Background
The starting point for this ambitious collaborative project was based on the goals set by:
Horizon 2020 concerning the demographic challenge facing Europe, the necessity of improving lifelong health and well-being for all and the promotion of social innovation.
The European Innovation Partnership Pilot Project on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIPAHA) to raise average healthy life expectancy in Europe by two years by 2020.
MOPACT was framed on the basis of a conviction that Europe requires a new paradigm of ageing if it is to respond adequately to these challenges in the context of open-ended longevity. Also, this paradigm must be embedded into responses to ageing at all levels – micro, meso and macro – if it is to be effective. This means a new paradigm of active and healthy ageing (hereafter active ageing) that rejects the deficit model of old age as a definite period of economic dependency.
The mission of MOPACT was to concentrate the highest possible quality of scientific analyses into the development of innovative policies and approaches that can assist public authorities and other key actors at all levels in Europe to make longevity an asset for social and economic development, which has been spelt out by the EC Commissioners for Research and Social affairs.
I want to refocus research and innovation policies very clearly on developing a coherent strategic research agenda which will tackle the grand societal challenges, which include both the promotion of healthy living and healthy ageing.
– Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, 2010
Active ageing could turn the baby boomers into part of the solution to the demographic challenge instead of being a problem. That is why Europe 2020 stresses the need to ensure that the elderly remain healthy and active for as long as possible.
– Lászlo Andor, 2010
Drawing on previous research and especially the recently completed FUTURAGE project the core endeavour of MOPACT was to operationalise the multidimensional concept of active ageing as the basis on which longevity can be made an asset for social and economic development.
To this end we marshalled a large multi-disciplinary hand-picked team of leading experts reaching far beyond social sciences and humanities, as well as stakeholders and the representatives of older people in Europe. The size of the MOPACT team reflected the scale of the challenge presented by the Call.
These resources were harnessed to produce the most comprehensive research and analysis ever undertaken on this topic. It provided Europe with the evidence base it needs to frame responses to population ageing, at all levels, to transform the understanding and experience of ageing, and to develop new approaches, services and products designed to contribute to economic and social development. Moreover these analyses reflected the austerity conditions in some EU member states following the financial crisis.