New challenge backs tools for older Canadians, as only 29% feel able to retire
Less than a third of older Canadians feel they can afford to retire, even as many juggle their own finances, ageing parents, and caregiving responsibilities.
Manulife, together with UpLink, the World Economic Forum’s early-stage innovation initiative, and the Forum’s Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems, has launched an innovation challenge called “Shaping Canada’s Longevity Advantage.”
The partners centre the challenge on lifelong health, wealth and purpose across multistage lives, with a strong focus on financial resilience and support for caregivers.
Findings from the National Institute on Ageing’s Ageing in Canada Survey, conducted by the NIA with support from Manulife, frame the context: 43 percent of older Canadians are at high risk of social isolation, and only 29 percent feel they can afford to retire.
The challenge responds to these conditions by inviting innovators to deliver integrated solutions that create measurable improvements in key areas affecting longevity in Canada.
The first opportunity area, financial resilience across life stages, targets tools and platforms built for longer lifespans.
The partners call for budgeting and saving tools designed for extended working and retirement years, AI-enabled financial planning solutions, modern retirement and care planning platforms, and financing solutions that support caregivers managing work, family and care responsibilities.
The second focus, healthy ageing for all, seeks digitally enabled health navigation tools, preventative health and wellness innovations that help delay or manage chronic illness, and tools and platforms that directly support caregivers in coordinating care and maintaining their own wellbeing.
The third area, purpose and connection, looks to digital, physical and nature-based spaces that foster social engagement, AI-supported platforms that reduce isolation, and intergenerational initiatives that strengthen community ties, belonging and shared purpose.
Manulife’s Canadian leadership links the initiative directly to longer lifespans and the need for practical support.
Naveed Irshad, president and CEO of Manulife Canada, said “living longer should also mean living healthier—and Canadians need the right support to make that possible.”
He said the Shaping Canada’s Longevity Advantage initiative aims to help people navigate care, prevent illness and manage chronic conditions, and to give Canadians “the tools and confidence they need to live healthier lives at every stage.”
For wealth and retirement planning, the firm underscores how longevity reshapes the advice landscape.
Paul Lorentz, president and CEO of Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, said Canadians’ longer lifespans make financial planning a complex, multi‑decade process rather than “a single life stage.”
He said financial resilience is now central to healthy longevity and that Manulife is backing AI‑enabled tools and caregiver support so people can “secure their financial futures” and live longer with confidence.
From the World Economic Forum’s side, the initiative ties into demographic and economic shifts.
John Dutton, head of UpLink at the World Economic Forum, said the growing “longevity economy” will define future growth and resilience.
With Canada on track to be a “super‑aged” country in 2026, he said the Manulife partnership and the Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems are designed to scale early‑stage innovation and support healthy ageing, purpose and financial resilience across generations.
The challenge aligns with the Manulife Longevity Institute, described as a global research, thought leadership, innovation, advocacy and community investment platform focused on helping people thrive at every age.
“Shaping Canada’s Longevity Advantage” is the third Manulife-powered UpLink challenge, following earlier challenges in the United States and Asia, and supports innovators working on solutions across health, financial resilience and well-being.
