Symposium 16 - Healthcare Innovations

We discuss how humanoid robots may be able to ease the increasing demands for efficiency and patient engagement faced by healthcare systems in Hong Kong and worldwide. We focus on their potential role in patient and care giver interactions, but also discuss broader healthcare scenarios. Drawing on recent advancements in dialogue system architecture, we discuss how humanoid robots can improve the fluidity of their interactions during patient interviews by utilizing human-like verbal and non-verbal communication cues. Our findings highlight the importance of real-time responsiveness and engagement monitoring in maintaining effective communication with patients. Moving beyond patient interviews, we will discuss the broader potential and advantages of humanoid robots in other healthcare applications, such as elderly care and health education. By leveraging anthropomorphic design and advanced AI capabilities, these robots can facilitate natural, proactive and trustworthy interactions. We hope to spur a broader discussion about how the integration of humanoid robots into medical practice can enhance patient care and operational efficiency.

The Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology (HKIB) Advanced Therapy Products (ATP) GMP Centre represents a significant breakthrough in local ATP manufacturing for cell therapy. As the first PIC/S GMP certified facility in Hong Kong that manufactures for patients, it specializes in producing CAR-T cells for clinical trials, ensuring international highest standards of production and compliance under the regulation of the Department of Health. This pioneering facility enhances Hong Kong's research capabilities, educational opportunities, and economic impact, while greatly improving patient access to advanced therapies.
The Centre's key activities include manufacturing CAR-T cells for clinical trials, preparing students for careers in cell and gene therapy (CGT), providing GMP training programs, and collaborating with various stakeholders. Led by Dr. Gina Jiang and a team of experts, the Centre has released five batches of CUCART19 as of March 2025, benefiting pediatric and adult patients.
Looking ahead, the Centre's future includes adding mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to the manufacturing scope, collaborate with clinical teams further to expand CAR-T and MSC indications to treat a broader range of diseases, technological improvements to enhance efficiency and efficacy, cost reduction strategies to make treatments more accessible, and personalized therapy through automation and AI integration. These advancements are poised to accelerate cutting-edge treatments availabilities to more patients.
While HKIB ATP GMP Centre is at its early operation phase, the visible societal impacts it has already generated marks a milestone in medical technology application and a beacon of hope for patients seeking life-saving treatments.

Intelligent wearable devices offer a transformative solution by enabling continuous, non-invasive, real-time, cost-effective and multidimensional data collection, analysis, and intervention in normal daily activities.  The potential impacts are multiple faces. They are potential enabling technologies to shift from reactive to proactive care, reducing hospitalization and disability; to lower healthcare costs via early intervention and remote monitoring; to establish wearables as a cornerstone of precision neurology.  
The presentation is concerned with the following four innovations that have been developed for such purpose and have great potentials for health and wellness enhancement. They include green and effective antibacterial & antiviral materials and textiles1, Parkinson's disease assisted rehabilitation system2, wearable temperature/compression therapeutic system3,4 and multi-mode interactive soft companion robot5. Their working principles, technical contents and results of clinical studies will be discussed.