Abstract presented: FREIIA
How demography in an island community can be a force for development and innovation - the outcome from a training module for student entrepreneurship
Eivind A. Leister, Gunnar Andersson, Bjørn Gitle Hauge, Hong Wu, Frode Ramstad Johansen and Per Valter
Introduction
Can an elderly population become a basis for innovation and rethinking? Grand societal challenges («SCG») require innovative approaches (Voegtlin et al., 2022). Demography and a growing elderly population is a major SCG concerning especially Western-Europe. To handle this, changes within both private and public sector are required. The importance of this topic has been underlined as “Good Health and well-being” and is defined as Sustainable Development Goal (“SDG”) Nr 3. of the UN. Islands characterized by their isolation can be useful as experimental spaces, where the gained knowledge can be transferred and used in larger societies on the mainland. Demography challenges in rural areas are a common trend (Anderson & Irava, 2017). The impact an ageing population has on the communities on islands has been examined in various studies. The geographical spread from Waiheke Island (Bates et al., 2019), via the Maldives (Moosa, 2020) and Portuguese islands (Sousa Gomes et al., 2024) to the Swedish islands Koster (Heyden, 1998) indicates that this is a global common feature. On the islands the demography covers a broad range of themes from concern how to attract younger generations to stay or move back as well as various views on development and environmental protection to health care. Thus, demography often described as a challenge, it can enable rethinking the organization of society, leading to market opportunities and opening for innovations within both governance and business. In a resilience context (Cecchini et al., 2019) demography contributes to stabilize the society in rapid changes. A further aspect related hereto is the connection between demography and cultural heritage (Tapia-Gómez & Lois González, 2025). As demography was highlighted as an important topic in a study on Hvaler, where staff and on students from Østfold University College (“Hiof”) were involved, it triggered a further search to gain insight into how the society organize and handle elderly people and their needs. A case study at a local health care centre on Hvaler provided further information whereas demography can change the conduct of work and be seen as source for innovation opening interesting market possibilities attracting young entrepreneurs. This study examines the process to identify challenges in an island society (Douglas, 2006) and ways to solve it, especially related to a growing elderly population. Further innovative initiatives to handle this challenge will be discussed.