Exhibition at Taiwan Design Museum

Cure & Care: Quality of life

Average life expectancy will continue rising in the coming decades, the aging population will increase along with the costs of illness to society. Demographic changes and the increase of the number of people with one or more chronic diseases, make a reorganisation of care in our society necessary. The health care system is no longer affordable and citizens are expected to actively take on care tasks. At the same time, a growing group of consumers wants to make their own decisions when it comes to their health and way of life. This becomes possible using technology and ICT, among other things.

Over the centuries, science has amassed huge amounts of knowledge about combatting and preventing disease, not only by emphasizing the importance of good nutrition and a healthy home environment, but also through the development of high level technological products. Designers have always been closely involved with these processes. On a world scale, the Netherlands is a leader in the development of connections between (top)technology and innovative product design. The Cure & Care exhibition is especially relevant to Taiwan as this country is facing the same kind of social challenges as the Netherlands.

Cure & Care shows how trends and innovative designs, concepts, products and services contribute to the solution of the social challenges both the Netherlands and Taiwan are facing. The exhibition gives insight into the important contributions made by design, applied games, apps 3D prints and robots, to solve current questions. The exhibition is a good reflection of the products being developed in the Netherlands to lengthen life and improve its quality. Cure & Care is not only based on technological solutions, but also emphatically looks at welfare and innovative care.

The exhibition is built around the following themes: Mother and Child, Healthy Apps, The Sensing Self, Supportive Tools, Food for Health, Ambient Assisted Living for the Elderly, Ageing with Self-esteem, Serious Gaming and Exercise, The Inner Body and Smart Diagnosis Awareness.

The exhibition was put together by co-curators Peter Portheine, director and program manager of Slimmer Leven 2020, Simone de Waart, designer and creative director of Material Sense and lecturer at University of Technology Eindhoven, faculty Industrial Design and Lilian van Stekelenburg, designer and creative director of Lily66 and program manager of the Eindhoven-Taiwan design program.

The exhibition is part of an extensive exchange program between Dutch and Taiwanese companies and knowledge institutes in the area of health, technology and design. This program is being executed by Brainport International Desk and has been made possible by the city of Eindhoven and Brainport Development.

Brainport Development is a large cooperative organisation of government bodies, knowledge institutes and companies with the common goal of encouraging and connecting initiatives that strengthen the region’s international image in the area of top technology and design.