In response to Taiwan’s transition into a “super-aged society” and to seize the emerging silver economy valued at NT$3.6 trillion, the Institute launched in 2026 the “Project on Residential Field Validation of Digital Aging-Tech Products and Services and the Development of Methodological Frameworks.” As part of this initiative, briefing sessions for the call for proposals were held on March 25 in Taichung and March 27 in Taipei, attracting enthusiastic participation from industry stakeholders. The project is executed by the iNSIGHT Center, NTU, which integrates design thinking into industrial practice to support enterprises in overcoming market bottlenecks, accelerating product deployment, and progressively realizing the vision of aging in place.
With Taiwan’s population aged 65 and above reaching 4.67 million—accounting for 20.06% of the total population—the country has officially entered a super-aged society. As a result, aging-related needs are no longer confined to the domain of social welfare. In light of rapidly growing demand and increasing fiscal pressure, policy direction has gradually shifted toward promoting the industrialization of aging technology. Through the widespread adoption of technological products and services, the aim is to enhance the quality of life and independent living capabilities of older adults. This project focuses on residential settings, where older adults spend most of their time, and supports solutions in areas such as safety enhancement, self-care, health promotion, daily convenience, and living comfort, helping enterprises strengthen product value and advance toward market validation.
At the briefing sessions, Calvin Lai, Chief Strategy Officer of the iNSIGHT Center, NTU, noted that while the aging-tech market shows strong growth potential, it also faces several critical challenges. These include complex decision-making structures, where end users (older adults) and purchasers (often their children) have differing needs, involving multiple stakeholders; high barriers to trust, with brand establishment heavily reliant on long-term reputation and word-of-mouth recommendations; significant integration challenges requiring cross-disciplinary collaboration, with preventive solutions often lacking immediate, visible outcomes; and substantial regulatory implications, necessitating clear product classification and alignment with relevant policies and subsidy mechanisms. To help enterprises effectively address these challenges, the project emphasizes both field validation and business validation, clarifying product necessity, usability, and marketability to accelerate commercialization.
In terms of implementation, the project adopts a three-stage professional support framework. It begins with value proposition workshops that guide participants in applying design thinking tools to identify product strengths and market opportunities, thereby developing differentiated core value. This is followed by a positioning and suitability assessment, where cross-disciplinary experts from venture capital, operations, industry, and academia provide in-depth consultations and actionable recommendations, as well as facilitate potential collaborations. Finally, the project proceeds to residential field validation, in which research teams enter real-life residential environments, recruit representative users for hands-on testing, collect first-hand feedback, and deliver evidence-based optimization recommendations to support product refinement and market entry.
Through this initiative, the Institute aims to integrate resources from government, industry, academia, and research sectors to establish a comprehensive support system for aging-tech products—from concept development to real-world application—thereby fostering industrial innovation and market maturity, and responding to the diverse and urgent residential and lifestyle needs arising in a super-aged society.