FHED | Digital Health Tech from Hospital to Home

The 2024 International Conference on Future Healthcare and Economic Development
brings together global experts at National Cheng Kung University

The 2024 International Conference On Future Healthcare And Economic Development (2024 FHED) was held at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) from October 28 to November 1, and was organized by the Medical Device Innovation Center (MDIC) of NCKU. In the past ten years since 2015, more than 1,200 healthcare technology innovation leaders, scholars and experts from more than 50 countries have been invited to participate in this series of conferences, which has become an annual international event.

 

The FHED 2024  is organized through the international linkage of the Taiwan-Thailand Overseas Scientific Research and Technological Innovation Center (TTSTC) funded by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which connects top international medical innovation centers, universities, and related organizations, and integrates the overseas resources of the NSTC's “International Joint Research and Training Collaborative Activity Program” and the “The International Cooperation and Development Fund (Taiwan ICDF)”. The main theme of the conference, “Digital Health Tech from Hospital to Home,” is expected to achieve the following goals: (1) to establish a platform for cooperation in the international digital healthcare innovation ecosystem; (2) to assist Taiwan in establishing an international network for smart healthcare technology; (3) to understand the current trends in healthcare innovations; and (4) to explore the future needs for care in the home.

 

Participating 35 countries include: Argentina, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Philippines, Russia, Thailand, United States, Fiji, Marshall Islands, South Africa, Tuvalu, Vietnam, Bahrain, Jordan, Mongolia, Oman, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Val d'Ivoire, Swaziland, Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Lucia, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the Republic of Tunisia, a total of more than 200 world academic leaders, physicians, researchers, start-ups, and industry elites, focusing on innovative medical technologies and trends, academic exchanges and exploring opportunities for cooperation, and promoting the establishment of a closer platform for cooperation between Taiwan's medical device industry and the rest of the world.

 

In his speech at the conference, Professor Dr. Wang-Long Li, Director General of the National Science and Technology Council, said that he would like to introduce the convergence of global medical technology trends and the promotion of Healthy Taiwan, and that he hopes to accelerate the application of smart medicine through international cooperation, to foster the establishment of an innovative healthcare ecosystem, and to take care of global health and senior care as the primary mission, fulfill social responsibility, and drive the innovative development of the precision healthcare industry.

 

Professor Dr. Woei-Jer Chuang, Executive Vice President of National Cheng Kung University, said that he hoped that this conference would enable participants to grasp the future trends of healthcare, understand how to utilize advanced technology to establish a home healthcare network, and promote quality care services at a lower medical cost.

 

Professor Dr. Pei-Jung Lu, Deputy Executive Secretary of Office of Science and Technology Policy, NSTC, also introduced the Taiwan Elderly Technology Industry Action Plan, which aims to utilize Taiwan's technological advantages to create a healthy, livable, and joyful lifestyle for the silver-haired population and to promote the development of the elderly technology industry, demonstrating Taiwan's “human-centered” paradigm of technological development.

 

Professor Dr. Fong-Chin Su, Founding Director of MDIC, said that through talent matching, industry-academia-medicine cooperation, technical consultation, data sharing and application in pilot sites, we can strengthen the international industry-academia R&D technology chain, accelerate the validation of research results in the international clinical sites, and stimulate the advancement of innovative healthcare technology, in order to develop emerging solutions for holistic care and to form a sustainable and intelligent healthcare cooperation ecosystem.

 

More than 30 overseas experts and scholars introduce the trend and application of wall-less smart healthcare in different countries. Prof. Hung-Wei Yang, Prof. Shuenn-Yuh Lee, and Associate Prof. Che Wei Lin  from National Cheng Kung University give lectures on the medtech innovations and startups. Representatives of Taiwan's MedTech companies, such as Quanta Computer Inc., Formosa Plastics Corporation, TE-SHIN Precision Technology Co., Ltd., Eternal Materials Co., Ltd., Biomedica Inc., 3R Life Sciences Ltd., Great Group Medical Co., Ltd.,  Hukui Biotechnology Co., Ltd., LeadTheWay International Corp. and  Mosaic Venture Lab  share their insights on Taiwan's smart medical technology. Taiwan's intelligent healthcare technology is rich and diverse, and it is hoped that the event will throw a sprat to catch a whale and create the next generation of healthcare together.

In addition to the sharing of special topics, MDIC invited its international partner, Professor Arthur Erdman, the founding director of the Earl E. Bakken Medical Devices Center at the University of Minnesota, to conduct a innovation workshop. Dr. Erdman is one of the prime pioneer of Medical Device Innovation and has worked for Medtronic, 3M, and other leading companies. Dr. Erdman is one of the leading promoters of Medical Device Innovation and has provided mechanical and product design consulting services to more than 50 international medical device manufacturers such as Medtronic, 3M, Dell, Abbott, etc. The workshop  aims to cultivate international medical device innovators, share with experts from all over the world medical device innovation strategies and steps, and promote the development of advanced technologies and innovative solutions through cross-discipline, cross-institutional, and cross-cultural knowledge exchanges and research collaborations.

 

With the NSTC support , the MDIC focuses on the development of artificial intelligence in medical devices, elderly care, medical imaging, precision medicine, and data governance applications by integrating the information foundation, cloud technology, big data analysis, and artificial intelligence with a strong technological breakthrough, and through the cooperation of the academic research team, clinical experts, and industrial partners, the Center will focus on the development of artificial intelligence in medical devices, elder care, medical imaging, precision medicine, and data governance applications, and will deeply plunge into the field of digital healthcare, in the expectation of working together to address the challenges of 2024 BTC. We hope to work together with all sectors to address the major challenge of uneven distribution of healthcare resources as called for by the 2024 BTC Conference.