AN AGING POPULATION: OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMERGING MARKETS

AGING SOCIETY: ECONOMIC CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITYWhen the world is facing with demographically changed, people are getting older, the number of senior citizens is increasing globally. The aging population is causing economic challenge in various ways including lack of labors in many countries and the shifting in demands for product and services. Most of elders require special helps in their daily routines and some disease occur when people get older. This reaches to significant changes in many industries to develop and produce goods and services that serve the future demands of senior citizens. The health problems in seniors are both physical and mental concerns which require medical treatment and care in the long term. Moreover, some seniors also facing with mental health problems from loneliness and many individual concerns. These mental problems might lead to depressive disorders which affects the way they think, feel and handle daily activities. Therefore, there are high demand in age-related innovation products and services such as furniture

and housing designed for elders, medical care products, nutrition food and some digital technologies that enhance senior’s quality of life and individuals’ wellbeing.

THE GOVERNMENT AS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN DEVELOPING THAILAND’S INDUSTRIAL SECTORSTO BECOME A HUB FOR ELDERLY CARE IN BOTH MEDICAL SERVICES AND PRODUCTS • Basic Tax IncentiveTo support the national plans, The Board of Investment of Thailand offers numerous tax and non-tax investment incentives for a wide range of activities and projects related to the development of elderly product and services. This includes exemption of corporate income tax, exemption of import duties on machinery, exemption of import duties on raw materials used in R&D, exemption of import duties on raw materials used in production for export and subsidies on certain expenses. However, the period of tax and duties exemption also

depends on the types of activities and projects being requested for support as well

• Innovation Technology Assistance Program (ITAP) by National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA)NSTDA has launched a program called ITAP due to the concern of the increasing of aging population in Thailand and in the global. The program aims to support the development of innovative products to for elderly. The program is the collaboration of Thailand’s leading science, technology and innovation companies including Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), NSTDA and Chassis Plus Infill Co., Ltd. (Fab Lab), launch the special project together to support SMEs to invest and invent on developing innovation products for elderly. By offering the research funding for about THB400,000 and credit lines for up to THB20 million, it aims to increase competitiveness among SMEs in both domestic and international.

With the ageing population a global megatrend, there is an increasing trend for healthcare technology companies in developing numerous innovations to enhance elders’ quality of life. The global medical device market is expanding continuously, its total value is approximately USD 425.5 billion in 2018 and forecasted to reach USD 612.7 billion by 2025 or 5.4% at CAGR. And the global market for elderly care technology was worth USD 5.6 billion and will reach to USD 13.6 billion by 2022 at the rate of 19.3% CAGR and expected to expand

more as the growth numbers of aging population. In the past Thailand has been producing medical devices for infection control, healing and prevention but its market demand is reducing so Thailand should bend the interest to invent and develop medical devices for senior care which becomes a trend around the world. Medical Device industry is considered as another high-valued industry of Thailand and will become. According to Krungsri Research, the export volume of the medical device industry of

Thailand in both medical equipment and device worth USD1.24 billion in 2017. Most of the exports were single use devices that not require production advancement such as syringes, hypodermic needles, tubes, rubber gloves and condoms. While, Thailand still has to import advanced medical devices from other countries such as ultrasound scanners, x-ray machines and electrocardiograms mainly from United States, China, Japan and Germany. In 2022, the medical device industry of Thailand is expected to grow by 8.5% to 10% due to the growth of aging population, Thai people are more accessible to healthcare both public and private and the increasing of foreign patients coming to get medical treatment within the country.

DIGITAL MEDICAL DEVICES ENHANCE ELDERLY’S QUALITY OF LIFE

An Aging Population: Opportunities for Emerging Markets

• Fall Detection System as a life-saving device Falls are common problems especially in older adults which can cause serious injuries such as hip fractures or head injuries. In Thailand, it is reported that the most frequent accident being faced by the elderly is a simple slip and fall. According to Bangkok Hospital, there are at least 500 seniors aged above 60 years old each year whose deaths are caused by falling and this number has not yet considered those that had serious injuries which could have resulted in disabilities. Many countries around the world has been interested in develop the device that can detect the falls in elderly as preventing is cheaper than medical expenses. The fall detection system device market was

worth about USD 358.6 million in 2016, and expect to reach USD 497.3 million by 2022 at the growth of 5.58%, according to Reseachmarket. One good example of such technology is the Xandar Kardian, a contactless fall detection system, which uses impulse radio ultra-wide band radar in combination with Internet of Thing (IoT) to detect and monitor health vitals such as heart rate, breathing rate, sleep apnea, fall detection and can also be used as a personal emergency response system (PERS) device. Not only could it detect falls, it also includes the feature of post-fall monitoring to provide real-time data on health vitals to the designated caretaker too. Also, the ease of installation has allowed it to be applicable at home and at hospitals

and nursing homes as well. Hence, Xandar Kardian enables elderly people, especially those that are left at home alone, to receive immediate help during emergencies.

• Telehealth Services: digital transformation in healthcare sector Technology changes the way the hospital operates. They tend to use online platform to operate and provide medical service through online channel such as Telehealth. The telehealth is the use of mobile technology to create connectivity and constant relationship between patients and doctors or medical providers through online channel such as video doctor visits and remote patient monitoring tools. This enhances the medical industry to

go beyond just traditional hospitalinto the age of digital transformation. Telehealth services come very handy for the elderly and their caretakers in reducing their burdens of travelling to the hospital for their regular health checks or even in time of emergencies where immediate assistance is much needed. Other benefits of telehealth also include improving patient engagement, reaching out to patients in remote or rural areas, lower time consuming for patients and medical professionals, lower chance of hospital admission through regular monitoring of patients’ health,

lower cost for all parties and many more. With the wide range of benefits, telehealth services are very well received, and Intersog has reported that the global telehealth market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 14.3% by 2020. From the digital solutions for elderly healthcare mentioned above, it could be seen that in improving the health conditions of the seniors, several other sectors apart from the health technology sector could also play a big part in creating impactful contributions too. With the upcoming 5G coupled with Big

Data, AI, Internet of Things and Machine Learning, there are numerous possibilities and opportunities in developing technologies that could enhances elder’s quality of life. Thus, with increasing technologies that enable elderly to consistently monitor their own health conditions, healthcare providers could consider integrating these technologies with their medical services to provide a holistic approach in improving elder’s quality of life. Although it would probably take the elderly in Thailand quite some time to individually adopt these technologies, healthcare providers in Thailand should already be active in making plans to bundle healthcare technology designed as a customer product with their professional medical services as Thailand is the destination for international patients who might already be familiar with these technologies already too. Not only would these technologies allow healthcare providers based in Thailand to offer their services beyond the nation’s border, they would allow healthcare providers to keep their international patients more engaged and would further helps enhance customer satisfaction as well.

An Aging Population: Opportunities for Emerging Markets