Prof. ZHENG Yongping and Prof. Alex Mihailidis Discuss International AgeTech Deployment in Healthcare IT News Interview
Prof. ZHENG Yongping, Director of Research Institute for Smart Ageing (RISA), Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Henry G. Leong Professor in Biomedical Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and Prof. Alex Mihailidis, Associate Vice-President, International Partnerships at University of Toronto were recently interviewed by Healthcare IT News about their landmark collaboration to establish Joint Research Centre on Healthy Ageing and AgeTech.
During the interview, Prof. Zheng and Prof. Mihailidis addressed the "pilot trap," where promising innovations often fail to transition into large-scale clinical use despite significant ecosystem support. To overcome this, the partnership will establish cross-border testbeds—including hospitals, long-term care homes, and community housing—in both Hong Kong and Toronto. By linking PolyU’s strengths in engineering and prototyping with University of Toronto’s internationally recognised expertise in clinical research and health system integration, the centre will accelerate the validation of prototypes into procurement-ready and mass-production-ready solutions.
A key highlight of the discussion was the centre’s focus on culturally and linguistically adaptive design, specifically for Cantonese-speaking seniors. Since Toronto hosts one of the largest Cantonese-speaking populations outside of Asia, the dual-site model offers a rare opportunity to evaluate how technologies designed in Hong Kong can be scaled for Western healthcare systems without extensive redesign. Prof. Zheng and Prof. Mihailidis noted that this bidirectional pathway is essential for creating AgeTech solutions, such as rehabilitation robotics and AI-enabled monitoring, that are globally relevant and scalable.
Initial pilot deployments are expected within the first one to two years of the centre’s operation, with broader international scaling targeted within a three-to-four-year horizon. This partnership represents a significant milestone in PolyU’s mission to translate academic research into the global market, ensuring that smart ageing solutions achieve a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of seniors worldwide.
鄭永平教授與 Alex Mihailidis 教授接受 Healthcare IT News 專訪，暢談樂齡科技如何走向國際
香港理工大學（理大）智齡研究院院長、梁顯利生物醫學工程教授兼生物醫學工程講座教授鄭永平教授及多倫多大學副校長（國際合作）Alex MIHAILIDIS教授，近日接受了《Healthcare IT News》專訪，分享雙方合作成立「老齡健康和技術聯合研究中心」這一里程碑式的計劃。
在訪談中，鄭教授與 Mihailidis 教授探討了「試點陷阱」（pilot trap），即許多極具潛力的創新發明儘管在實驗室測試時很成功，卻因為缺乏後續支持，無法大規模在醫院或院舍應用。為了解決這個困局，兩校將在香港與多倫多兩地建立跨境測試平台，涵蓋醫院、長期護理院舍及社區住房。透過結合理大在工程與原型開發方面的優勢，以及多倫多大學在臨床研究與醫療系統整合方面享譽國際的專長，該中心將加速原型的驗證過程，使其轉化為可供醫療體系採購、並能投入量產的解決方案。
訪談的另一大重點，是針對長者的語言和文化進行設計。多倫多擁有亞洲以外其中一個最大規模的粵語社群，為香港研發的科技（如康復機器人、AI 監控系統）提供了一個絕佳的機會評估如何在不需大幅重新設計的情況下，將於香港開發的科技擴展應用到西方醫療系統中。。這種跨國的驗證路徑，是開發全球通用科技產品的關鍵。
初步試點部署預計將在中心運作的首一至兩年內展開，並計劃在三至四年內實現更廣泛的國際化擴展。這次專訪標誌著理大的重要使命：不只專注於學術研究，更要把研發成果轉化為實際產品。透過這次跨國合作，理大希望能確保智慧養老方案能走出校園，真正改善全球長者的生活品質。
線上報導： Healthcare IT News - https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/asia/hong-kong-canada-create-testbed-agetech
