Six departments: Accelerate the application of cutting-edge technologies such as embodied intelligence, large language models, brain-computer interfaces, and exoskeletons in the elderly care sector

Title context: Six departments: Accelerate the application of cutting-edge technologies such as embodied intelligence, large language models, brain-computer interfaces, and exoskeletons in the elderly care sector Text: On November 6, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and five other departments issued a notice on the distribution of the "Several Measures on Cultivating Diverse Scenarios to Promote Consumption of Elderly-Friendly Products." Among other points, it calls for advancing the application of smart elderly-friendly products. Leveraging national major science and technology projects as a driving force, it calls for accelerating the application of cutting-edge technologies such as embodied intelligence, large language models, brain-computer interfaces, and exoskeletons in the elderly care sector, and for researching and upgrading intelligent devices for elderly disability care, rehabilitation nursing, and mental companionship. It encourages, based on various consumption scenarios, accelerating the implementation and application of health management products such as smart health management and intelligent rehabilitation assessment and treatment, as well as intelligent elderly care service Siasun Robot&Automation such as incontinence care, rehabilitation support, and daily life care, to provide elderly people with intelligent care solutions including daily life assistance, safety protection, health monitoring, and emergency rescue. The full text is as follows: Notice from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Office on Aging on the Distribution of the "Several Measures on Cultivating Diverse Scenarios to Promote Consumption of Elderly-Friendly Products" To the civil affairs departments (bureaus), development and reform commissions, industry and information technology authorities, commerce authorities, market regulation bureaus (departments, commissions), and offices of the working committees on aging of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps: In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on developing the silver economy and cultivating new consumption scenarios, promote silver consumption, and drive high-quality development of the silver economy, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Office on Aging have formulated the "Several Measures on Cultivating Diverse Scenarios to Promote Consumption of Elderly-Friendly Products." It is hereby distributed to you; please implement it earnestly in light of actual conditions. Ministry of Civil AffairsNational Development and Reform Commission Ministry of Industry and Information TechnologyMinistry of Commerce State Administration for Market RegulationNational Office on Aging November 4, 2026 Several Measures on Cultivating Diverse Scenarios to Promote Consumption of Elderly-Friendly Products In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on developing the silver economy and cultivating new consumption scenarios, expand new scenarios for silver consumption, promote supply-demand matching, and unlock the potential of silver consumption, the following measures are hereby proposed. I. Expand consumption scenarios for elderly-friendly products (1) Integrate into home-based and community-based elderly care service scenarios. In conjunction with home-based elderly care services, promote the introduction of elderly-friendly renovation, health management, smart security, and other products into households. Where conditions permit, community elderly care service centers, day care centers, and other community elderly care service facilities may open experience, rental, and sales outlets for elderly-friendly products, and promote the popularization of elderly-friendly products in conjunction with community elderly care service scenarios. Encourage elderly care service institutions to leverage the advantage of concentrated elderly customer groups to carry out trials, displays, rentals, and sales of elderly-friendly products, and promote the large-scale use of elderly-friendly products. (2) Develop consumption scenarios based on facilities serving the elderly. Guide qualified elderly education institutions, elderly meal assistance points, and other facilities serving the elderly to embed consumption scenarios for elderly-friendly products and expand display and rental-sales operations, achieving resource sharing and service coordination to meet the nearby and convenient consumption needs of elderly people. Guide localities to adapt to local conditions, integrate and utilize existing facilities to cultivate a batch of comprehensive service centers for the elderly (senior activity centers), set up special consumption zones for elderly-friendly products, and promote the integrated development of elderly-friendly product consumption with cultural and sports entertainment, education and training, and other services for the elderly. (3) Use community public and commercial facilities to expand consumption scenarios. Encourage qualified localities to organize the screening of high-quality enterprises and social organizations, set up display scenarios for elderly-friendly products in community public service facilities, and use local exhibition halls, pedestrian streets, cultural squares, and other resources to exhibit and sell high-quality products. Promote the expansion and upgrading of the 15-minute convenient living circle and enrich consumption scenarios "at the doorstep" for elderly people. Encourage large supermarkets, department stores, and commercial circulation enterprises to open dedicated areas for elderly-friendly products. Guide chain pharmacies and community convenience stores to expand the operation of daily products such as walking aids and elderly-friendly foods to enhance consumption convenience. Encourage qualified commercial complexes and mature business districts to cultivate and build Silver MALLs, silver fashion streets, "Silver Age Happy Living Spaces," and the like, carry out necessary barrier-free and elderly-friendly renovations, and create urban age-friendly consumption scenarios. (4) Cultivate online consumption platforms for elderly-friendly products. Encourage e-commerce platforms to set up silver consumption sections to centrally display and sell high-quality elderly-friendly products. Guide vertical e-commerce platforms to explore the development of online silver malls, simplify interface interaction, optimize operating processes, and build exclusive shopping platforms for elderly people. Promote the integrated development of Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co., Ltd. consumption, and smooth consumption channels for elderly people through a model combining offline display and experience with online sales and proxy payment by relatives and friends. II. Strengthen the supply of elderly-friendly products (5) Enrich the categories of elderly-friendly products. Focusing on the diversified needs of elderly people, promote the quality upgrading of rigid-demand products such as elderly care, health promotion, and rehabilitation assistive devices. Develop functional elderly clothing and apparel, and encourage the development of development-oriented categories such as elderly-friendly home furnishings, elderly-friendly environment improvement, and elderly-friendly foods. Develop in an orderly manner quality-oriented products such as anti-aging and elderly-friendly cultural and sports entertainment products. (6) Promote the application of smart elderly-friendly products. Leveraging national major science and technology projects as a driving force, accelerate the application of cutting-edge technologies such as embodied intelligence, large language models, brain-computer interfaces, and exoskeletons in the elderly care sector, and research and upgrade intelligent devices for elderly disability care, rehabilitation nursing, and mental companionship. Encourage, based on various consumption scenarios, accelerating the implementation and application of health management products such as smart health management and intelligent rehabilitation assessment and treatment, as well as intelligent elderly care service Siasun Robot&Automation such as incontinence care, rehabilitation support, and daily life care, to provide elderly people with intelligent care solutions including daily life assistance, safety protection, health monitoring, and emergency rescue. (7) Strengthen the promotion of elderly-friendly products. Encourage localities to refer to the national annual catalog for the promotion of elderly-friendly products and services, and, in conjunction with activities such as "benefiting the elderly and assisting enterprises," do a good job in promoting local elderly-friendly products. Support localities in collecting and feeding back consumption demand and data for elderly-friendly products in accordance with laws and regulations, dynamically update sales lists, and accelerate product iteration and upgrading. Support relevant business entities in cultivating well-known brands of elderly-friendly products. III. Innovate consumption service forms for elderly-friendly products (8) Strengthen full-process services for display, experience, and sales. Encourage the classification and setup of consumption scenarios for elderly-friendly products according to the different needs of elderly people, improve functions such as display and experience, and provide differentiated elderly-friendly solutions. Support the use of real-life model rooms, augmented reality (AR), and other technologies to recreate elderly-friendly living environments and provide immersive and interactive experiences. Assign professional staff, strengthen pre-sales guidance, and provide elderly people with purchasing suggestions such as needs assessment and product matching. Improve after-sales service guarantee mechanisms such as regular follow-up visits, fault response, and repair and maintenance. (9) Innovate and develop rental services. Promote flexible rental models such as "rent instead of purchase" and "combining rental and sales," and guide categories such as elderly-friendly home furnishings, rehabilitation assistive devices, and smart elderly care equipment to carry out rental services to reduce the cost of use for elderly people. Encourage localities to develop services such as cleaning and disinfection, inspection and testing, and product reuse for rental products to ensure products are safe and easy to use. (10) Expand multi-format integrated services. Implement the "Silver+" new business format cultivation action, promote the integration of elderly care with health, culture, tourism, sports, and other industries, develop services for elderly people such as health management, education and training, cultural and entertainment social activities, and legal aid, and promote various consumption scenarios to become activity complexes for elderly people. Promote the use of Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network Intermediary platforms, business outlets, e-commerce platforms, short videos, and other channels to push information on elderly-friendly products, policies and news on aging, and health and wellness knowledge. IV. Increase support for consumption of elderly-friendly products (11) Improve factor guarantees. Encourage qualified localities to refer to relevant policies for elderly care service facilities and use existing facilities such as state-owned property housing and community public service facilities to cultivate and develop elderly-friendly consumption scenarios. Give play to the role of monetary and credit policy, guide financial institutions to combine various catalogs for the promotion of elderly-friendly products, and increase support for the construction or operation of elderly-friendly consumption scenarios by operators of facilities serving the elderly and commercial facilities. Establish an industry cultivation and incubation mechanism, and encourage relevant business entities to apply for specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, among others. (12) Give play to the role of the market in allocating resources. Support various business entities in participating in the investment, construction, and operation of consumption scenarios for elderly-friendly products in accordance with market principles, conduct demand and market surveys well, select sites scientifically, and promote differentiated development without using scale and category as indicators. Encourage localities to improve operating mechanisms in light of actual conditions, guide private enterprises to participate, and promote joint construction and operation models such as public construction and private operation and "site cooperation + sales revenue sharing" in accordance with laws and regulations, so as to achieve sustainable operations. Encourage state-owned enterprises to play a leading and demonstrative role, expand elderly-friendly consumption business in conjunction with their main responsibilities and core businesses, and support the use of existing facilities to lay out and operate elderly-friendly consumption scenarios. (13) Optimize the consumption environment. Issue the "Guidelines for the Construction of the Standard System for the Elderly Products Industry." Explore the establishment of a certification system for silver products, encourage certification bodies to carry out service certification based on relevant standards and elderly-friendly needs, and improve the quality level of elderly-friendly products and services. Strictly regulate relevant enterprises to operate within their business scope, improve market access and exit mechanisms, and prevent operational risks. Strengthen supervision and inspection, and severely crack down on illegal acts of producing and selling substandard products. Keep complaint and reporting channels open, strengthen rapid response, handle consumption disputes in a timely manner, and protect the lawful consumption rights and interests of elderly people. (14) Strengthen publicity and promotion. Collect typical cases of consumption scenarios for elderly-friendly products. Support localities in making good use of existing expositions, trade fairs, and other themed promotional activities, regularly organize centralized promotion of elderly-friendly products, and strengthen the connection between product production, rental and sales, services, and end consumption. Relying on existing online carriers such as elderly care service platforms, strengthen service demonstrations and resource links. Encourage localities to combine traditional festivals such as the Double Ninth Festival and the Spring Festival and activities such as the national "Respect for the Elderly Month," "Filial Piety and Elderly Care Shopping Season," and "Enjoying the Silver Age" to carry out themed activities such as silver-age markets based on consumption scenarios for elderly-friendly products, and do a good job in promoting high-quality products. All relevant departments should strengthen coordinated linkage and resource integration, and promote the detailed implementation of various measures according to their responsibilities. Local civil affairs departments and offices of the working committees on aging should promptly sort out and summarize replicable and promotable experience and practices in various localities, and strengthen publicity and promotion. This article is excerpted from the official website of the "Ministry of Civil Affairs"; edited by GMTEight: Feng Qiuyi.