Positive outlook for the inaugural edition of ELDEX Asia
Taking place from 8 – 10 November at Suntec Singapore, Halls 405/406, Eldex (Eldercae Exhibition & Conference) Asia, the region’s most dedicated exhibition for the rapidly growing eldercare industry, will feature pavilions from Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan, the country of honour for the inaugural edition. Majority of the exhibitors come from the lifestyle and wellness, healthcare and rehabilitation, and technology segments. The show will be open to the public on 9 and 10 November.
Guest of honour, Cheng Li Hui, Member of Parliament, Tampines GRC and North East Adviser and member of the PAP Seniors Group, opened the event on 8 November. Other officiating guests include Dr Kanwaljit Soin, Founding President of the Women’s Initiative for Ageing Successfully (WINGS) and former Nominated Member of Parliament; Dr Michael Fung, Deputy Chief Executive (Industry), Chief Human Resource Officer, and Chief Data Officer (SkillsFuture Singapore); and Bernice Tay, Director, Food Manufacturing, Enterprise Singapore.
The exhibition had over 100 exhibiting companies from 10 economies.These include pavilions from Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. Majority of exhibitors come from the lifestyle and wellness; healthcare and rehabilitation; finance, insurance and other services; and technology, digital and IT segments.
Associate Professors Wee Shiou Lian and Huang Dejian delivered the keynote addresses for the morning and afternoon sessions of the medical conference. Resource persons discussed various topics including the importance of exercise for seniors from pre-frail to increasingly frail stages, and the science behind food and how nutrition could be a form of medicine. The sessions culminated in panel discussions. A keynote by Professor Tai E-Shyong on new efforts by leveraging technology to enable the population to make healthier choices concluded the medical conference. The Singapore Medical Council, Singapore Nurses Board and Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Association have recognised the strong scientific content by offering their attending members the following continuing education points:
· Singapore Medical Council – 4 points
· Singapore Nurses Board – 4 points
· Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Association – 3 points
The over-subscribed conference will have over 350 delegates of which over 80% are doctors and nurses, while the rest are from the allied health community including therapists, dietitians and pharmacists. A number of the registered doctor delegates are from Australia, India and the US.
“We are absolutely delighted with the encouraging response of registrants for this first-time event. A quick glean of the data indicate that we have representatives from almost all of the local hospitals, including community ones; caregiving centres and homes attending the conference. Instead of capping the number of delegates to what we had originally planned, we have instead expanded the conference room by over 30% to accommodate more from the medical and allied health fraternities to come together to learn and network. We hope to accommodate as many interested delegates as possible,” said Joseph Yeo, Event Director.
Trade professionals can expect to see exciting innovative products that are new to the market. There will also be products, solutions and technology to help them do more with less, especially with the currently labour-tight market in the eldercare space. The Food for Elders pavilion, led by Enterprise Singapore, will feature food products by Singapore companies that cater to the special needs of the silver demographic. Trade visitors can rely on recommended trails, available in the show directory, for the various exhibition segments to help them find the companies providing the types of products and services that they may be seeking.
A full day of B2B workshops have been lined up for trade visitors at the opening day, starting with a two-hour Eldex Asia Jobs and Skills Panel, led by Eldex Asia’s Skills Partner, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG). Together with their training partners, HMI Institute of Health Sciences, Singapore Institute of Technology’s Lean Transformation Innovation Centre, and Tsao Foundation, SSG kick start the session by sharing about the changing jobs and skills landscape, different skills development models, and Singapore’s tripartite partnership models to build an enabling skills ecosystem for the Eldercare sector.
The panel was followed by Japan Hour (where three of the exhibiting Japanese companies: Sports, Morinaga and Assist Motion, will talk about their new products). In the afternoon, workshops by Workplace Safety and Health Council (WSHC) and Institute of Geriatrics and Active Ageing (IGA), , with respect to their various programmes and initiatives in providing care for the elderly, were held. Activities took place such as press conferences by Spire Research and Consulting on the market opportunities in the silver industry, and SG Assist, who has launched their new App. An MOU signing among Eldex Asia’s strategic partner, Brands For Good, and CEO Asia and ASEAN Corporate Social Responsibility Network was held to launch their tripartite partnership to launch ARIBA (ASEAN Responsible and Inclusive Business Alliance) that will be managed by CEO Asia.
Over the weekend on 9 and 10 November, Eldex Asia will be open to the public. Besides becoming more aware of the different types of products available to help with ageing better particularly at the product demonstrations by exhibiting companies, there is a rich collection of workshops covering a broad range of topics including dementia, using technology to monitor diabetes, preparing for life’s eventuality, suitable exercises for active agers, and support for caregivers, among many others.
“We have invested in ensuring that all attendees can visit the exhibition and the workshops for free, as long as they pre-register. We have worked in creating fun elements at the show where there are prizes to be won, including Samsung tablets with two years’ newspaper subscription to Berita Harian and Lianhe Zaobao, a two nights’ stay at the fairly recently opened Capital Kempinski, among others. We have carefully curated a collection of workshops that span a wide spectrum of interest areas that the public will find appealing and pique their curiosity. The reason why we have done so is because we want to inform and educate the public the importance of preparing for living longer lives in a better way. This social cause is particularly important to us as we all have family members that are ageing. The knowledge we gain through the workshops can help them to age better and retard frailty through active ageing,” concluded Yeo.
Visit the event page for the full schedule of workshops https://www.eldexasia.com/en/home/to-visit/eldex-workshops/
(Press Release)
