Can you design age-friendly tech?
Digitalization is speeding up. Many services, including essential services such as banking, are moving online.
We are aging and slowing down. Our eyesight may weaken, and it gets harder to learn new things or simply to remember what we once knew by heart (such as passwords).
This mismatch takes away our independence, even when technology is meant to empower. It’s time to design technology that doesn’t leave users behind as we age.
SilverTech is designed with the lifelong human experience in mind.
Join the SilverTech Hackathon!
Form and register your team with at least one person who is 65 years or older. Teams can be two or more people.
Identify a problem that older tech users face or a problem that technology can be applied to in order to increase independence.
Outline the solution in a pitch deck of 15 slides or less.
Submit your pitch deck by midnight on 30 September 2025.
Top submissions will be invited to a live pitch event in front of a panel of judges and an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, and professionals from the public and private sectors on 23 October 2025?
3 winners will receive mentorship to build their ideas!
EU Silver Economy: A €5.7 tn opportunity
What’s your idea? Investors want to hear it!
Is there a better way to secure accounts than with passwords that keep growing in length and complexity?
Can user interfaces for websites and apps be easier to navigate?
What about a simple mobile phone that still has easily accessible essential functions?
What about technology that keeps elders safe while ensuring their privacy?
Read the European Commission’s 2018 Report “The Silver Economy”.
Let’s age-proof our future.
Interested in pitching your SilverTech solution? Register below. Then e-mail your pitch deck (no more than 15 slides) before midnight (Lisbon time) on 30 September 2025 to: submissions@silvertechlx.com.
SilverTech Hackathon FAQs
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Identify an existing tech-related problem affecting the aging population, and propose a financially-sustainable solution that allows aging tech users to continue to independently use technology (software or hardware) or access digital services for as long as possible.
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A pitch deck of no more than 15 slides that:
describes the problem
outlines the proposed solution, estimates the resources needed, cost, and potential revenue stream
answers: How scalable is this? In other words, what is its potential impact?
introduces each team member
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Anyone can form a team of 2 or more members, with at least one member who is 65 years or older.
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Pitch decks must be e-mailed by midnight (Lisbon time) on 30 September 2025 to: submissions@silvertechlx.com. Top submissions will be shortlisted for a live pitch in front of a panel of judges and audience of potential investors, to be held in Lisbon on 23 October 2025.
Who We Are
We are a group of Lisbon-based INSEAD alumni, who want to bring to life to our alma mater’s vision of business being “a force for good.”
We are all aware that the population across the developed economies is aging. However, as digital transformation speeds up, older users are finding it hard to keep up and are losing independent access to essential services such as banking.
Developers and designers of new products and services tend to be from the younger generation, who often are not yet aware of the distinctive set of needs and limitations facing aging users.
For this reason, we are seeking to enlist multigenerational teams to participate in the Hackathon as a way to brainstorm solutions.
We hope this event will inspire the younger generation to seize the opportunities that the growing global silver economy presents. At the same time, we hope companies will see opportunities to invest in ensuring their products and services meet the changing needs of their aging customers.
Help us
Think this is a useful idea? Here’s how you can help us:
Promote the Hackathon within your network
Score and shortlist submissions
Judge at the Final Pitch
Mentor and support winning teams
Your idea here
Fill out the form and we will be in touch shortly.
We can’t wait to hear from you!