Innovation: Festival of the Third Age

Slovenia

AAI Domains:

• Employment (employment rate)

• Independent, healthy and secure living (lifelong learning)

• Participation in society (political participation)

As societies age there is a growing demand for innovative products and services that meet the needs of older people now and an increasing interest in active ageing across the generations. Older people want to lead fulfilling and healthy lives for as long as possible and the importance of inter-generational relations becomes ever more important as the number and proportion of older people increases. These are important social trends and issues that require public involvement and understanding if they are to be addressed equitably and efficiently because they affect everybody regardless of their age.

The growing importance of the Third Age in society has been recognised in a variety of ways and a fine example of this process is the Festival of the Third Age (F3A) held annually in Ljubljana in Slovenia since 2000. The F3A is the largest such festival in Europe and is a vibrant mixture of events that celebrate and deliberate on the issues facing people of all ages in ageing societies such as Slovenia, other European states and the wider world.

These events include an expert programme that is devoted to a particular theme such as lifelong learning and inter-generational activity in the information society. This considered how e-services will affect older people and developing better ways of integrating modern technology into everyday life to enable active ageing.

The educational programme provides public lectures, workshops and round tables on relevant topics such as healthy eating habits, lifestyle choices and a wide variety of health topics related to ageing. The festival is animated by the cultural programme that provides a wide variety of activities under the motto ‘we are all one generation.’ The cultural and educational programmes come together in the exhibition centre that includes a number of thematic parks where scores of organisations present their products and services for better living in the third age.

The themed parks in the exhibition included

• health

• healthy diet and sustainable lifestyles

• tourism

• sports and leisure

• lifelong learning and education

• banking and insurance

• information society

• mobility

• traffic and traffic safety

• the demand and supply of older people for paid work

The F3A aims to foster the development of inter-generational activities and cooperation and to stimulate the entrepreneurial environment for older people in the Silver Economy through the development of new models of services and products for older people including how ambient assisted living technologies can enable social participation of older people.

In relation to active ageing indicators, the Festival of the Third Age is relevant to increasing the employment rate by encouraging the entrepreneurial activities of older people. It is a forum for political participation in the broadest sense of the term as people of all ages come together to listen, learn, debate and discuss issues that face ageing societies.

There are abundant opportunities for lifelong learning throughout the festival and beyond it with representation from a range of organisations such as the University of the Third Age and associations working in the fields of learning, volunteering, active leisure and returning to work.