Opening Session                                      

Opening Remarks
AKIO OKAWARA, President and CEO, Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE)

Special Remarks
KEIZO TAKEMI, Member, House of Councillors, Senior Fellow, JCIE 

ALANA OFFICER, Unit Head, Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing, World Health Organization (WHO)

HIROSHI MINAMI, Deputy Director General, Office of Healthcare Policy, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Japan

Keynote Speaker
JOHN EU-LI WONG, Isabel Chan Professor in Medical Sciences, Senior Vice President, Health Innovation and Translation, The National University of Singapore  [PRESENTATION]

Panel 1: Translating data and innovation to policy and practicecCosponsored by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Foundation

Experts and private sector representatives will discuss how technology can be translated and transferred into meaningful products and services to promote healthy aging.

Moderator
TENGKU AIZAN HAMID, Professor in Gerontology and Social Policy, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Research Fellow, Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing)

Panelists
PRASERT ASSANTACHAI, Professor of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand; President, Thai Society of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine; Former Chairman, Asia/Oceania International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG)  [PRESENTATION]

HIROYUKI FUJITA, Founder and CEO, Quality Electrodynamics; Chief Technology Officer, CT-MR Division, Canon Medical Systems Corporation; Member of OIST Board of Governors

ASHISH NARAYAN, Programme Coordinator, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific  [PRESENTATION]

John Wong Keynote Lecture

• Given the speed of aging in Asia, countries in the region should be preparing for major demographic shifts, but overall there are very mixed levels of preparedness globally, and few countries are ready to meet the needs and seize the opportunities of longer lives. Preparing financially, socially, and scientifically for longer lifespans is a global imperative.
• The National Academy of Medicine’s Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity provides strong evidence that supports the potential for peoples’ healthspan to equal their lifespan, or in other words, that people can stay healthy throughout their lives.
  
  

The following three recommendations from the report were highlighted as of particular interest to AHWIN:

• Governments and the private sector should partner to design user-centered and cohesion-enabling intergenerational communities at the city, neighborhood, and home levels. This includes making broadband accessible, addressing the digital divide, and designing public transportation that addresses the first and last mile needs.
• Investment in public health systems is critical in areas such as prevention and wellness. All countries should establish 5-year targets and use data to tell us if targets are being met.
• In order to shift health care systems to focus on healthy longevity, health systems should adopt affordable, accessible, and culturally appropriate models. There is a need to strengthen the geriatrics workforce since there is constant shortage of specialists. And governments should empower citizens with the tools and data needed to manage their own health.
• Data shows that intergenerational teams are more productive and innovative, thus it is encouraged to engage more older persons in the workforce. Utilizing the capabilities and contributions of older people can create new human and social capital, which will in turn enhance economic capital and increase GDP.
  
  

Panel 1: Translating data and innovation to policy and practice

• Longevity can be thought of as the next big technology disruptor. If we age in a “healthy” way, our increased life expectancy could create enormous value for ourselves and society. For example, if workers over 55 years of age work one more year, GDP could increase by 1.5% per year, or more than US$300 million per year, and these represent “health-created value” or value arising from good health.
• There is a critical need to generate innovations and technology that specifically meet the needs of older people and address their unique challenges, such as geriatric syndrome, multiple pathologies, and polypharmacy. Geriatricians have an important role to play in identifying areas where innovation is needed, such as instability, immobility, incontinence, intellectual impairment, and insomnia.
• Educational opportunities that allow people to study and learn across multiple disciplines can help drive innovation at the intersection of different fields, for example engineering and medicine. It is also important for educational institutions to include considerations around aging in their curricula.
• There was a call to think of broadband access as a “super determinant of health,” with data showing that increases in broadband penetration are negatively correlated with COVID mortality, implying that digitalization could lead to decreased deaths from infectious diseases.
• In addressing the digital divide among the region and between generations, standardization of technology use through establishing international standards, cross-sectoral collaboration, and skills development is key.
  
  

Panel 2: Designing age-friendly cities facilitating mobility and social inclusion

• In designing age-friendly cities, there should be a shift in mindset to focus on the following objectives: to encourage older persons to step out into the community instead of being homebound, to promote adaptive design rather than universal design, and to engage older persons involved in the process—i.e., we should design with them instead of merely designing for them.
• In building age-friendly cities, a multidisciplinary approach is required to shape the built environment through architecture and implement transportation methods that address first and last mile needs, as these factors can have an immense effect on health.
• Instead of just being supported by the community, older persons can be active players. Empowering them with roles where they contribute to the society will in turn lead to intergenerational cohesion and social inclusion.
• Aging is a complex issue, so a whole of society effort and government intervention are needed if we are to produce transformative innovations that lead to healthy longevity.