| Sumario: | ISSUE The Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) was founded in 1999 and is funded by the National Institute on Aging (National Institutes of Health; POI AG01 7211). This interdisciplinary team of psychologists and engineers focuses on the design and deployment of technology by aging adults. CONTENT Our symposium presents an overview of recent and expected technology advancements as well as CREATE research findings in the domains of healthcare, social engagement, and leisure activities. STRUCTURE Charness will provide an analysis of trends in technology development and their implications for Gerontechnology. He will discuss the implications of miniaturization of technology products and acceleration of diffusion rates. Czaja will focus on the role of technology in supporting healthcare for older adults. She will describe research in telemedicine and in health websites to illustrate the potential as well as the challenges of technology design to support healthcare activities for older adults. Rogers will discuss technology support for social engagement. She will review research from the PRISM project, social networking, and video chat for older adults. This research demonstrates the potential benefits of social engagement technology, along with the requisite design and training requirements for this target population. Boot will present technology to support leisure activities. He will describe research on videogames and the lessons learned about the potential to engage older adults in this pleasurable activity (and perhaps increase their use of technology more broadly). Professor Helianthe Kort, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (and Eindhoven University of Technology), will act as the discussant, bringing a European perspective on this 20-year retrospective of CREATE contributions to technology that supports that activities and goals of older adults. CONCLUSION Throughout the course of the CREATE research program, much has been learned about the needs and preferences of older adults; design requirements for successful technology support; the necessity of proper instruction and training; and the value of technology tools for older adults for all facets of life from healthcare to social engagement to general leisure activities. This interdisciplinary collaboration has generated evidence-based guidelines for designing, training, and deploying of gerontechnology products to enhance quality of life for older adults. Time will be provided for general discussion with the audience at the symposium regarding future directions and challenges for design of emerging technologies in the future.
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