independence, security and wellbeing.
What policies and institutional structures can ensure that people have access to relevant
opportunities for learning at all stages of the lifecourse?
Lifelong learning has the potential to improve life chances and quality of life across the whole lifespan,
including the final years. It can help people to make appropriate health choices; to enter and move through
the labour market; to negotiate life phases like child rearing, moving location (locally or internationally),
retirement; and to manage life crises like divorce and bereavement, and changing roles, including civic
engagement. It may do this through formal, informal and non-formal means, with or without support from
the state, and for many years policy documents at European and national levels have argued for the
expansion of lifelong learning, for a variety of reasons, social as well as economic. However, apart from
vocational programmes aimed at people of conventional "working age", participation and provision levels
remain extremely low in most countries. This is particularly true in the case of older people, whose
participation in many countries is minimal. Public and private resources for education and training are very
heavily concentrated on the first quarter of the life course, despite the fact that extending lifespan and
technological change both imply a need for learning to be more frequent and continuous, up to and
including the final years. A particular issue is how to ensure that everyone has the skills necessary to make
use of emerging digital technologies, which are increasingly critical to participation in society and the
economy, but where older people have had less access to learning opportunities.
Countries vary greatly in how far opportunities exist to meet these learning needs; and in how far they are
met by public, private or voluntary agencies; and integrated strategies are almost non-existent. In many
countries there is no significant public institutional support for learning for people over 60, and what exists
is left to a patchwork of private and voluntary providers, together with occasional programmes aimed at
particular problems, like specific areas of health education. Some countries have seen the emergence of
self organised learning programmes, and there has been a growth of participation in online learning among
the "young old", but rarely, if ever, is there any attempt to ensure that the range of learning opportunities
available matches the social, health, or employment related needs of an ageing population. Here the critical
research agenda is to better understand the wider range of benefits of learning for older people, and the
most effective mechanisms, including institutional structures for promoting them.
What are the implications for older people of the spread of information technologies?
Increasingly Government, and commercial services are being delivered electronically. Such technologies are
also moving into the delivery of health and social care. This can often increase quality of service, efficiency
and speed of response, and online shopping and telemedicine can, for example, make a significant
difference to the ability of older people to continue to live at home. However there are issues about the
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appropriateness of the technologies for people with limited vision or manual dexterity, and how to modify
them appropriately. Similarly, technological change provides new ways of engaging people in the processes
of civic society, and recent years have seen rapid and unexpected changes in the ways in which people can
engage in political processes through social media, online petitioning etc.
However, access to these technologies is not evenly distributed across society: limited by income, access to
learning, and to personal circumstances. This is a particular issue for older people, who are less likely to
have had exposure to information and communication technologies in their initial education or working
lives, and are more likely to lack confidence in developing appropriate skills. Furthermore, the speed of
change means that this is not a matter of acquiring a set of generic skills at one point in time: even for the
"young old" who have had such exposure, the pace of change in many technologies can make it difficult to
keep up to date. Research needs to examine how to maintain appropriate skill levels among all groups, and
how new technologies can enable individuals to play a more active part in society, as citizens, learners, and
consumers.
Cross domain issues
Effective governance processes and appropriate institutional structures underpins all the other three
domains. Good systems of accountability and democratic engagement empower people in ways which
improve their wellbeing and quality of life. Effective governance of the workplace, paid or unpaid, similarly
improves people's quality of life, and is a key component of the notion of "good work". Critically we need
institutional welfare structures which can deal equitably and efficiently with the rapidly changing welfare
challenges.
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6. Seven Priority Research Topics
Previous chapters have described how the research agenda was developed, iteratively through dialogue
between the five scientific working groups, the Scientific Advisory Board, the Societal Advisory Board and
the General Assembly, which represents all the participating states.
The 150 research questions identified by the five expert working groups, were clustered into the four
domains described in the last chapter, producing a list of 26 key research topics.
The General Assembly then agreed criteria for setting priorities for urgent attention. The topics which are
proposed for urgent attention are those:
- Where demographic change is a central feature, rather than part of a broader social or economic
issue;
- Which address all, or most of, the four domains;
- Where international and comparative approaches are likely to have particular benefits;
- Which are not being addressed by other major programmes15;
- Which call for innovative research, crossing the traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines and
public policy fields;
- Where there is likely to be significant impact on public policy.
The result is the seven priority research topics outlined below. Each topic is expressed in the form of a
simple overarching question, with a brief explanatory text. The detailed rationale for each can be found in
the previous chapters, and in the reports of the five Scientific Working Groups16.
The list is not prioritised, either in importance or timing. The topics are all important, each supports the
others and there is no particular reason to argue for addressing one sooner than another, although some
countries and some funders will wish to prioritise within the list.
1. How do we understand and measure quality of life, health and wellbeing, and
the role of health in promoting them, across the lifecourse?
The JPI research aims to inform policies and practices which will ensure the best possible
quality of life for all the citizens of Europe, in the context of demographic change. However,
although there has been a growth of research into quality of life and wellbeing in recent
years, there is still little agreement about how to define these, and how best to measure
them. There is debate about how far Government and others should actively seek to
promote wellbeing, rather than to reduce the factors which damage it. It is particularly
critical to understand how they are affected by the changing shape of the lifespan; how far
notions of wellbeing change with age; and the effects of factors like location, disability,
gender, ethnicity, and life stage. Physical and mental health is a vital contributor and
precondition for wellbeing, but it is not the only, or necessarily the most important
component. There are particular issues about understanding wellbeing among the very old
and those with terminal conditions or limiting disabilities. Research should seek to develop
agreed measures, to explore how they vary between individuals and groups, and how best to
use them to evaluate the impact of policies and practices.
15
For example, our focus on the social implications of demographic change is intended to complement the strong concentration of
the EU Horizon 2020 programme on biomedical issues.
16
The five Working Group reports can be found on the JPI website, at http://www.jp-demographic.eu/
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2. How can we understand the comparative performance of different welfare
models and trajectories
Countries within Europe vary greatly in how they secure the welfare of their citizens. Some
have high levels of public sector support while others have little. What is provided, and who
is supported, varies greatly, as does the mix of public, private and third sector support, and
all these are changing over time, under pressure from changing demography as well as
current budget constraints. It is important to avoid simplistic attempts to transfer models
from one context to another, but there is considerable scope to learn from comparative
studies of which needs and demands are best met by which systems and models. Research
should help us to understand the relative strengths and weaknesses of different models,
how sustainable they are in the longer term; and what elements might be transferable to
other countries or contexts.
3. How can we develop effective models for linking policy areas
Demographic change presents a challenge to traditional models of policymaking. Current
institutional and policy frameworks have grown up for good reasons, but they were often
developed for very different circumstances, and they can sometimes stand in the way of
rational and economic solutions to new problems. Closer relationships between health and
social care may improve the quality of life of older people and reduce costs to the public
purse. Improvements in the design of housing or transport systems may enable people to
remain longer in their own homes, with major savings to social care budgets. Childcare
policies radically affect the ability of many adults to seek regular employment. Research
should explore ways of overcoming such barriers, and evaluating the costs and benefits of
such approaches.
4. How can we ensure that demographic change does not lead to social
polarisation, exclusion, and inequity between generations?
If we seek to secure the welfare of all citizens, it is important to understand how
demographic change impacts on particular groups of people, by factors including: age, class,
occupation, gender, disability, ethnicity and migrant status. A particular issue is how full
advantage may be taken of the complementary capabilities of different groups, especially
across generations, where there is sometimes concern that policies which encourage, for
example, older people to stay longer in the workforce is excluding young people from the
labour market, and by doing so perhaps undermining the long term economic base on which
the welfare of the old depends. A further issue is to understand the long term sustainability
of economic models. For example, pensions systems represent a long term intergenerational
contract, with implications for the distribution of wealth and income running long into the
future. Research here should explore who benefits and who loses, and in what ways, from
demographic change; how inequities can be avoided, and solidarity supported.
5. How can we ensure that all citizens, of all ages, are able to participate fully in
society and economy?
One objective of public policy is to increase the engagement of people in economic and
social activity across the extending lifespan. However, demographic change increases the
size of some groups who have traditionally participated less in society and the economy,
notably, but not only, the old and some migrant groups. We need better understanding of
what factors promote or inhibit engagement by these groups in the full range of activity,
including paid and unpaid work and wider civic roles. Currently, a particular issue is the
exclusion from the labour market of young adults. Research should explore what kinds of
systems, structures and interventions are most effective at engaging and empowering
people, and especially the traditionally excluded groups.
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6. How can we better understand changing models of social and economic
production?
While average healthy lifespan is growing steadily throughout Europe, formal and actual
retirement ages are not keeping pace. The result is a growing body of people in relatively
good health with skills, knowledge and experience to contribute, and a substantial body of
people who do so outside the formal economy, or outside paid work (through formal or
informal voluntary work, including caring for the very old and the very young). At the other
end of the lifecourse youth "unemployment" has been rising, and leading to alternative
forms of work. There is considerable scope for comparative work since services, especially in
social care, are delivered in very different ways in different countries. Because the groups
involved ("unemployed" young adults and older people) are growing rapidly it is important
to understand the relationship between the paid and unpaid production. Research needs to
explore the nature, scale and value of the contribution of older people to society, in both
paid an unpaid roles, and the relationships between the two.
7. How can we ensure that existing and emerging technologies meet the needs
of an ageing population?
Technological and social change are intimately linked, and the former is happening at an
accelerating pace, often in unexpected forms. Some technologies are designed to address
specific problems of an ageing population, but others provide unexpected, benefits or risks.
Mobility scooters are designed to address a specific "demographic" problem, but online
shopping, which enables older people to remain independent in their own homes, were not.
Social networking can help overcome isolation and improve mental health. Workplace
technologies which overcome the physical effort involved in many manual tasks make
extended working life possible for some, and perhaps reduce the likelihood of people
arriving at retirement with work related health conditions. However, many who might
benefit are barred by lack of relevant opportunities to acquire appropriate skills and
confidence, and relevant learning opportunities are needed. Research needs to explore how
existing and emerging technologies can better contribute to the quality of life, contribution,
and social engagement o older people.
In designing research studies in any of these areas, it will be important to retain a focus on:
Practical solutions
Focusing research on "what works", in practical policy terms,
which calls for a closer linkage between policymakers and
researchers;
Promoting innovation
Encouraging innovation social and technical, in research
methodologies, thinking, systems, and models;
Strengthening research
infrastructure and capacity
Strengthening research infrastructure and capacity, especially for
interdisciplinary work;
Improving the quality and
accessibility of data for research
and policymaking
To inform policy and interdisciplinary and comparative studies,
building on the innovative work of the JPI Data Project. To
maintain and update the existing map of data sources; to extend
the work to other EU countries; and to address the gaps and
weaknesses identified in the project report,
We believe that these are the major urgent research issues in need of attention as Europe faces
demographic change. The intention is that, after consultation with the participating countries, a final
agenda will be agreed. This will, in turn form a basis for prioritising and commissioning research, by
national research agencies, individually or in collaboration, and will influence the research agendas of
agencies of the EU.
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7. Research Infrastructure, Capacity, and Data
General infrastructure issues
Much work is being done to improve research infrastructure across Europe, and it is not necessary to
describe this here. However, because demographic change raises research issues which are not only
transnational, but cut across a wide range of scientific disciplines and areas of public policy, it calls, in some
cases, for innovative approaches to research and research infrastructure. Some of the issues identified
include:
Bridging research, policy and practice
Demographic research is intimately linked to public policy. Mechanisms will be needed to
improve the dialogue between researchers, policymakers and practitioners across academic
disciplines and policy fields. Continuing to work within the various “silos” will not achieve the
necessary synergy, not produce the most fruitful outcomes. It is very important to ensure
that research addresses issues of practical importance, without compromising research
quality.
Innovative methodologies
In pursuing research on demographic issues it will be important to explore innovative
approaches to research methods, data gathering and analysis, and comparative indicators,
and to share these among researchers internationally.
Transnational literature reviews
One way in which comparative research can be strengthened is by undertaking transnational
literature reviews. These present an opportunity to identify opportunities for new research
in other countries, but also help to avoid simplistic attempts to transfer practises and policies
between countries. This is a particular issue in the field of demographic change, where the
interaction of policy, practice and research makes it particularly important to include policy
and practitioner literature, which is often not available in English, or found on conventional
academic research sites. Such reviews can provide an important underpinning base for new
research. The model of the Cochrane Collaboration in the Health sector demonstrates what
can be achieved within a particular field.
Development of transnational and interdisciplinary networks
Good comparative work depends critically on good working relationships between
researchers from very different backgrounds. The development and maintenance of
scientific networks to encourage such dialogue is a precondition for such research.
Training of researchers
Research training traditionally takes place in relatively isolated disciplinary forms, and often
only within a national frame. New and experienced researchers can both benefit from
training which exposes them to methodologies and theories from unfamiliar disciplines and
to different cultural contexts, and an understanding of the long term research and policy
objectives. International exchange of researchers through initiatives like the Max Planck
Postdoctoral Fellowships could help with this.
Active engagement of client/subject groups
An important dimension of research on ageing in recent years in some countries has been
the engagement of older people themselves: in identifying research issues and approaches,
and as researchers and co-researchers. This opens new possibilities for innovative and
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sometimes cost effective forms of research, and there is scope for making more and better
use of such approaches, across a wider range of countries.
Institutional capacity building
Transnational, comparative and interdisciplinary research may call for new forms of
organisation and institution.
Links to other European programmes
Some of the issues identified here are also being addressed by other European programmes.
Anything we propose should, of course, be complementary to these.
Data systems and access
Quantitative data sources provides an important underpinning for much research on
demographic issues, yet, because of traditional disciplinary and policy boundaries,
researchers are often unaware of key sources. Because this was seen as an important and
urgent issue, the JPI undertook a "fast track" project to map key data sources in twelve
countries. This provides an important underpinning for much of the research proposed in
the Strategic Research Agenda, and a valuable tool for both researchers and policymakers.
This work and its recommendations is presented below.
Big data
The emergence of "big data" systems for gathering and analysing data opens the possibility
of new kinds of research, especially perhaps in countries with Registry based data systems.
These offer opportunities for new kinds of research, but also raise issues of ethics and
privacy which will need to be considered in designing research approaches.
Pursuing this agenda calls not only for funding for research programmes, but also for relevant
infrastructure. Researchers will come from many scientific fields, and will need training to work in the
interdisciplinary ways which are central to demographic research. European support will be particularly
important to encourage teams working across national boundaries.
The JPI Data Project
The Strategic Research Agenda opens up an extremely wide range of research territories. The JPI General
Assembly recognised a need to establish how adequately current data sources cover the demographic
change agenda. This was important, since evidence-based advice and decision-making depend greatly on
the availability and access to reliable and validated data, and much of the data currently available to
researchers is organised in academic compartments which make interdisciplinary work difficult17. Similarly,
many key sources are national, with limitations of language or access that make comparative work difficult.
Twelve of the JPI participating countries agreed to participate in an exploratory project, and each
nominated and funded a national expert to contribute to a critical review of sources. In all 337 data sources
were identified and analysed, against a set of criteria relating to the demographic change agenda. The
details of the project are in Annex 3.
The broad conclusion of the project report was that while the provision and quality of data on ageing
populations has been improving through the (partially combined) efforts of national and international
statistical offices, non-governmental data providers, and the research community throughout Europe and
abroad, there is still a lack of high-quality information in a number of areas. These shortcomings concern:
access to data; the sub-populations and the topics covered; and to the methodology of surveys. The
following are the Key topics:
17
For example, researchers in health sciences may be unaware of relevant material in urban planning or sociology
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Access to registry data
Some countries have substantial central registers of population data (microdata in a
database gathered usually for administrative purposes). Such data is particularly important in
population research, as it represents a source of current, high-quality records, with excellent
coverage of the resident population. However, in some cases material is only available in the
language of the originating country, and with understandably strong controls on access,
making comparative work difficult for many researchers, especially working internationally.
Missing population groups
A second weakness concerns sampling and coverage of specific population sub-groups. In
many of the surveys and registers, particular sub-groups (notably, the oldest-old, residents
in institutions, people with disabilities, people with chronic diseases, elderly people with
immigrant backgrounds, and people with very low or very high socio-economic status) are
underrepresented. However, much demographic research is particularly interested in these
groups.
The present Strategy has concentrated mainly on the issues affecting the second half of the
lifespan. Future demographic work will need to also consider the position of young people
and young adults.
Missing topics
In terms of coverage of the key topics for demographic research, shortcomings were
identified in a range of areas. These included:

Living arrangements: There was a lack of data on living arrangements, not only of the
elderly, but also of the aggregate population, which limits the ability to study social
and familiar networks.

Mobility and migration: There was little data about mobility within and beyond
Europe, including the mobility of older people. the mobility of the elderly across
countries within and outside of Europe. Data was lacking on both residential
migration and on travel for work and leisure purposes.

Learning and Education: There was very little data on lifelong learning, especially for
older people. Surveys rarely examine the involvement of older people in lifelong
learning and training activities, especially when these are not related to employment
or formal qualifications.

Use of technologies: Data on assisted living, and on use of information and
communication technologies, especially by older people, was also scarce.

Wellbeing: Here data is available at the national and the international levels, but it is
often fragmented and stems from surveys which differ in scope and time. Rarely do
they combine objective and subjective components. Very few, if any, surveys are
specifically focused on the wellbeing of older people.

Attitudes to age: Another shortcoming is the absence of data on individual attitudes
towards and societal images of old age, either on how older people are perceived or
how they perceive themselves. Data is also sparse on age discrimination, and on
individuals' attitudes to, and expectations of, ageing and retirement.
Methodological issues
The project identified a number of methodological shortcomings.

Incomplete data: Important databases and surveys with a high degree of
international recognition remained incomplete and fragmentary, and can thus be
only partially used or will soon become out-dated.
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
Delays in publication: In a number of cases, the preparation and the harmonisation
of data takes a long time, which may result in a delayed release of data, thus limiting
its policy relevance.

Methodological diversity: A further shortcoming of the existing data infrastructure is
its methodological diversity. Data is not always homogenous and thoroughly
comparable due to the use of differing definitions, methodological concepts, and
analytical instruments. The harmonisation and conceptualisation problems, along
with differences in the timing of data collection periods, limit comparative research
and options for linkage across databases and countries.
Geographical coverage
Another concern relates to the great variety among the member states in terms of the
geographical coverage of the available register and survey data. There are two Key topics:

Multiple levels of collection: Collection of data at a variety of administrative levels –
national, regional and municipal sometimes lead to fragmented data sources.

Regional diversity: In countries where autonomous or linguistically diverse regions
exist, register and survey data are frequently collected at the regional level. This data
is not always harmonised, and might therefore be neither comparable nor
compatible.
Risk to future data
In times of economic recession and budget constraints, especially as the pressure on state
budgets is increasing due to continuously rising age-related expenditures, there is an
increased risk that fewer resources will be devoted to research and data collection. Some of
the project participants expressed concerns that surveys might be dropped from
programmes or reduced due to funding limitations. Furthermore, trends towards
multipurpose data collection and surveys covering the general population (instead of
specifically targeted populations) have been observed. While these changes may save money
and use resources more efficiently, they might also jeopardise the level of detail and the
explanatory power of the collected data. As a consequence, costs may still increase if
information is needed later for research projects or policy interventions tailored to a
specifically targeted population sub-group.
Maintaining the data map
The Data Project created a new and innovative map of data sources, of great potential value
to researchers and policymakers, especially where they are working across disciplines or
policy areas, within their own countries or transnationally.
However, in time the material will become out of date as surveys change or cease, and
questions and sampling methodologies change. It is important that some resource is found
to allow the periodic (perhaps annual) updating of the map, if it is it remain relevant and
useful. It would also be desirable to extend its reach to other countries .
While a substantial amount of work was required to create and populate the website on the
initial 12 participating countries, updating, by a well informed national expert, is a relatively
modest task, since major national surveys do not change greatly from year to year. On the
other hand, adding new countries would involve substantial costs to that country, although
this might be cheaper than the original project, since some of the methodological issues
have been resolved.
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8. Conclusion
"More Years: Better Lives" is an example of ‘Joint Programming’, where a group of European countries and
Canada have come together to address a shared set of policy and research challenges. It provides a
framework to enable those countries, and others, to address issues which cannot be resolved through
national programmes alone.
This Strategic Research Agenda sets out a shared strategic approach to support world-class research which
can exploit emerging scientific opportunities, confront barriers to progress, and provide new approaches to
prevention, intervention and care. It explores the full spectrum of research and approaches that are
required to achieve impact, recognising the important role that other stakeholder groups have in delivering
this agenda, and complementing the work of other European and national agencies in this field. It identifies
26 major research topics, and 7 urgent priorities for research.
Demographic change presents Europe with a complex range of issues, challenges and opportunities, and
the 2020 Strategic Agenda commits all Member States to the pursuit of "smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth" across the EU. If smart policymaking is successful, the result could be both a sustainable economy
and improved quality of life for all people of all ages. It would enable older people to remain active and
contributing members of wider society for longer; and ensure that those at greatest risk, from poor health
and social exclusion, are protected. Achieving this will depend on long term strategic thinking and
policymaking, based on good evidence. Such evidence can be built through rigorous research drawing on a
range of academic disciplines, and making full use of the comparative perspectives which European
collaboration can provide. Gathering this evidence, and relating it to the policy challenges is the purpose of
the present strategy.
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9. Annexes
Annex 1 - The JPI process
A Joint Programming Initiative is a research coordination activity between Member States and other
countries, which have volunteered to share ideas in order to develop a common research agenda. In the
light of the responses to the public consultation on this draft agenda, the General Assembly of the JPI will
revise and publish a final version. It will then consider whether and how to pursue particular topics
The agenda is not a conventional "research programme" to which researchers can bid for funds. Rather, the
intention is that it will help to shape the funding priorities of national and European agencies, including the
partners who served on the JPI General Assembly.
The agenda may be carried forward in a variety of ways including:

European research calls;

Transnational expert networks;

Collaborative funding between member states or their research funding bodies;
 Programmes organized by individual states alone.
An example of collaboration between member states is the Demographic Data project outlined above.
Here, 12 Member States participating in the JPI agreed that reviewing the adequacy of data sources to
support demographic research was a shared and urgent priority. Each participating state appointed, and
funded, its own researcher to join a collaborative team, and one of the partners18 agreed to fund central
coordination. The project produced two outcomes:

a map of resource on demographic data - now available to all researchers and policymakers
describing the nature, strengths and weaknesses of the principal data sources in relevant topic
areas in each country and at European and international levels;

a critical review of the strengths and weaknesses of current data sources, to inform the work of the
JPI and data agencies at national and European levels.
This demonstrates one way in which such transnational collaboration can be effective. The aim is that this
agenda will encourage more such attempts.
18
In this case the German Federal Government.
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Annex 2 – the Foresight priorities and this Agenda
The analysis of current Foresight projects across the JPI member states was reviewed by a group of
Foresight specialists not involved in the present JPI. The priorities they propose are listed below, with their
location in the present Strategy.
Foresight priority topics
Location in this JPI strategy
biomarkers for early diagnosis of cognitive decline and
dementia,
This is being addressed in a number of
current research programmes, and not
therefore a priority for this JPI
the role of networks (nursing care in combination with
voluntary services) which offer supporting services to assist
people in self-monitoring, self-treatment and self-care,
"Sustainable Welfare"
research on the development of the population’s value
orientation towards older people, health and retirement
from a generational perspective,
"Quality of life, health and wellbeing"
research on sustainability of public finances in general
"Sustainable Welfare" domain.
and research on robots which help to strengthen the
autonomy of older people in managing their daily routines.
"Quality of life, health and wellbeing"
the need to address the gap in basic skills (literacy and
numeracy) to enhance the employability of people with few
qualifications,
"Economic and Social Production"
research on ways and methods to flexibilise infrastructures
at a technical level (energy, transport, water, information
and communication).
not included in the present strategy
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Annex 3 – The JPI Data Project
The Strategic Research Agenda opens up an extremely wide range of research territories. The JPI General
Assembly recognised that the issue of data merited particularly urgent attention, since evidence-based
advice and decision-making depend greatly on the availability and access to reliable and validated data.
However, much of the data currently available to researchers is organised in academic compartments
which make interdisciplinary work difficult19. Similarly, many key sources are national, with limitations of
language or access that make comparative work difficult.
Twelve of the JPI participating countries agreed to participate in an exploratory project. Each financed an
expert to produce a national report, identifying the key national quantitative data sources in ten
demography-relevant policy fields against a common template. The ten areas were:
Health and performance
Social systems and welfare
Work and productivity
Education and learning
Housing, urban development and mobility
Public attitudes to old age
Social, civic and cultural engagement
Uses of technology
Wellbeing
Intergenerational relationships
Each national expert identified the key data sources used in his or her country against each of the ten
headings. Each then produced a narrative report, with a critical review of the quality and usefulness of each
data source, and completed a detailed matrix, covering issues like sampling methods and sample sizes,
access, key strengths and weaknesses. Alongside this, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research,
which coordinated the project, produced a similar report on European and International sources.
By the end of the JPI Data Mapping Project, a total of 337 national and European-wide data sources had
been described and evaluated. The resulting body of evidence has been assembled in an open access
European website20, which will enable researchers and policymakers to quickly identify the best sources of
data on major policy issues related to demography in any of the participating countries, and to understand
their strengths and weaknesses.
The website also includes the narrative country reports, which provide a critical review of the range of data
available on relevant issues in that country, and the overall project report which reviews general issues
about the usefulness of available data on demographic issues.
19
For example, researchers in health sciences may be unaware of relevant material in urban planning or sociology
20
www.jpi-dataproject.eu
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Annex 4 – JPI Participating countries
The following countries are participants in the Joint Programming Initiative – "More Years: Better Lives".
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
UK
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