IBM, Universities Collaborate on Technology Tools to Assist Older Workers

IBM has announced that it is collaborating with researchers at the University of Dundee School of Computing (UK) and the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine to develop open source software technology tools to accommodate the needs of older workers to help them adapt to and remain productive in the changing workplace of the 21st century. In particular, the focus is to support maturing workers who have age-related disabilities by finding new ways to increase their comfort level and ability to use technology, to develop and integrate structures, systems, tools, and processes that facilitate the inclusion of more people, irrespective of their age, abilities or personal challenges.

"This collaboration is a superb opportunity for the group in Dundee to apply our wide experience of research with older people, and of developing better ways of accessing technology, in an exciting new transatlantic partnership with IBM and the Miller Medical School in Miami," said Professor Peter Gregor, Head of the School of Computing at the University of Dundee. "The open source focus makes the challenges particularly rewarding because it means that knowledge gained and systems developed will be available freely to the people who need them and to other developers."

Source: IBM Press Release (November 18, 2007)