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HealthXL, a global market for health innovations, and IBM are teaming-up to host a hackathon titled 'Hack Aging' which aims to help the elderly solve their biggest difficulties and allow them to live more comfortable and connected lives.

The event is set to be held July 10th - 12th at the Carlton Connect Initiative in Melbourne and calls on attendees to put their minds together to create innovative solutions in the areas of dementia, social isolation, physical activity and malnutrition. 

Here are some key statistics about the aging population: 

• Dementia, social isolation, loneliness and malnutrition are among the top list of concerns for elderly people 
• Australia’s population aged 75 or more years is expected to rise by 4 million from 2012 to 2060, increasing from about 6.4 to 14.4% 
• Alzheimer’s Australia predicts in the next ten years the number of Australians living with dementia will exceed 400,000 
• A recent study by Whiddon revealed that more than 1.4 million people aged 65 and over experience loneliness in their lives 

Participants will be working alongside age-health experts from HealthXL, as well as Northern Health, Alzheimer's Australia, and IBM's dedicated health researchers and technical experts who are on-hand to offer deeper insights about the industry and what tools developers could use to solve them.

Help the elderly solve their biggest difficulties and allow them to live more comfortable and connected lives.

One of the most powerful assets open for developers' use will of course be IBM's own Platform-as-a-Service, Bluemix. As the largest Cloud Foundry deployment in the world, it features over 100 tools and integrations with open-source technologies for developers to focus on turning a great idea into a scalable consumer product. 

HealthXL brings together health leaders at global gatherings to discuss how to advance the healthcare industry. The winner of the HealthXL hackathon will be invited to present their solution in front of global digital health thought leaders at the HealthXL Global Gathering to be held in Munich in September, as well as work with clinicians and community care providers in the Northern Health hospital network to refine and complete a prototype of their solution for trialing with patient groups. 

For more information about Hack Aging, head here. 

How do you think we can improve the lives of the elderly? Let us know in the comments.