Ageing and innovation are usually considered to be contradictory phenomena.This article on innovation in care services for the elderly seeks to counter thisestablished view. Taking as its starting point a definition of care services for theelderly that draws on the economics of services, the article advances a simpleframework for analysing innovation in terms of ?targets?. These targets, whichmake it possible to circumvent the usual economic categories (product andprocess innovation), are as follows: the various forms of assistance andresidential provision for the elderly, the (tangible and intangible) technologiesdeployed, the services provided, the human environment (carers and relatives)and the institutional environment.