Research & innovation

From research to real-world impact

Great ideas need the right people, partnerships and opportunities to become solutions.

The AgeTech LaunchPad Toronto aims to bring together researchers, trainees, older adults, caregivers, community organizations, and partners across sectors to address complex challenges associated with aging and caregiving. The four broad priority areas below are intended to capture the breadth of disciplines, perspectives, and approaches that contribute to the AgeTech ecosystem, while creating opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, research, and innovation.

Across all four areas, the LaunchPad will support work that responds to the diverse needs, experiences, and priorities of older adults and caregivers throughout the life course. This includes supporting health, well-being, autonomy, and quality of life; adapting to changing abilities and circumstances; and addressing transitions across homes, communities, health and social care settings, and palliative and end-of-life care.

Who should get involved?

We welcome researchers and faculty from every U of T campus, discipline, and affiliated institution whose work can contribute to healthy aging. You do not need to identify primarily as an “AgeTech researcher”; many of the strongest opportunities will emerge at the intersections of disciplines and sectors. To find and match with researchers, laboratories and groups from across the University of Toronto and its affiliated hospitals, explore the AgeTech LaunchPad Expertise Finder.

Membership is a formal, renewable relationship with an individual, not merely a mailing-list subscription, governance appointment or organizational partnership. There is no individual fee.

Members participate in at least one substantive activity each year, maintain their profile, acknowledge LaunchPad support and share relevant outputs or impact.

Join our membership

Our research approach

Together, principles and priority areas will guide the LaunchPad's approach to research and innovation, partnership development, knowledge mobilization, and ecosystem-building.

Priority areas

The priority areas are intentionally broad and complementary. They are intended to encourage connections across disciplines and sectors, rather than prescribe specific research topics or limit the scope of potential collaborations.

1. Cognitive health, mental wellness & care support

Improving brain health, psychological health, and quality of life, while strengthening support for caregivers and the care workforce across changing needs and stages of care.

Illustrative scope: Prevention, dementia and brain health, rehabilitation, mental health, integrated care, caregiver support, new approaches to care delivery, care transitions, and palliative and end-of-life care.

Woman and older man reviewing content on laptop

2. Health & social care systems, policy & economy

Creating the conditions needed for effective AgeTech solutions, services, and policies to be developed, adopted, and sustained across health, social care, and community systems.

Illustrative scope: Policy and regulation, data governance, procurement, workforce and service transformation, care coordination and transitions, economic and business models, communication and knowledge translation, and responsible technology adoption and implementation.

3. Homes, communities & connection

Enabling older adults to live safely, independently, and meaningfully in their homes and communities, with opportunities for connection, participation, and support across changing needs and circumstances.

Illustrative scope: Aging in place, housing and community-based care, accessible and inclusive environments, social connection, digital inclusion, community participation, culturally responsive supports, and transitions between home, community, and care settings.

4. Mobility, function & active participation

Supporting mobility, everyday function, autonomy, and participation across changing abilities, environments, and stages of life.

Illustrative scope: Transportation, falls prevention, exercise, navigation, rehabilitation, assistive technologies, robotics, adaptive devices, and support for daily activities and participation across home, community, and care settings.

Guiding principles

Across all four priority areas, the AgeTech LaunchPad will foster an inclusive, collaborative, and responsible ecosystem grounded in the lived experiences and priorities of older adults, caregivers, and communities guided by the following principles:

Equity, diversity, inclusion, and cultural safety: Recognizing the diverse experiences of aging and caregiving, addressing systemic barriers, and fostering culturally safe, accessible, and inclusive research and innovation.

Responsible research and innovation: Considering accessibility, affordability, privacy, informed consent, bias, data stewardship, and broader ethical implications throughout the development, evaluation, and implementation of research and technology.

Meaningful engagement, co-design, and co-creation: Involving older adults, caregivers, and community partners as active contributors in shaping research questions, developing solutions, and evaluating outcomes. Building meaningful partnerships with communities will help ensure that research and innovation respond to real-world priorities and experiences.

Shared learning and collective impact: Creating opportunities for researchers, trainees, community partners, and other ecosystem members to exchange knowledge, share experiences, build relationships, and learn from one another. The LaunchPad will foster a culture of shared learning in which insights and lessons from individual projects can benefit the broader ecosystem.

Interdisciplinarity and collaboration: Bringing together diverse disciplines, sectors, and forms of expertise to address complex challenges that cannot be solved by any one field alone.