AGE, the European Older People’s Platform, aims to voice and promote the interests of older people in the European Union and to raise awareness of the issues that concern them most. Everyone in the European Union is increasingly affected by decisions taken by its institutions : the Council of Ministers, the Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice. Decisions affect the daily lives of all its inhabitants - including older people.
AGE is involved in a range of policy and information activities to put older people’s issues on the EU agenda and to support networking among older people’s groups. Among our guiding principles is that a change of attitudes is needed to achieve a society for all ages, seeking solidarity between generations in a way that recognizes older people’s contributions to society. AGE is committed to combating all forms of age discrimination in all areas of life and aims to monitor and influence the implementation of the various EU initiatives in this area.
AGE was set up in January 2001 following a process of discussion on how to improve and strengthen cooperation between older people’s organizations at EU level. Membership of AGE is open to European, national and regional organizations, and to both organizations of older people and organizations for older people. Organizations of older people will have the majority of votes in AGE’s decision-making bodies. Membership is open only to non-profit-making organizations. AGE is co-financed by its members and by the European Commission.
CEEMET represents the social policy interests of employers’ associations and federations in the metal, engineering and technology-based industries in 20 countries of which 18 are in Europe and is developing its network of contacts with employers’ organisations in the new and candidate EU member states. The CEEMET membership largely covers the entire spectrum of metal industries, including fabricated metal goods, mechanical engineering, electrical and electronics industry, transport industry (automotive, ships and aircraft) and instrument engineering.
MENON is a European innovation and research network providing information and advice to policy makers, education communities, and the ICT industry on issues related to innovation and changes in Education and Training, Lifelong Learning and Knowledge Society developments in Europe and worldwide, and in e-inclusion and e-government developments. The constituent members of MENON – which include the Tavistock Institute, London (a leading independent social science research and consultancy organization); FIM, University of Erlangen; SCIENTER, Italy – an established research institute; Helsinki University of Technology; Lambrakis Research Foundation, Greece, and Budapest Technical University, together have an extensive breadth of expertise and experience in research, combining over 500 research and RTD projects in a range of domains of relevance to this project. These include: studies on e-inclusion and e-government (a study on e-inclusion initiatives and measurements, conducted for DG-INFSO; the ‘ePractice’ portal); RTD projects developing ICTs to prevent youth offending (‘HERO’ and ‘BREAKOUT’ projects); research and evaluation on young people’s drug use (for national government and local authorities); research on youth immigrants and migrants (‘Mobikid’ project); research on intergenerational learning (the ‘EAGLE’ project).
