Ageing and innovation.Exploring a collective matter of concern

Over the last few years, Science and Technology Studies and socio-gerontology have moved beyond the interventionist logic, whereby users are perceived as «targets» of techno-scientific instruments aimed at solving their needs, contributing decisively to the emergence of an alternative perspective on ageing. This special issue aims to follow this direction. It offers a multifaceted mapping of the current debate about how ageing and techno-scientific innovation shape each other through the involvement of heterogeneous actors such as scientific communities, market and industrial systems, digital media, self-tracking technologies, healthcare professionals, and the elderly and their social networks. Presenting the rationale of the papers that compose the Special Issue, we suggest four themes arising when empirically and theoretically approaching these intricacies: i) ageing research and medicine; ii) ageing, social media, and public discourses; iii) ageing, ICTs, and daily life. Drawing on the discussion of the selected papers, we will argue that ageing emerges as a collective matter of concern marked by multiplicity.