The move by AARP into online social networking that I wrote about last October is complete. The site’s Community section is live, and AARP officials at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit this week in Washington, D.C. say it’s off to a good start. Since I first wrote about this move by AARP, the competitive threat from Eons has eased off, with traffic there falling back sharply. AARP still seems game to make a go of it. Conference-goers at a workshop on social networking seemed generally befuddled about the topic, although a fair number raised their hands when a panelist asked how many are on Facebook (perhaps a sign that Facebook isn’t long for this world?).

The top three topics discussed at What’s Next this year: caregiving, social networking and financing longevity. Author Gail Sheehy gave a preview of the book she is researching on caregiving, which promises to change the national conversation on this topic. Sheehy spoke at length–and will be writing–about her own experience as caregiver for her husband, legendary magazine editor Clay Felker. The narrative-style book she plans to write will be a breakthrough compared with most of the dry stuff available now on caregiving.

What’s Next is a pre-conference for the gigantic Aging in America conference staged by the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging. I’m at that event this week and will have lots of posts–including video on this site and over at RetirementRevised over the next couple of weeks.

Intel Corp. is one of several major companies developing technology products aimed at helping people age in place and stay connected with health care providers. The products are in research phase at this point, but have the potential to have a significant impact on quality of life and yield huge savings in health care costs as the population ages. The market potential is enormous: in a 2004 study, Forrester Research projected the overall market for personal medical monitoring could blossom to $34 billion by 2015.

Others working in this area include MIT’s Age Lab, Philips, ADT and Qualcomm.

Intel’s Health Systems Research Lab is working on sensor networks tied to software applications that can monitor a patient’s condition in the home—and provide connectivity solutions to link the patient to health providers, family members and others. Steve Agritelley, who directs the Laboratory, presented at the What’s Next conference this past week; we sat down with him to ask a few questions about Intel’s strategy and plans.

Steve, can you describe the underlying strategy and vision behind Intel’s push into home healthcare?

We know people want to age in place and stay connected to family and healthcare providers. From a people-centric perspective, those are the highest objectives. From a clinical perspective, we are looking to define behavioral markers. So, akin to a biomarker, which is a genetic or chemical indication of disease, we are looking for behaviors we can measure and then correlate to detection or onset of disease. So, for example, there have been studies showing that people who have a greater level of cognitive decline also have a rate of walking speed that is significantly more variable than those who have lower rates of cognitive decline. We are trying to figure out if we can measure those.

So far, your work has been limited to real life testing in about 20 or so homes. Do you plan to scale that up?

For Intel proper, those are the numbers. We have an important partnership with the Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU), and they are expanding those numbers. They have one test with upwards of 300 homes. Intel will scale up its numbers, mainly through partnerships like that.

Intel has described these products as cost-savers in the cost of delivering health care. How so?

We know that over time, the number of health care providers is going to be more scarce—especially nurses and caregivers. This technology may be able to make healthcare providers more efficient, and provide conveniences to patients. There are potential cost savings here.

How far are we from seeing these products introduced as commercial products for use in the home?

It’s difficult to say. One reason we need to scale up our work with universities is to accelerate that research and demonstrate the possible positive outcomes.

Does Intel see these products as being paid for through health insurance programs?

That depends on the specifics. If we have a diagnostic tool that helps the doctor do his job, it’s possible the doctor will purchase the products for their own use. If we have something that creates cost efficiencies for certain agencies, it’s possible payers may be reimbursed. But we have to have the clinical findings.

How did Intel get interested in this research?

We have a team of ethnographers. It’s been around a number of years—it’s a well-kept secret that Intel has one of the largest groups of ethnographers in the industry. And part of this started five or six years ago with that team’s work looking at requirements for the coming digital home. Today we understand the digital home to be about entertainment –connectivity with movies and so forth–but at the time we didn’t know what the concept meant. So we were poking on it. And what we heard from consumers was, ‘If you can do this with our entertainment media, can you also connect me to my mom? I need to be connected to her.’ We saw that we could use some of these connective technologies to provide a means for informal caregiving and healthcare. That’s the genesis of this research.

What’s the estimated impact on Intel’s business? How large will the home health technology business be, ultimately?

Right now the revenue projections are quite small but we know this demographic is growing. This is a business opportunity as well as an opportunity to positively impact the lives of people. With that in mind, the commitment is there from the company to see where this goes and push it forward.

I’m a little late posting highlights from this week’s What’s Next Boomer Business Summit. My excuse: no wi-fi at the conference (note to conference organizers: let’s get with the progam next year). FH Boom has a good write-up of some of the session highlights; meanthile, the panel I moderated on 50+ entrepreneurship had great energy and produced a couple of good nuggets. . .

Market trends

Jeff Williams, head coach at Bizstarters set it up with some background on 50+ entrepreneurial trends. “If not for boomer startups we would have had a decline in startups last year. There were 660,000 startups in the U.S.—more than even the peak of the dot-com boom. A lot of it is fueled by 50-plusers.”

Jeff’s company sees Boomer start-ups falling into three main areas:

1. Service-based businesses. “This is far and away the most popular area. One of the big mega-trends is large corporations that today will outsource virtually any function, right up to the corporate treasurer. Nothing is sacrosanct. You can provide those outsourced services.”

2. Web-enabled retailing. “Some start on Ebay and evolve to something else. But it’s become more competitive and difficult to differentiate yourself there. So we’re seeing more independent startups.”

3. Consultancies. This area is declining somewhat, Jeff says. “When a client comes to me and says ‘I want to be a consultant,’ I ask, ‘Why? What is your specific capability that makes you want to go this route? We discourage a lot of people from some from going into consulting through our evaluation process.”

Raising money

Mary Furlong noted that VCs are backing healthcare start-ups. “They are looking for market opportunity and the quality of the team. So, build a diverse team. Have a boomer entrepreneur but diversify so you have the latest thinking out of the University of Chicago school of business.”

Amy Hilliard, founder of ComfortCakes Company, points boomer entrepreneurs toward angel investors as an alternate source of capital. “They don’t require the same payout as a venture capitalist. They look at track record and your customers.” Jeff Williams agreed. “Angels provide five times the capital that VCs do. Get involved with a matching service that puts entrepreneurs together with angel investors. The truth is, many people who tell you they need $5 million n venture capital don’t have a clue—they’re just throwing out a figure. A lot of really good businesses can be launched for a couple hundred thousand and grown into multimillion businesses. And particularly here in the Midwest it’s very difficult to get VC money.”

I’ll be posting updates from two important 50+ conferences in Chicago next week:

• The What’s Next Boomer Business Summit
• The Joint Conference of the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging

At What’s Next, some of the promising sessions include a panel on how the media cover aging and Boomers, and in-depth tracks on health, personal finance and lifestyles. I’ll be moderating a panel discussion on 50+ entrepreneurship featuring entrepreneurial coach Jeff Williams and entrepreneur Amy Hilliard, founder and CEO of Chicago-based ComfortCake Company. Rounding out the group will be Mary Furlong, CEO of Mary Furlong & Associates. The conference agenda is here.

The ASA/NCOA event is overwhelming–over 900 presentations covering 50 different topical areas. I’m planning to cover sessions on housing, 50+ workers, community service and new consumer research on the Boomer market. I’ll also be presenting on entrepreneurship. Information on the event is here.

More than 5 million Americans over age 50 are self-employed, AARP reports, and they account for 40 percent of the self-employed work force. But entrepreneurship poses unique challenges that can be very different from corporate life. I’m offering up tips from career coaches and experts in a Chicago Sun-Times guest op-ed article today. The piece is linked to a panel I’ll be moderating at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit next week.

Mary Furlong has been watching the Boomer generation closely since the mid-1980s, when she founded Third Age Media, a pioneering website focused on lifestage transitions. Today, Mary heads Mary Furlong & Associates, and consults with companies focused on the 50+ market. Furlong & Associates produces the annual Silicon Valley Boomer Ventures Summit at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, where she’s a faculty member.

I’m working with Mary on the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit, which comes to Chicago March 5 –6. She’s just published a new book, Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace that offers outstanding insight into the opportunities in the 50+ market.

Mary, you note in the book that the 50+market will be the fastest growing population in the U.S. between now and 2015. Why haven’t more marketers and media companies seized this trend and capitalized directly on it?

There is growing focus on the 50+ market among companies—just look at all the business conferences that have sprung up in just the past couple years. Corporations are establishing divisions that focus solely on Boomers. And, we’re seeing more advertisers reposition for this market; Fidelity, Schwab and Ameriprise come to mind.

As far as media goes, I’m reminded of the Internet around 1995—a lot of things are in the air. You’ve got Retirement Living TV in Maryland, and there are six or seven business plans circulating that are aimed at the 50+ market. The real flow is around social media and lifestage changes. And, advertisers are realizing they won’t be able to reach Boomers through traditional channels like television. Boomers are adopting all the new technologies that fragment audience—they’re on websites checking their stock portfolio or sports scores. They’re uploading photos of their grandchildren. They are all over digital media. It’s a real Tapas table of choices.

Where are the best opportunities for startups targeting Boomers?

Remember “Plastics, Benjamin” from The Graduate? Now, it’s blood sugar and reverse mortgages. When you look at the big categories for new businesses they all relate to security and longevity for older people—money management, wealth transfer, lowering their bills and home income plans.

Technology is another great opportunity. With all this technology infused into our homes, who will provide the tech support to older people? Is there a geek squad out there?

Eldercare is a giant category. Everything from in-home services to adult day care, new assisted living solutions and cognitive fitness classes and fashion. We haven’t even imagined the services boomers will need when they start to need eldercare. And travel is just enormous. Boomers and their grandchildren are the fastest growing part of the travel business. I know someone who started a business running eco-tours in Africa. That is her new business.

You have a fascinating (to me, anyway) chapter in the book on sex and romance. What are the entrepreneurial opportunities here?

A sex toys company just got funded out here in Silicon Valley. I try to position sex as a deeper experience at midlife than when you are 17. Just as yoga has become popular, there is a whole series of products that can be focused around relationships—workshops seminars, concerts, restaurants, travel. This is about romance and the promise of romance.

Tantra.com is a great example in the book. It was started ten years ago as an e-learning business. The founder is a woman named Suzie who understood sexuality at midlife, and that people are seeking deeper experiences with a soul mate. It’s like what Jack Nicholson says to Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give—“I’ve found my soul mate. Could you create a retreat center around that theme? Canyon Ranch has incorporated sex education into their programs, and other spas are doing it as well.

What’s the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make with start-ups?

Not getting started! I know people with lots of great ideas for companies, but they never actually start them. Jump right in, and refine your model as you go. Guy Kawasaki talks about this in The Art of the Start. Customers will tell you what they want.