Archived News
| Progress Report Period: September 1997-September 1999 |
|
The start The society was officially established on September 9,1997 with a symposium and some festivities at the premises of the Gesellschaft für Gerontechnik in Iserlohn Germany. Some 100 people from all over Europe attended the official start of the society. It was agreed that the first board would consist of Vappu Taipale (president), Richard Pieper (vice-president) and Jan Graafmans (secretary general and treasurer). The executive board had its first meeting on August 27,1999 with the following agenda: Meeting of the executive board Date: August 27/28, 1999, 12.30 pm (lunch meeting) Place: STAKES, Helsinki and as of 16.00 pm: Pikkukoskentie 20 Attendance: Vappu Taipale, Richard Pieper, Jan Graafmans Agenda
Activities During the past two years some newsletters have been produced and distributed along an extended mailing list of some 600 addresses. The society now has his own website (www.gerontechnology.org) which is still under construction. In the near future the website will be used for distribution of the newsletter and only every now and then hard copies will be made for those members who do not have a direct access to the internet. In the beginning of 1998 the conference book of the second international conference was published. It was after the conference in Helsinki that the society decided that only a book of abstracts would not do justice to the further development of the field of gerontechnology. The society made a deal with the publisher (IOS Press) that members of the society and attendants of the conference could order the book through the society for a very strongly reduced price of 50 EURO. On the occasion of his retirement on March 26, 1999 as director of the Institute for Gerontechnology, professor Herman Bouma has been awarded the first honorary membership of the International Society for Gerontechnology. During the last 10 years of his professional career, he has been a very active promoter and developer of the field of gerontechnology, an activity that for sure will not stop due to a formal retirement. The society has agreed to continue the development of educational materials in a standing committee on education as soon as the GENIE (Gerontechnology Education Network In Europe) project has expired. This project is funded by the European Commission, SOCRATES, DG XXII, for three years starting from September 1998. In the project, over 40 institutes and organizations jointly work on the development of higher education material for students and professionals with an interest in ageing and technology. Until now the society has two institutional members (Institute for Gerontechnology Eindhoven with 42 and STAKES, Helsinki with 23 members), 35 individual members and one honorary member. See the attached list of memberships. INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR GERONTECHNOLOGY Institutional members STAKES TU-Eindhoven Individual members Honorary members |
