Welcome to the BIF Elder Experience Lab
The Business Innovation Factory created the Elder Experience Lab in 2008 to create a platform for experimentation where partners can design and test new solutions to improve the elder experience. In our quest to build a living laboratory for transforming elder care in America, we began with one simple premise: put the elder experience at the center. Our methodology and unique non-profit positioning has enabled BIF to create a lab where elders are directly engaged in an ongoing effort to better understand the elder experience and drive R&D work specifically aimed at improving it.
About the Lab
The BIF Elder Experience Lab works directly with elder volunteers to conduct deep research into elders every day experience. We use these insights to illuminate opportunities for transforming the elder care system, and with help from the Lab's elder participants, put new ideas to the test in a real-world environment. Learn more
Putting Elders at the Center
Working with a dynamic group of elders who open their lives to us, the BIF team uses an observational and ethnographic approach to understand how elders interact with their environments, utilized shared and private spaces, care for body and mind, and stay connected with their friends and with the world. Learn more
Real World Experimentation
The BIF Elder Experience Lab is a real world laboratory for understanding and improving the elder experience. Learn more
Get Involved
The lab offers organizations and individuals opportunities to get involved with lab activity. Learn more
Elder Experience Updates
- Prov Business News Article on BIF Elder Experience Lab
- BIF Executive Director Melissa Withers at TEDX
- Elder Experience Lab Explores Opportunity for Multi-Partner Collaboration
- Join Us in the Elder Experience Lab Online
- Elder Experience Lab Update: Innovation in Medication Management Sorely Needed
- More Lab Updates
Sample Outputs from Lab Activity
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Experience Map
Elders who need assistance face special challenges to accomplish the activities of daily life. The NHoF Experience Map outlines the activities that have the most significant impact on quality of care and quality of life for elders. -
Elder Lab Team in Action
The Elder Lab team used an observational design approach to capture the experiences of elders as they moved through daily life, documenting everything with audio, video and photography. -
Elder Experience Lab Design Workshop
Through a series of design workshops with elders, the team has developed protocols for conducting experiential research, data capture and approaches for sustained elder engagement in all lab activities. -
In Their Own Words
The team worked with an important group of elders living in assisted living and skilled nursing environments at Tockwotton Home. Hear from a few of these elders as they share insights about what it means to get older. -
Journey Map
The path from birth to the end of life is complex, with many different and intersecting possible paths. Better understanding these paths is critical to providing better care to our elders. -
Personal Care Elder Workshop
The Elder Lab team's deep dive into personal care routines began with a series of design workshops wherein the elders were free to act like design students. -
Medication Management Deep Dive
Our recent investigations into medication management revealed opportunities for improving elder's experience with medication management. -
Opportunity Map
The Opportunity Map brings together the major areas within the elder care experience that are ripe for innovation. In this interactive, each detailed image reflects a representative view of opportunities. -
An Interview with Dr. Richard Besdine
Dr. Richard Besdine, an advisor to the BIF Elder Experience Lab, discusses impacts of aging body, mind and coming of baby boomers.