Cheap home care for the elderly: China tech makes inroads into emerging and fast growing market
- China’s grey population of 250 million is expected to double by 2050 and tech companies are offering smart home solutions to elderly care
- For US 15 cents a day, one tech firm gives users a webcam and TV, a voice assistant, an SOS system and links to telemedicine
Charging elderly clients just one yuan (US 15 cents) a day, little-known Lanchuang Network Technology has embarked on one of the most ambitious undertakings in aged care by a private sector firm in China.
Provided with a set-up box, a webcam paired with a TV set and “Xiaoyi”, a Siri-like voice assistant, customers gain access to telemedicine and an SOS system as well as paid-for services that include housekeeping and meal deliveries.
A small robot that can ring up a medical centre in response to verbal calls for help costs an extra two yuan per day.
Launched just four months ago, Lanchuang’s smart care system has already signed up 220,000 elderly clients in 16 cities. Half of the users are in Shandong province in eastern China where the company is based and which has a growing elderly population.
It is targeting as many as 1.5 million users this year, 12 million next year and 30 million in 2021, when it hopes to list on China’s new Nasdaq-style tech board.
The aim, however, is not to make money from its clients, some of whom get by on pensions as low as a few hundred yuan a month, but to take a cut from providers of offline services.