Digital Financial Services for Seniors Developed by Juniors

25 LTS students reunited for a special phygital hackathon helping senior citizens overcome technological barriers.

Over the past few years, the use of digital financial services has increased dramatically, making our lives easier, faster and more productive. Globally, the number of people aged 60 years or over has more than doubled since 1980, and the share of older adults is projected to double again by 2050. Digital solutions are on the rise, yet such services are often not adopted by older generations due to lack of trust or technological knowledge.

Developing digital solutions ensuring the financial well-being of older adults

From the 2nd to 4th of July, 25 participants joined forces, immersing themselves in this two-day intensive hackathon, half online, half physical and hosted at the LHoFT, to embark older adults into the journey of digitisation.

The lycée students aged 15 to 18 impressed the audience members with their creativity, ingenuity and care in tackling the hurdles associated with the adoption of technological solutions amongst the elderly. In 48 hours, they designed and prototyped digital financial products to help senior citizens overcome these barriers and keep up with the pace of change via digital applications, gamification, voice-overs, and smart UX design.

Each of the 7 teams was supported by the LTS coaches and more than a dozen of specialised mentors coming from the finance and technology industries, as well as those facing the reality of the digital barrier for the elderly.

On Sunday afternoon, after an intensive weekend, the students pitched their ideas in front of a jury composed of Claude Marx, Director general of the CSSF; Vesna Trtic, Principal Manager Technology Operations at Vodafone Roaming Services; Jessica Thyrion, Financial Education Adviser at ABBL; Catherine Bourin, Member of the Management Board chez ABBL; Chloé Kolb, Communication Officer Red Cross/Help and Alex Panican, Head of Partnerships and Ecosystem at the LHoFT.

After intense deliberation, the 3 winners were

• CyberLearn
• Credit Chicken
• Bank Assist

Catherine Bourin, member of the ABBL management board, stated that: “The Fondation ABBL pour l’éducation financière fully supports this initiative. The financial sector is developing rapidly, and digitalisation is a key challenge that needs specific skills. We strongly believe that financial services should be accessible to all, including senior citizens.”

Sergio Coronado, Founder & Chairman, LTS added: “An important element in education is the context. We want our students to develop solutions for real societal and business issues. Making financial digital tools easier and more trustworthy to access for our senior citizens is an increasingly important social topic. With the impressive projects presented by the young participants after only 2 days of intensive work, we have successfully shown the industry that innovation and quality is possible at a young age.”

Alex Panican, Head of Partnerships and Ecosystem at the LHoFT, concluded: With the rise of the fintech sector in Luxembourg and the digitalization of the financial services, the difficulty for seniors to access those services is becoming a problem. This hackathon was the perfect opportunity to sensitize the young generation on the matter but also to involve key stakeholders from the industry: CSSF, ABBL, Luxembourg Red Cross, Vodafone, FNR and the LHoFT. As always, the variety of ideas and solutions developed by the students over the weekend, from AI assistants to banking tools, was impressive. Congratulations to the Luxembourg Tech School coaches, the next generation of digital leaders is ready to tackle serious problems.

Re-watch the pitches on our YouTube Channel

This special hackathon was sponsored by Fondation ABBL pour l’éducation Financière and supported by the LHoFT, Croix Rouge Luxembourgeoise, Help and Vodafone.