Richard Caro
My Articles on Tech-enhanced Life
Caring for & Dealing with Elderly Parents: The Books
In a previous article I did a little research to find the 10 “best selling” books on the topic of Aging Parents (on Amazon). I have now waded through them all, and in this article I summarize my impressions of the different books, in the hope that you can leverage my work so you need only focus on the ones that seem most useful for you.
Ideas for Apps for Seniors
At a conference organized by San Francisco’s Institute on Aging, I ran an interactive “exploration”, in which we asked attendees to vote on “Senior Apps they Like“, or to submit ideas they have for “There should be an App for that“. We got quite a few interesting ideas, and this article reports the results of the session.
Inventor Road Trip
Earlier this month we invited the inventor of a new type of walker to come along to one of the Longevity Collective circle meetings and show the older adults members of our circle the prototype of her invention and get their feedback. It was pretty interesting. This article is about the experience.
Best Books on Aging Parents
Over the last 18 months I have talked with literally hundreds of people who have realized they now have an extra “job” that they were not expecting: engaging one way or another in looking out for an aging parent. Many of them wanted a “guide” to Caring for Aging Parents, and asked for recommendations. Sure enough, there are a number of books on aging parents on Amazon. I decided I wanted to find the most popular, and then read them and see whether I could identify a handful of them to recommend next time someone asks for a Guide to Aging Parents. This article is the first installment in my journey and focuses on which are the top selling books in this category (presumably the ones others have found most relevant).
How to Articulate a “Problem”
At our last Meetup we spent a lot of time talking about how to articulate a “problem” in a useful way that can lead to solutions and effective brainstorming. We also tested out the process by having participants stand up and discuss the “problem” they care about with the circle. This article is a reference to remind everyone how to articulate a “problem”.
What do seniors worry about?
We wanted to get a better understanding of what bothers seniors about aging, and what they worry about. So, we are conducting 200 interviews to find out. This article shares some of what we have learned thus far from our interviews, in support of our mission to improve the quality of life of all of us as we age.
Our Aging World as a Graphic
Food for thought. What will life be like when a third of the population in a country is over 60? We definitely need ways for “80 to become the new 60”.
Can Technology Delay Functional Decline?
My favorite question when I meet someone with an idea for a new venture is: “what problem are we trying to solve?”. Here is one that is really worthwhile: Delaying functional decline as we age!
Aging “Gray Tsunami”: Challenge or Opportunity
The world’s growing elderly population is starting to get a lot of attention. As usual, there are several ways to look at this looming gray tsunami. The demographics are typically framed as “a challenge”. I prefer to think of this as an opportunity.
My Background:
Dr. Richard G. Caro has 30+ years of experience at the intersection of technology and business — as startup CEO; startup CTO; scientist / inventor; angel investor; and advisor to emerging growth companies.
Dr. Caro is Co-founder of Tech-enhanced Life, PBC — a social venture which, together with a virtual community of older adults (the Longevity Explorers), is exploring the intersection of aging and technology and seeking ways to leverage technology to enhance quality of life as people age. He is also CEO of TangibleFuture, Inc., an advisory services firm which he founded in 2004 to help innovators turn advances in science and technology into successful businesses.
From 1986 to 1999 Richard held operational roles in high tech companies in Silicon Valley and Boston. He was CEO (founder) of Vital Insite, a venture-backed, medical device start-up, developing noninvasive monitoring products; Engineering Program Manager at Coherent, one of the world’s largest laser manufacturers; and CTO (employee #5) of Summit Technology, a pioneer in the laser refractive surgery (LASIK) business. Before entering industry, he was a member of the research staff at Stanford University.
Immediately prior to founding TangibleFuture, Richard was Managing Director at RHK, a provider of advisory services to the communications industry, where he led consulting engagements with multinational businesses such as Intel, and Carl Zeiss; research institutions such as Battelle, and Sarnoff Corporation; and a variety of emerging startup companies.
Dr. Caro has particular expertise in the process of transforming technical innovation into profitable businesses. He has been a mentor in business plan competitions at UC Berkeley, University of San Francisco, and the Cleantech Open; was a member of the “Entrepreneur in Readiness” program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 2008 to 2012; and in 2013 & 2015 was a mentor in Steve Blank’s course at UCSF: Lean Launchpad for Life Sciences & Healthcare. In 2017 he was the industry expert on a startup team that was selected for, and graduated from, the NIH I-Corps program.
Dr. Caro has been responsible for the development of a number of successful products; and has 24 issued patents. For many years he has been an “occasional” Silicon Valley angel investor. He has deep domain expertise in the fields of agetech; medical devices / healthcare; digital health; telecom; and photonics.
Born and raised in Australia, Richard received a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree from Melbourne University, Australia (1977), and a D.Phil. in experimental physics from Oxford University (1982) — where he was a Rhodes Scholar. In 1982 he was awarded an IBM post-doctoral fellowship to work at Stanford University, and moved to the USA where he has lived ever since.