New ideas for the old

SIR Paul McCartney was only 16 years old when he wrote When I'm Sixty-Four, a song about a young man's plans for growing old together with his lover. That the multi-talented singer-songwriter was but a quarter of that age did not stop him then from creating one of The Beatles' best and most timeless love songs.

In a similar vein, a group of Temasek Poly final-year engineering students - no older than 21 - have developed ideas that are targeted at the elderly, some of which have bagged prestigious awards at the Republic and United Nations levels, and others which are in the process of commercialisation.

Having personally checked out some of these ideas last week, I learnt that while inventors have proven eager to create entirely new and pioneering innovations, incremental innovation - a series of small improvements made to an existing product - can be just as beneficial to mankind, and in this case, transform the lives of the elderly for the better.