(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/BraunS)

Held at Google's campus in London, the Aging2.0 event on August 23^rd brought together developers, designers, care-givers, people in the travel business, and seniors to help make lives easier for the elderly when travelling. 

Getting older is something none of us will avoid, and most of us will know someone today in their senior years who we care about that could use some extra help. The hackathon tackles one of the few social issues which is going to have a deep impact on everyone – not just a select group. 

The winner of the event was an entry called 'Avita' who created a system to make it easier to book travel online when the high-street travel agent – which most seniors use – are on the decline. The concept was created after finding a big problem older people had when trying to book online was an overload of information from sites like TripAdvisor and Expedia. 

Beyond just searching for travel destinations, Avita's platform can also filter results for whether the destinations are suitable for specific mobility or other assistive requirements. This offers a peace-of-mind for the travellers and their family to know their needs will be catered for.

Getting older is something none of us will avoid, and most of us will know someone today in their senior years who we care about

For winning the event, the Avita team won a cash prize, support from a chosen mentor in the Aging2.0 network, a one year free membership to Stitch (a companionship platform for adults over 50) and two free tickets to the Aging2.0 Expo on November 19 and 20 in San Francisco. The team will also have a chance during the event to present their project to hundreds of senior care and tech executives. 

Other ideas at the hackathon included help to find better travel insurance options for over-50s, and helping to improve the social lives of elderly travellers by organising suitable events in the area local to their destination. For safety, another concept alerted a loved one or caregiver in an emergency if the other individual was out-and-about. 

Earlier in the year we reported on another hackathon for the elderly called "Hack Aging" held in Melbourne, Australia. It's good to see these events coming-up with solutions to important problems for the elderly who are often forgotten about when it comes to new technology. 

For more information on Aging2.0, head to their website here. 

Do you feel the elderly are often forgotten about with new technology? Let us know in the comments.