Abstract
The accelerating pace of population ageing is driving the silver economy to become a new engine of economic growth; however, the digital divide among older people severely constrains their participation in the digital economy. In particular, the lack of cross-border e-commerce skills and low participation rates among older people significantly limit the development potential of the silver economy. Lifelong learning is a key pathway to activating the human capital of older people and overcoming the challenges of digital participation. Based on a three-dimensional model of older adults’ human capital comprising ‘knowledge, skills and social capital’, this paper employs a mixed-methods approach combining questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews to conduct empirical research. The results indicate that lifelong learning platforms need to strengthen age-friendly design to enhance the user experience for older adults; the skills gap among older adults in cross-border e-commerce exhibits a hierarchical progression across the ‘operational, security and value’ levels, with their learning motivation gradually evolving from instrumental to value-based. Therefore, this study constructs a functional architecture and an age-friendly design framework for lifelong learning platforms and systematically designs pathways for cross-border e-commerce skills empowerment, offering a scalable framework for the development and sustainable operation of similar platforms. Such platforms can significantly enhance older adults’ digital skills and participation capacity in cross-border e-commerce, thereby contributing to the growth of silver economy consumption.
Recommended Citation
Luo, Xueqiang; He, Bin; and Cai, Yingying, "Research on the Construction of Lifelong Learning Platform from the Perspective of Silver Economy: Empowerment Path of Cross-border E-commerce Skills for the Elderly in Smart Elderly Care Scenarios" (2026). ICEB 2026 Proceedings (Beijing, China). 74.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/iceb2026/74