Professor Robbie Goh, SUSS Provost, delivering his welcome address
Building a robust ecosystem and opening the doors for cross-sector and public-private partnerships.
As the co-organiser of the inaugural Geronpreneurship Innovation Festival, SUSS joined hands with Ageing Asia to showcase transformative technologies and innovative solutions to address APAC’s fast-ageing population. Key highlights of the event include the 11th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards 2023, the Active Ageing Seminar and the Ageing Asia Innovation Exhibition that curated the world’s top 100 products to enable successful ageing in the aspects of Assistive Living, Home & Community Care, Active Ageing, Technology and Rehabilitation & Wellness. One notable feature of the Ageing Asia Innovation Exhibition is our Lovot, a robot that is designed to be a companion for the elderly as it is warm to the touch and can recognise and interact well with its owner.
Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State (middle) with Ms Janice Chia, Founder & Managing Director of Ageing Asia Pte Ltd (left) and Dr Kelvin Tan, Head of Programme, Applied Ageing Studies, Snr Lecturer & Mentor/Domain Expert, Gerontology and Innovation Programmes at SUSS (right) with our Lovots at one of SUSS’ exhibition booths
Associate Professor Carol Ma, Head, Gerontology Programmes & Senior Fellow, Centre for Experiential Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences (2nd from left) together with other speakers who discussed about the WHO ICOPE (Integrated Care for Older People) Framework Implementation in Singapore
In his welcome address by Professor Robbie Goh, SUSS Provost, he concluded that “Ageing is one of those aspects of the human condition that brings us all together. We share this experience, as ageing individuals, caregivers, care professionals, or interested members of the community. SUSS is proud to be an agent for good in helping to train and enable individual gerontology professionals, and to help inspire and catalyse innovative solutions.”
SUSS’ Gerontology contributions are recognised in the community and industry, and apart from being the leading university that offers Gerontology programmes, SUSS has since championed age-friendly best practices and innovations with the government, corporate and community partners. This includes the development of a holistic approach to create an age-friendly workplace as well as the SUSS Impact Startup Challenge to encourage our student community to explore innovative solutions catered for the growing ageing population.
Minister of State, Ms Low Yen Ling with our partners and staff at the SUSS exhibition booth of the Geronpreneurship Innovation Festival
As part of the Geronpreneruship Innovation festival, SUSS organised the Ageing Startup Pitch Stadium event to enable emerging and established start-up entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services. This platform also serves as an opportunity to recognise start-ups with new concepts and demonstrated business model implementations in Asia Pacific for their innovations and outstanding contribution towards improving the quality of life for the elderly. Open to the public, aspiring entrepreneurs were invited to participate and winners would be selected by a panel of judges comprising of venture capitalists, academics and industry experts in the eldercare sector.
As part of the Ageing Startup Pitch Stadium, SUSS would like to extend its heartfelt congratulations to the winner and runner-ups of the SUSS Geronpreneurship Innovation of the Year 2023:
- Winner– SunshineSeniors, which consists of a cross-generational team who created a community-based eMarketplace that offers a vibrant social community and a trustworthy market space of curated elder-friendly products and services.
- 1st Runner-up – Surety SG Pte Ltd, whose comprehensive and integrated platform assists mature women in effectively managing their perimenopausal symptoms, accessing expert advice and finding products and services tailored to their unique needs.
- 2nd Runner-up – Elec.net, which provides a Smart Switchboard in elderly homes to create an ultimate home care environment through its extensive monitoring and communication capabilities to enhance eldercare and caregiving.
SunshineSeniors - Winner of the SUSS New Geronpreneurship Innovation of the Year 2023 at the Ageing Startup Pitch Stadium
Surety SG Pte Ltd – 1st Runner-Up of the SUSS New Geronpreneurship Innovation of the Year 2023 at the Ageing Startup Pitch Stadium
Elec.net – 2nd Runner-Up of the SUSS New Geronpreneurship Innovation of the Year 2023 at the Ageing Startup Pitch Stadium
SUSS would also like to thank our SUSS students who participated at the Ageing Startup Pitch stadium with their interesting creation of a community-based application called KopiWMe, designed to meet the needs of the elderly with a user-friendly interface.
Professor Tan Tai Yong, SUSS President, giving his welcome remarks at the Gala Dinner
The two days of events and activities were capped off with the 11th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards Ceremony and Charity Gala Dinner, where 27 notable influencers, trailblazers and promising startups from Singapore and the region were recognised for their innovative and outstanding contributions towards improving the quality of living for the elderly in the region. Professor Tan Tai Yong, SUSS President, expressed his positive outlook on building an age-friendly future and reiterates the strength of unity from the community, “SUSS has a decade-long involvement in the gerontology space and this has stood us in good stead with our government, community and industry partners in Singapore and the region. We are honoured by their trust and will continue to bring in the best knowledge, initiatives, innovations and partnerships to advance the gerontology sector in Singapore. There is strength in numbers – I urge more donors, corporates and volunteers to be a part of this ecosystem to accelerate our age-inclusive reality.”
SUSS would like to convey their wholehearted thanks to all internal and external stakeholders who made this event an eye-opening and successful one and hopes that this event will serve as a launchpad for social and economic ventures to realise and impact the future of ageing.
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