President William Lai (賴清德) at a tech expo about healthy aging on Friday praised Taiwan’s strengths in healthcare and technology for being able to provide a new economic opportunity.
Lai said Taiwan can make good use of its competitiveness in the technology and healthcare services sectors to “create a new industrial path” and serve as an experimental market for international innovative technology.
“Taiwan’s life expectancy is about 80 or so years old, but records show that the average Taiwanese spend about one-tenth of their lives, or eight years, requiring care for health issues,” he said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
A former physician himself, Lai said one of his presidential campaign promises was a “healthy Taiwan,” aimed at promoting good health for the public and making healthcare technology one of the country’s strengths.
Companies and research institutes participating in the expo are showcasing their new services and products utilizing digital technologies.
The Industrial Technology Research Institute, for example, had a care solution which uses image recognition technology to distinguish changes in an older person’s movements and cognitive behavior.
There were also information and communication technology (ICT) companies with artificial intelligence (AI)-related exhibits, such as Acer using AI to evaluate a person’s risk of osteoporosis and Compal detecting possible depression and dementia with the technology.
Taiwan would become a super-aged society by next year, meaning that more than 4.68 million, or 20 percent of its population, would be aged 65 or older, Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry adviser Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said.
An estimated 35 percent of the labor force (under the age of 65) would have to quit their jobs to take care of their aged family members, he said.
It is therefore urgent for Taiwan to develop a health industry founded on technology to meet the challenge and serve the “silver economy,” Shen said, referring to markets catering to the needs of older people.
Such an industry could also support the ministry’s policy to attract foreign tourists, including those coming for medical tourism, especially from neighboring countries such as Japan, South Korea and other Southeast Asian nations, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said.
Taiwan can leverage its advantages in AI and ICT to build a health industry ecosystem encompassing dietary management, sports management, prognosis and rehabilitation, Kuo said.
The expo is taking place until today at the Taipei World Trade Center’s Exhibition Hall 1.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS