The lecture covers what welfare technology is, and the opportunities this type of technology can offer to individuals and society. Kristin Mehre will, among other things, highlight how welfare technology can support daily life, contribute to increased safety, and reduce the need for traditional care services.

At the same time, important questions are being raised about patient safety and other challenges related to the use of technology in health and social care services. The background to the national investment in welfare technology is demographic changes, with more elderly people, fewer working people and a growing shortage of healthcare professionals. Technological development offers new opportunities, but also requires conscious choices.

Kristin Helga Mehre is a qualified nurse with further education in leadership and organisational development. She was Head of Department and Divisional Director at the Norwegian Directorate of Health for 14 years, with responsibility for, among other things, innovation projects in the municipal sector. Today, she works as a consultant for the Pensioners' Union, where she promotes welfare technology and trains senior volunteers who wish to be technology ambassadors in the municipalities.