Mr Amos Tan, Deputy Director, ICT Strategy & Performance Management Division at IDA, presenting at a session on "Silver innovation and university", which focused on how universities play a role in creating innovative technologies for assisting the elderly.

With the global population of older persons is expected to grow to 2.4 billion in 2050, it is important for economies to embark on social and organisational innovation and to unlock the potential of infocomm technologies to help mitigate the health, social and economic impact of people with special needs.

These were some of the conclusions reached at an APEC workshop on ICT Applications for People with Special Needs, which was held in Tokyo, Japan, from 13-14 September.

Jointly organised by APEC, Waseda University and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), the workshop provided a platform for governments from the Asia and the Pacific region to exchange knowledge and best practices on how to apply constantly-evolving infocomm technologies to meet the needs of a rapidly ageing population.

Discussions focused on how APEC economies could enable innovation in service sectors such as health and nursing care, education, transportation and urban development for special needs people, and the innovative use of assistive technologies and applications to meet the needs of this demographic.

Mr James Kang, Assistant Chief Executive of IDA, who co-chaired the workshop together with Professor Toshio Obi of Waseda University, said, “Growth in the silver population has great potential to generate economic benefits and opportunities for social integration, and ICT can lower cost and improve quality of life for seniors and people with disabilities.”

The participants at the workshop agreed that proactive and broad-based steps has to be developed immediately to address challenges such as the need to accelerate innovation, boost investment, align policies with user-driven needs and raise social and political awareness about ageing and disabilities.

The workshop called for policy reforms to support technology interoperability and universal design, as well as mechanisms for the sharing of large data sets for ageing and disability research. It also highlighted the role of entrepreneurship and innovative financing in developing new ICT-led technologies for ageing populations, and recognised the need to adopt “user-led” and solutions-oriented innovation approaches to address the challenges involved.

A strong call was also made to adopt a whole-of-government approach to achieve policy coherence, and to strengthen public-private partnerships and promote collaboration among multiple actors and systems.

Participants at the APEC workshop included representatives from over 14 APEC economies, non-government organisations, volunteer welfare organisations and the World Health Organisation. Best practices and policy conclusions drawn at its conclusion will serve as the reference for governments and research institutes across the region.