By Wu Siya

BEIJING, May. 22 (China Economic Net)- As China's population ages, pensioners are increasingly shaping the country's burgeoning "silver economy" and playing a significant role in driving consumption.

"Population aging requires global wisdom as well as common commitment. China's investment in smart elderly care technology and community care system are innovative practices that deserve praise and can serve as a global model," said Gregor Sneddon, Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing, in his opening speech at the ongoing China International Elderly Care Services Expo,

"Working together to promote respect, dignity and well-being for elderly people worldwide is key to our close collaboration with China."

Guests from the International Federation on Ageing, the United Nations Population Fund, as well as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Singapore, the United States and other countries jointly put forward suggestions and proposals for cooperation in promoting the vigorous development of the global elderly care service industry.

AI elderly health monitoring equipment exhibited at the expo [Photo/Wu Siya]

This exhibition, which is closely aligned with the concept of the "silver economy" advocated by China, has areas for elderly care talent training, financial services, healthy food, and smart elderly care information technology.

As China's aging population increasing, the intelligent upgrade of home-based elderly care services has become a social focus. The Quick Angel AI Home Care System launched at the exhibition attracted attention. "Through non-contact monitoring, our system can accurately identify abnormal states, falls, nighttime activities and other behaviors of the elderly, then issue real-time warnings. For example, when an elderly person slips in the bathroom, it could quickly determine the abnormal posture through algorithms and link emergency contacts and medical home care platforms. Unlike the internationally renowned Inspiren that relies on wearable devices or cameras, this system adopts a non-wearable design to avoid intrusion and solve the problem of privacy leakage," a staff member told China Economic Net.

"For the elderly, SenseRobot is not only a tool to kill time, but also a health assistant to delay cognitive decline, which has various built-in modes, simple operation and easy pace, and the elderly can freely choose from seven AI levels. By placing pieces on a real chessboard and taking and placing pieces with a robotic arm, the elderly's hand coordination and reaction speed can be exercised," a head of SenseTime, a leading AI software company, told the reporter that their AI chess-playing robot SenseRobot can not only help the elderly exercise their brain power, but also serve as a caring companion for the family and a helper to relieve loneliness.

The latest data reveals that China's average life expectancy has reached 78.6 years. Projections suggest that by about 2035, the number of people aged 60 or above in China will exceed 400 million, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total population, according to a report this January.

Since 2024, China has released a guideline to strengthen the "silver" economy as part of an effort to address the challenges of an aging population. The guideline says the silver economy incorporates economic activities that cater to senior citizens with tailored products and services, and prepares for the challenges of an aging population.

Recently, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) officially released an international standard for elderly care robots led by China, which is leading the healthy development of the global elderly care robot industry. A series of intelligent products such as elderly care companion robots and AI face diagnosis robots have been launched, providing diversified services for the elderly and highlighting the broad application prospects of intelligent technology in the elderly care field.