A new trend in AI security industry: smart elderly care

Recently, the results of the seventh national census were announced. According to the data of this census, the number of elderly people over 60 years old in China has reached 264 million, accounting for 18.7% of the total population. Among them, the population aged 65 and above is 191 million, accounting for 13.5%.

At present, the international community usually regards the proportion of the population aged 60 and above to reach 10% of the total population, or the proportion of the population aged 65 and above to reach 7% of the total population as the standard for countries and regions to enter aging. At the same time, aging is subdivided into mild aging, moderate aging, severe aging and deep aging.

When the proportion of the population aged 60 and above to the total population exceeds 10%, it means entering a mild aging society; when it exceeds 20%, it is moderate aging, when it exceeds 30%, it is severe aging, and when it exceeds 35%, it is deep aging.

According to this "standard", my country is entering the stage of moderate aging. Experts predict that by 2050, the elderly population in my country will reach one-third of the total population, entering a severe/deep aging society.

China has a population of 1.4 billion. When the society enters the aging stage, the number of elderly people is very large. The Western nursing home model is obviously not suitable for China's national conditions, and home-based elderly care is also unrealistic, because China is in the stage of accelerated urbanization. Rural areas and small towns can no longer retain young people. They flock to economically developed large and medium-sized cities, and the phenomenon of "empty nesters" is becoming more and more serious.

Coupled with the 30-year one-child policy, a large number of "four-two-one" families with four elderly people, a couple, and one child have appeared, making China's social elderly care face greater pressure than Western countries.

Elderly care is becoming a serious social problem.

The smart elderly care market has great potential and attractive prospects.

With the development of the economy and society, the traditional concept of family elderly care is being subverted, the function of family elderly care is increasingly weakened, and socialized elderly care is gradually becoming a development trend.

In 2021, the issue of the smart technology gap for the elderly was written into the government work report of the "Two Sessions" for the first time, which clearly stated that "the promotion of intelligent services should adapt to the needs of the elderly and ensure that smart tools do not cause obstacles to the daily lives of the elderly."

Governments across my country have proactively planned and developed socialized elderly care. At the end of 2020, six departments encouraged property management to promote smart home and community elderly care services. In the face of misunderstandings in the development of the industry, the State Council issued a document proposing to establish and improve a comprehensive supervision system for elderly care services, guide and encourage elderly care service institutions to operate honestly and legally, actively transform and upgrade, and continuously optimize services.

In recent years, with the advancement of science and technology and the application of various intelligent technologies, smart elderly care has quietly emerged. Using AI and Internet of Things technologies, through the integrated application and empowerment of various sensors, providing the elderly with safer, warmer and more humane elderly care services is gradually becoming a new elderly care model.

In February 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the National Health and Family Planning Commission issued the "Action Plan for the Development of Smart Health Care Industry (2017-2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"), which elevated smart care to the national strategic level.

"Internet + Big Data" elderly care, which comprehensively utilizes various information and communication technologies, features interconnection, mobility, openness, and sharing, and focuses on the daily life, safety, health care, medical care, entertainment and leisure of the elderly, and carries out information collection, information organization, information utilization and information services for the elderly, service units, government agencies and other relevant personnel and organizations.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has published the drafts of eight industry standards for the electronics industry. Among the eight industry standards, two are related to smart elderly care, namely "Smart Health Elderly Care Service Platform Reference Model" and "Smart Health Elderly Care Product Classification and Description".

Among them, the "Smart Health Elderly Care Service Platform Reference Model" standard provides the system architecture and data transmission of the smart health elderly care service platform, which is applicable to the development and design of the smart health elderly care service platform (hereinafter referred to as the service platform); "Smart Health Elderly Care Product Classification and Description" stipulates the classification and identification of smart elderly care products. This standard is applicable to the identification and management of smart elderly care products. This indicates that smart elderly care products will have their own industry standards in the future, which will effectively promote the popularization and industrialization of smart elderly care products.

The original intention of smart elderly care is to establish a sensor network system and information platform for home-based elderly people, communities and elderly care institutions, and on this basis, provide real-time, fast, efficient, low-cost, Internet-based, interconnected and intelligent elderly care services.

In the information age, it has become an inevitable trend to use information technology and smart devices to optimize the allocation of elderly care resources and innovate elderly care service models.

With the development of smart elderly care, more industry enterprises will join the smart elderly care market in the future.

How enterprises can develop the smart elderly care market

Smart elderly care is a special market, involving families, communities, streets and governments at all levels. It has both commercial and public welfare aspects. Therefore, we must first strive to get the support of the local government, which is the first step in market development. If your products and technologies can really help the government solve social problems, the government will not only support it, but also strongly support it.

The smart elderly care market seems attractive, but because it is still in the market education stage, the landing of both products and technology applications is not ideal. The main reason is the funding problem.

Elderly care institutions and communities in various places have limited capital investment in smart elderly care. Therefore, enterprises with financial and technical strength can consider using the "leasing + operation" model to develop the smart elderly care market, first public welfare and then benefits, pursuing profits and returns, just like the pace of the elderly, not too fast. Because smart elderly care itself is a "slow" market.