IBM is working with academics to create tools to relieve an aging workforce

A new initiative funded by IBM is bringing two academic partners together to develop software technology tools that will enable older people to work for longer.

The scheme intends to relieve the problems connected with an ageing workforce and the difficulties experienced by companies and government organisations, which lose valuable skills when older workers retire.

Researchers at the University of Dundee School of Computing and the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine are working together to develop open source technology tools to accommodate older worker’s needs. The technology will be freely available for government and agencies to access.

“The project will target both training and collaboration technologies, with an eye to the unique needs of older works,” said the project report.

Norman Alm, University of Dundee senior lecturer, said the reason IBM is coordinating, supporting and funding the programme is because they have an interest in bringing about tools to increase the economic part played by the older workforce.

People are living longer and might have economic reasons for working another 20 years after the age of retirement, said Alm.

The project is part of IBM’s Open Collaborative Research (OCR) programme that connects IBM and university research and makes the results available as open source software code.