Innovation Forum: Place-based health and wellness

Last year our first ever Healthy Ageing & Care Innovation Forum brought together pioneers from industry, academia, care, and community sectors to re-examine how we understand healthy ageing, identity and social connection. This year, we’re raising the ambition.

We’re inviting leading thinkers, creators, and partners from across the health tech, built environment, and innovation ecosystems to help shape the future of one of the most exciting living labs for healthy ageing in the UK, situated within The Chocolate Quarter; already a flagship model of intergenerational, open retirement living.

Our goal is to explore how we can combine people, place, nature, technology, and data to prototype new models of healthy ageing and care innovation that can scale regionally, nationally and globally.

Together, we’ll investigate:

• How people of all ages move through and use these spaces; and how design, technology and community activation can promote healthier choices and more connected lives, whilst respecting people’s individual choices.

• The role of emerging technologies, smart environments, and data-driven insights in improving well-being, resilience and independence.

• How we create environments that support people living with dementia, frailty or long-term conditions, while celebrating movement, purpose and contribution.

• What Somerdale Pavilion, The Chocolate Quarter and St Monica Trust itself could become over the next 5, 10, 15 years; and what interventions, partnerships and prototypes we should initiate now.

This is an opportunity to help shape a real world test bed for healthy ageing and care innovation, rooted in the community but connected to cutting edge research, innovation and industry.

Take a look at what we got up to at our Innovation Forum last March

Please follow all signs marked Somerdale Pavilion Lower Car Park. Do not use the car park next to the Pavilion. We are not authorised to park in these spaces and doing so may result in you receiving a fine.

As you approach Somerdale Pavilion follow the road around to the left and continue until you pass the school (Somerdale Educate Together). After the school take the first right and follow the road until you arrive at the car park, as pictured above. Park in a bay marked with a P (towards the lower end of the car park) and your parking will be free of charge - but you must enter your registration details into our system upon arrival.

Somerdale Pavilion is easy to reach from both Bristol and Bath. Before you set off, always check the latest bus or train timetables and allow extra time in case of delays.

The Chocolate Quarter is located 100m away from Keynsham Station. When leaving the station, continue left down Station Road. The entrance to The Chocolate Quarter is on the opposite side of the road.

Buses 17, 39, 349 and 522 stop at St John the Baptist Church in Keynsham, approximately a 15 min, 0.8mile walk to the Pavilion via Station Road. Please check your route prior to travelling as bus numbers are liable to change.

Contact Information

If you have any questions ahead of the forum, please contact us at [email protected]

Info: Welcome to our innovation forum 2026. Please sign in on arrival, settle in and help yourself to refreshments

Info: Further details to be shared soon

Info: Further details to be shared soon

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