insights! #29: How can gamification make the use of digital content more accessible?

Today's guest: Jan-Eric Wörheide, managing director and shareholder of start-up lodomo. In the interview, Jan-Eric Wörheide discusses his business idea. During the Corona pandemic, lodomo wanted to find a way to enable older people to share a joint experience despite a lack of digitalisation. With the help of visualisations and gamification, digital programmes and the internet can be made more accessible for seniors.

Through the Covid pandemic, the relevance of digitalisation became noticeable for many areas of life, including communication with friends and family, purchasing goods and services, and access to information. Many seniors in particular suffered, as they faced various challenges adapting to the digital world. Interpersonal contact was reduced to a minimum.

It's no secret that older people often have lower levels of digital knowledge. During the pandemic, however, they were often unable to rely on personal contact or support from family and friends to improve their skills. Concerns about digital devices existed mainly around security and privacy when using them, which contributed to them staying away from digital tools.

To at least partly close the digital gap, lodomo comes into play. Their mission is to enable older people to share an experience together despite a lack of digital skills. To do this, they use visualisations and gamification to make digital programmes and the internet more accessible for seniors.

More specifically, they created a digital house with rooms, each of which has its own functions, such as the ability to watch the news by clicking on the TV in the living room, or order lunch by clicking on the table in the dining room. People of all ages enjoy the playful elements that help them discover new things.

Lodomo works with several universities, such as the University of Trier, to develop games specifically for seniors' mental health. What was his biggest learning from his current time as a start-up shareholder? He advises simply starting to build prototypes without fear, even if only in PowerPoint, and continually going through the learning process.