LU holds Gerontech Carnival to promote gerontechnology and smart ageing

19 Oct 2019

Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Vice-President of Lingnan University

Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Vice-President of Lingnan University (left 5) takes a group photo with Ms Annisa Ma Sau-ching, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Social Welfare Officer (left 6), Mr Kwan Shui-lun, Chairperson of Kwai Chung Elderly Mutual Help Committee Limited (right 4) and all guests at the Gerontech Carnival.

The challenges faced by an ageing population and corresponding measures in tackling the changes have been an important issue in Hong Kong. Organised by the ‘LU Jockey Club Gerontechnology and Smart Ageing Project’ of Lingnan University (LU), a ‘Gerontech Carnival’ was held today (19 October) at Kwai Chung Estate, aiming to promote knowledge and usage of gerontechnology as well as smart ageing to the public. With the theme ‘Healthcare, Dining, Living, and Transport’, the carnival provided game stalls to showcase a wide range of gerontechnology products as well as a number of educational activities to promote gerontechnology in the community.

 

In his welcome speech, Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Vice-President of Lingnan University, expressed his gratitude to the Social Welfare Department, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing District Social Welfare Office, and Windshield Charitable Foundation Kwai Chung Social Services for their support to the event. “Lingnan University is setting up a ‘Social Enterprise Intelligent Hub’ (SEI–HUB), which aims to provide a cloud platform for different stakeholders, such as social enterprises, entrepreneurs, caregivers and users, to connect and share their resources. The SEI–HUB will gather data from social enterprises and elderly services across Hong Kong. It helps facilitate project financing and collaboration among social enterprises and start-ups, thus leading to the innovation and development of gerontechnology in Hong Kong,” said Prof Mok.

 

The carnival is one of the activities of a three-year project ‘LU Jockey Club Gerontechnology and Smart Ageing Project’. The Project endeavours to provide a platform for education and research in gerontechnology, including the provision of ‘Gerontechnology Practitioner Training Courses’ and ‘Socialpreneur Incubation Courses’. So far more than 280 gerontechnology practitioners and future social entrepreneurs received training in the certificate courses. In addition, the 2,000-sq-ft ‘LU Jockey Club Gerontech-X Lab’ located on LU campus will be open in November to encourage the general public to try out various gerontechnology products on the premises free of charge.