Innovation: Hakisa

France and Germany

AAI Domains:

• Capacity and enabling environment (use of ICT)

• Participation in society (inter-generational activity, social connectedness, voluntary activity)

Hakisa.com is a free intergenerational web platform that allows older users challenged by the digital divide to benefit from the advantages of the world wide web using a personal computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Hakisa was established in Strasbourg in 2011 by two internet entrepreneurs, Eric Gehl and Olivier Audouze, with a beta-version launched in 2012 and a fully functioning and constantly developing version introduced in 2013.

Hakisa has has attracted funds for scaling up from a variety of public and private sources and works in partnership with a wide range of organisations across Alsace and the Lower Rhine. The Hakisa approach provides an innovative cloud based solution for the silver economy reinforcing an essential component of ageing: the social link. Hakisa is free for silver surfers and their relatives and the platform also offers, for a very low monthly fee, an open interface and market place for medical and social professionals through premium and branded accounts to store appointments and notes for the older client/patient.

Hakisa works in partnership with Abrapa, a social enterprise that provides health and social care services across Alsace and the Lower Rhine region. Abrapa has all the necessary medical and social caregiver competencies in addition to human resources on the ground to help us build a complete digital social link solution. Hakisa brings to the table its Cloud Computing, Social Networks and Digital Mediation expertise.

Hakisa aims to narrow the digital divide through web solidarity by developing a private social network and as well as providing open interfaces to health and social care services. A key feature of Hakisa is the concept of the ‘Musher,’ a sled dog, which is used to describe more experienced internet users who voluntarily support older people who have little or no knowledge of the web. The Mushers supplement the online tutorials and provide online support and social interaction for older people.

There are now more than 20,000 people across the Alsace and Lowe Rhine region who have signed up with Hakisa which operates in French, German and English language versions with plans for other languages as it scales up. Hakisa has applications, such as Facebook, that enables older people to share their experiences and to interact with friends. There are also social groups, usually revolving around leisure activities, that also enable social interaction.

In terms of active ageing, Hakisa offers older people and user-friendly and supported means of using ICT to improve social connectedness. There are also potential benefits for the Mushers who volunteer their experience and time to support older people who have less knowledge about using the internet. Furthermore, there are also improved arrangements for access to health and social care services for older people and their carers that are likely to enable older people to age in place in their own home for as long as possible if that is what they wish to do.

Hakisa website