Chinese Experts Urge Shift from Hardware to Data in Smart Eldercare

China's smart eldercare sector must move beyond isolated hardware investments to integrated data networks and institutional coordination, according to industry specialists and former officials speaking at an eldercare conference in Dalian. Experts highlighted persistent fragmentation between medical services and eldercare facilities, imperfect integration between medical insurance and long-term care insurance, and a shortage of multidisciplinary personnel. As consumption among healthier retirees shifts toward leisure and lifelong learning, participants argued that artificial intelligence and shared digital infrastructure will determine the viability of urban eldercare services.

As population aging accelerates across China, developing the silver economy serves both as a social welfare imperative and an engine to stimulate domestic service consumption. The sector's pivot from basic hardware deployment toward data interoperability and institutional coordination reflects a necessary transition toward sustainable, high-quality eldercare delivery.

China's smart eldercare industry must urgently transition from purchasing isolated hardware to building integrated, data-driven service networks, according to researchers and healthcare leaders convened at the 2026 China (Dalian) Silver Economy High-Quality Development Exchange Conference. Speaking at the event, Zuo Meiyun, a researcher at Renmin University of China's National Academy of Development and Strategy, warned of a widespread operational pitfall across local municipal initiatives: prioritizing physical devices over connectivity, and platform scale over usable data. Despite substantial financial investments in smart hardware and monitoring systems, many initiatives risk becoming decorative "information silos" because data barriers among municipal authorities, care facilities, commercial service vendors, and families remain largely intact. Zuo emphasized that precision matching of eldercare services, effective regulatory oversight, and sound policy decisions depend on unhindered data flow rather than cumulative equipment purchases. Institutional integration between medical treatment and eldercare remains an equally pressing hurdle. Zhao Jie, former president of Dalian Medical University, noted that eldercare lacks resilience against chronic diseases and severe disability without healthcare backing, while healthcare detached from residential care settings fails to provide continuous health management. Zhao identified three persistent friction points: payment gaps stemming from inadequate coordination between basic medical insurance and long-term care insurance; an acute deficit of personnel trained in both clinical care and elder services; and institutional barriers that prevent public hospitals and senior living centers from sharing diagnostic records or establishing routine cross-referrals. To address these issues, Zhao recommended utilizing long-term care insurance to secure payment sustainability, expanding standardized dual-track training, and deploying medical consortia to link disparate providers. Demographic shifts are simultaneously altering demand patterns. Cao Zhuojun, a member of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' Elderly Care Services Expert Committee, observed that elderly consumption is pivoting from basic survival needs toward discretionary spending, including lifelong education and wellness tourism, requiring services tailored to relatively healthy, younger retirees. Enterprise representatives outlined early attempts to address platform fragmentation. Wang Xinghui, vice president of Neusoft Reach Technology Group, described the group's municipal-level platform as transitioning from a passive data bridge into an operational hub powered by artificial intelligence, intended to move municipal oversight toward predictive intervention, commercial dispatch toward automated scheduling, and senior assistance toward proactive delivery.