How can an exoskeleton help elderly people with limited mobility walk more steadily? How can a caregiving robot be integrated into the daily services of elderly care institutions? What thresholds must a smart rehabilitation assistive device cross to go from a new product on the exhibition stand into ordinary households?

These questions are becoming important propositions for the development of the elderly care and disability assistance industry.

On October 20, 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference to introduce policies on developing new quality productive forces, improving the price formation mechanism for inclusive elderly care services, as well as reform measures such as scenario cultivation and opening and market-based allocation of factors.Information released the same day shows thatthe National Development and Reform Commission and five other departments launched the first batch of 136 landmark major application scenario projects to provide support for innovative achievements moving toward large-scale application.

Among them,the ‘Industrialization Scenario Construction Project for Smart Rehabilitation Assistive Devices in the Field of Elderly Care and Disability Assistance’ submitted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs was selected into the first batch list, with the National Research Center for Rehabilitation Technical Aids leading its organization and implementation.

By connecting policies, projects, and industrial practice, a clear development path emerges:let real demand drive technological innovation, let application validation promote product maturity, and let service networks deliver innovation outcomes to the people.

Let technology

be tested in real life

The first batch of 136 projects covers five major categories: new fields and new tracks, industrial transformation and upgrading, industry-sector applications, social governance services, and livelihood fields, involving more than 1,700 new technologies, more than 1,200 new products, and more than 2,200 new standards and specifications. Relevant projects will provide participation opportunities for private enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises by publicly releasing lists of technologies, products, and business formats to be validated; follow-up projects will also be rolled out on an ongoing basis, and mature experience will be summarized and promoted.

These arrangements place technology application, enterprise participation, standards development, and institutional improvement on the same chain.

For the field of elderly care and disability assistance, this point is especially critical. Performance demonstrated in the laboratory needs to be further translated into convenience in older adults’ daily use; the fact that a product can complete a certain action still requires examining whether it suits specific users, whether it can be integrated into care processes, and whether maintenance costs are affordable.

At the press conference, the National Development and Reform Commission summarized the relevant tasks as validation, opening up, and demonstration, emphasizing the testing of technological reliability, facility adaptability, economic feasibility, and institutional adaptability in real scenarios.

From this understanding, the value of application scenario development lies in enabling developers, service providers, and users to jointly participate in product improvement. Feedback from a single real-world use may change the position of a button or the design of a feature, and may also drive adjustments to the entire service process.

Intelligent Rehabilitation Assistive Devices

How to bridge the ‘last mile’ of application

By the end of 2025, China had approximately 240,000 market entities related to rehabilitation assistive devices, with more than 10,000 product types circulating in the market and an industry scale exceeding 730 billion yuan. Products such as exoskeletons, brain-controlled prosthetics, elderly care robots, and smart wheelchairs also present various possibilities for integrating technologies such as artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces with the needs of elderly care and disability assistance.

At the same time, the increase in product variety has also placed higher demands on service capabilities. In the face of different ages, different physical conditions, and different living environments, how to assess needs, select products, guide use, and provide ongoing maintenance directly affects whether assistive devices can play their role.

The selected project proposes building a two-tier service network consisting of ‘intelligent rehabilitation assistive device city reception halls + community nearby service outlets’: city reception halls focus on display and experience, product verification, assessment and fitting, technical training, and supply-demand matching; community outlets provide basic services such as simple fitting, rental and maintenance, and usage guidance.

This design combines professional capabilities with service proximity.

The city-level hubs can help enterprises verify products, train personnel, and develop service plans; the community outlets make it more convenient for those in need to learn about assistive devices, obtain fitting guidance, and find service support during use.

From the construction logic presented in the video, products and services extend to users, and usage feedback also returns to the R&D and manufacturing side, forming a cycle of continuous improvement. Around this cycle, policy, regulation, payment guarantees, financial insurance, talent, and digital capabilities are also needed to jointly provide support.

The industrialization capability of assistive devices is reflected in every link of manufacturing, adaptation, delivery, and long-term service.

Technology Implementation and Affordable Elderly Care

We need to jointly answer ‘whether it is affordable’

This press conference also introduced the Guiding Opinions on Further Improving the Price Formation Mechanism and Promoting the Quality and Expansion of Affordable Elderly Care Services.

The Guiding Opinions distinguish elderly care institutions into three types: basic-guarantee, affordable-support, and fully market-based, improve fee management methods by category, and require the establishment of fee catalog lists and the public disclosure of service content and fee standards. At the same time, through support measures such as facility renovation, equipment renewal, and site supply, they promote the expansion of affordable service supply.

Connecting this policy with the application of intelligent rehabilitation assistive devices, one can see that the two echo each other in their goals: technological progress enhances service capacity, while price mechanisms and supporting support promote service accessibility.

For elderly care institutions, introducing intelligent devices requires a comprehensive assessment of the costs of procurement, training, maintenance, and continuous operation; for older adults and their families, whether services are clear and transparent and whether expenditures are affordable also affect their willingness to use them.

Therefore, evaluating an eldercare technology application can examine three outcomes at once: whether users benefit, whether care work is improved, and whether the service can be delivered sustainably. The payment, subsidy, and charging arrangements for specific assistive devices still need to be determined according to the relevant policies and local implementation rules.

Shanghai Elderly Care Expo

Where industrial innovation meets everyday needs

Observing how smart rehabilitation assistive devices reach users, the Shanghai Elderly Care Expo provides a vivid window.

The Shanghai International Exhibition of Senior Care, Rehabilitation Medicine and Healthcare, abbreviated as the ‘Shanghai Elderly Care Expo’ (AID), is jointly hosted by the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau and the Shanghai Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Since its founding in 2000, it has continued to build a platform for showcasing and exchanging age-friendly products, services, and technologies. The 2026 exhibition is held from June 4 to 6 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, with an exhibition area of 60,000 square meters, gathering nearly 680 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions.

From rehabilitation assistive devices and smart eldercare to age-friendly renovations and community home-based services, the expo places products within specific everyday needs. The 2026 exhibition features a Rehabilitation Assistive Device Innovation Zone, showcasing smart eldercare technologies and solutions, and presenting diverse scenarios such as home rehabilitation and eldercare services.

This also reflects the connection between professional exhibitions and scenario building: the expo gives new products opportunities for concentrated display and hands-on experience, allowing companies to encounter demand, institutions to compare solutions, and users to express their feelings; afterward, products still need to enter communities, homes, and institutions to continue being validated and refined through daily use.

From this perspective, the Shanghai Elderly Care Expo can serve as an important platform connecting industrial supply with actual demand. A single experience or conversation at a booth has the chance to become the starting point for subsequent product improvement, service cooperation, and application implementation.

Turn innovation outcomes

into sustainable service capacity

Taken together, these materials show that the next stage of development for the elderly care and disability assistance industry requires further connecting several links.

On the R&D side, there should be a more detailed understanding of the daily difficulties faced by specific groups, incorporating ease of use, functional adaptability, and maintenance needs into design.

On the institutional and community side, efforts can start from high-frequency, clearly defined needs, organizing product experience, assessment and configuration, usage training, and after-sales service, while continuously recording actual usage results.

Among exhibitions, research institutions, manufacturing enterprises, and service providers, more stable cooperation can be formed around demand publication, product validation, personnel training, and feedback-driven improvement, allowing innovation outcomes to mature continuously through real-world use.

This is also a concrete manifestation of developing new quality productive forces in the elderly care and disability assistance field: through joint progress in technology, services, and organizational methods, improving service quality, expanding application scope, and enabling more people to share the convenience brought by innovation.

When smart assistive devices enter communities, homes, and institutions, what they carry is a easier rise from a seat, a safer journey, and a more relaxed life for the whole family.

Let technology respond to specific difficulties and let services reach those in need, so that ‘smart assistive devices, better living’ can become a tangible, accessible part of daily life.

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