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    The world is facing two striking trends: Widespread population aging and rapid diffusion of technology. It is only natural to consider applying technologies to provide positive solutions in maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of manpower and resource in elderly care.

    “Gerontechnology” is an emerging interdisciplinary field, which has started to receive attention worldwide. As defined by the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG),

    “Gerontechnology: designing technology and environment for independent living and social participation of older persons in good health, comfort and safety.”

    The Gerontechnology Research Center (GRC) of Yuan Ze University, established in January 2003, is the pioneering research center in the field of gerontechnology in Taiwan. GRC has been designing technologies and products to provide practical solutions to the various problems of the aging society. In addition to the many academic papers, GRC has been granted 40+ patents for his innovative products. GRC has been actively promoting gerontechnology, and the effort of GRC has also been recognized by international academic society. Professor Yeh-Liang Hsu, professor in mechanical engineering and Director of GRC, is the Editor-in-Chief of “Gerontechnology” and “Journal of Gerontechnology and Service Management” (in Chinese), Sinophone Chapter President and IT Director of ISG. He was previously the Vice President of ISG and chaired the 9th World Conference of Gerontechnology.

    Gerontechnology research is valuable as it is the only research that can be turned into products and used by the older adults and caregivers. Partnering with bedding company Seda Chemical Products, Seda G-Tech Co., Ltd was established in April, 2016. Research prototypes developed by GRC are converted into WhizSeries smart living / IoT products, such as WhizPad (motion sensing bed mattress), WhizCarpet (motion sensing carpet); WhizTouch (IoT light and call button), WhizConnect (IoT hub for BLE devices) and WhizRobot (cloud based intelligent companion robot). “SEDA” means silk in Spanish. Our aim is to design and bring silky smooth products into families for caring the older adults. In the meantime, Seda G-Tech also represents a new model of university-industry collaboration in Taiwan.