A symposium next month will examine the challenges and potential for the Bay of Plenty of the 60-years-plus "silver economy", which the event's organisers say is now the third-biggest economy in the world after the USA and China.
The Silver Economy Symposium, to be held at Mills Reef Winery, Tauranga, on August 11, is co-organised by SUPA-NZ - an entrepreneurial not-for-profit focused on the impact of population ageing - and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
"It is a leading edge event to stimulate thinking and innovation on the potential for growing a silver economy, which is an upside to ageing," says SUPA-NZ national convenor Carole Gordon. The source for the silver economy being the third-biggest in the world is a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Michael Hodin, executive director of the Global Coalition on Ageing, will be the key presenter at the symposium, with NZ economist and columnist Bernard Hickey as key speaker. They will be joined by a panel of experts.
"The power of the silver economy is likely to become an influential market force in New Zealand as people over 60 become the fastest-growing sector of the population," said Ms Gordon.