Captain’s table | Aging (by invitation only)
By 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%. This is accompanied by an increase in typical chronic age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, and functioning problems such as gait and balance problems, leading to an increased risk of fall incidents.
This will cause an increase in health costs and a strain on our healthcare system. Research into and innovations that intervene with aging processes are therefore highly needed. Optimal cooperation between research institutes, companies, and care actors is of crucial importance to exchange the available knowledge and expertise.
The healthy aging research consortium of Hasselt University (hARC) therefore aims to establish an innovative knowledge hub on aging at the Health Campus. This will enable collaborations and will function as a pole of attraction for companies focusing on aging and age-related diseases.
During this captain’s table, we want to address the following questions:
How can we bridge the gap between scientific research and clinical trials (practice) in aging research?
Subsidiary questions we can discuss:
- What are the current hurdles for companies having R&D programs related to ‘aging’ or age-related diseases?
- What are the needs of industry stakeholders: what kind of expertise, resources and facilities -regarding aging research – are biotech/pharma companies looking for (at the Health Campus)?
- How can we get academic leads in aging research over the valley of death?
- UHasselt would like to explore whether its novel aging initiatives are also valuable as services to industrial stakeholders and investors. If so, what kind of criteria should they meet
