The Expo launched on Thursday, 5 December. Over 30 leaders, senior executives in hospitals and ICT companies were joined by Taipei City Mayor Wen-Je Ko, the Minister of Science and Technology Liang-Gee Chen, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Jui-Yuan Hsueh, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Mei-Hua Wang, Deputy Minister of Council of Agriculture Jun-Ji Chen, and the Expo organising committee members- Jia-Chyuan Su, Jin-Pyng Wang, Wei-Chao Chen and Chi-Huey Wong, to announce the launch and welcome overseas delegates to Taipei.
The Expo attracted 550 exhibitors, including hospitals and companies in IT, biotech, pharmaceutical sectors, and 17 medical societies across Taiwan to demonstrate advances and development in therapeutics, medical technologies, digital health, surgical robotics and cancer treatment featuring proton and particle therapy.
Since 2017, the Expo has been the largest health fair in APAC and grown rapidly in size as well as global participation- 50 overseas delegations, 60 high-profile keynote presenters, such as the Nobel Prize winner Aaron Ciechanover, from 17 countries around the world. More than 100,000 visitors flooded in to the four-day Expo (80,000 in 2018), explored the trend and opportunities via 1,900 booths.
Opening remarks
Medicine and technology together make our lives better. It is our honour and pleasure to meet with delegates and healthcare leaders across the world here. I am proud to say that Taiwan is the best partner you can have in terms of healthcare and technology. Today we will have 50 hospitals from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Indonesia and some more to join us and explore Taiwan’s medical excellence- international medicine and medical doctors training, digital transformation in healthcare and medical AI, to name a few. Together we will be able to stimulate collaboration in healthcare whilst upgrading the overall healthcare standard inter-regionally. I am also hoping to see more cross-sectoral work with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Science and Technology particularly, in developing the healthcare industry. -Jia-Chyuan Su, President, General Assembly of the Expo
The world is now fanatical about healthcare- a sector that grows at a phenomenal rate. Global health markets, according to WHO, amounted to $8.5trn this year, with medical technology alone projected to hit $595.4bn by 2024. Taiwan is well positioned because of the robust supply chain backing healthcare and ICT and over 20 years of experience in biotechnology. The Healthcare+ Expo has successfully created a platform for Taiwan to connect global markets in healthcare, hence my appeal to the government to coordinate resources we have more efficiently, develop the healthcare industry to be the backbone of Taiwan’s economy. -Jin-Pyng Wang, Founder of the Healthcare+ Expo
Following the previous success in the Healthcare+ Expo, there will be more opportunities this year for healthcare providers, ICT and biomedical companies to partner, to interact. The government efforts and initiatives putting into cross-industry collaboration will eventually spark innovations and advances in health products and services, as well as shaping the future of wider health industries in Taiwan. It is to say that we should think in an industry’s perspective when referring to innovative healthcare. -Chi-Huey Wong, Convener, Promotion Committee of the Expo
