Israeli innovation hub iKare brings next-generation elderly care solutions to aging global population

The central challenge in elderly care is developing treatments for a rapidly aging global population. 

This is where iKare Innovation comes in. iKare is partnering with tech companies and investors to help develop next-generation healthcare solutions for elderly care.

According to Anne Baer, CEO of iKare Innovation, society needs to deal with new infrastructures and with innovation for health to take care of this growing population. Bae says she is most excited about stem cell therapies, which she described as "reinventing life." 

As the body ages, it loses its ability to produce new stem cells, leading to the degeneration of tissues and brain function. "The most important challenge is to deal with the aging of our body, but mostly of our brain, which is actually our capacity to interact with the environment," she said.

One therapy iKare is focused on is hyperbaric oxygen treatment, pioneered by Israeli professor Shai Efrati of Tel Aviv University, who runs the largest hyperbaric medicine center in the world in central Israel. The treatment involves spending several weeks in a pressurized chamber at twice normal atmospheric pressure while breathing 100% oxygen through a mask, alternating ten minutes with oxygen and ten minutes without. The body interprets the environment as a crisis and responds by producing stem cells, which gradually restore tissue in the brain, skin, and other organs.

In Israel, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is covered by social security for 16 approved indications, including diabetes and post-surgery recovery. Baer said she underwent the protocol herself. "It really works," she said.