Just last month, the trophy for the 9th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards 2021 was finally delivered to NeU and Guardforce! In 2021, NeU in collaboration with Hong Kong company Guardforce Technovation, were selected and awarded as a winner for “Best dementia technology solution implementation that demonstrates improvement in quality of life for older adults” under the category of “INNOVATION OF THE YEAR – DEMENTIA TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION”.
For more details on 9th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards 2021 – Ageing Asia, please click below:
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Japan is well-known for becoming the first super-ageing society in the world, however, other Asian countries are also rapidly following Japan’s footsteps with Hong Kong coming in next. Therefore, pre-illness solutions such as methods to prevent the onset of dementia are essential and have become a global health priority. In response, NeU and Guardforce have developed one of the most advanced cognitive training methods in Hong Kong based on NeU’s leading-edge brain science and real-time neuro-feedback technology as one of the solutions for dementia prevention.
A preliminary trial was conducted in Hong Kong together with Guardforce, Hitachi High-Tech Hong Kong and NeU at H.K. Christian Mutual Improvement Society Chuang Chung Wen Social Centre For the Elderly. Over the course of two months, 12 senior citizens (65 to 90 years old) residing at the social center took part in NeU’s real-time neurofeedback cognitive training known as the “Active Brain CLUB” (Chinese version) for twice a week, ten minutes a day.
With NeU’s ground-breaking cognitive training method, an ultra-compact brain sensor (XB-01) is used to visualize brain activity in real-time as participants perform training tasks with contents that have been specially developed based on the knowledge of brain science. In the past, the biggest drawback to conventional cognitive training was that it was not possible for users to know whether a specific content or training method increased their brain activity as it lacked the ability to give users real-time visual feedback. Now, with NeU’s technology, visualizing brain activity in real-time is possible and users can finally control and increase their own brain activity at their own will and select the content that meets their personal needs better.
We believe that providing optimal personalized solutions will lead to a more efficient and effective cognitive function training and more personalized training will lead to self-training, ultimately resulting in higher brain activity.
As a result of the preliminary study shown in the graph below, it was verified that 10 out of 12 users’ MMSE scores improved. In addition, the statistical analysis confirmed a high significance of P(T <= t) 0.0092.
The contents are developed under the supervision of Dr. Ryuta KAWASHIMA, CTO of NeU Corporation and Director of the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University.
“I am truly delighted to see such positive results which strengthened my convictions that our neurofeedback-based cognitive training is an effective method to prevent dementia, bringing us another step closer in our efforts to attain a dementia-free society across the world. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Guardforce for their compassion about our concept and for their continuous effort and support.”
– Dr. Ryuta KAWASHIMA
NeU has been conducting similar studies in China as well as Japan, and through this particular Hong Kong trial that showed similar results, we are more confident about the effectiveness of our neurofeedback-based cognitive training method. NeU will continue to cooperate with Guardforce to expand this solution throughout Hong Kong as well as taking further steps to expand into other countries worldwide for a dementia-free society.
＜NeU Corporation>
Company Name: NeU Corporation
Established in AUG 2017, as a joint venture of Tohoku University and Hitachi High-tech
Address: 2-2 Kanda-Tsukasamachi Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, Japan
Representative: CEO Kiyoshi HASEGAWA
Capital: 100 Million Japanese Yen
Business Content: Hardware supply and neuro-science based cognitive training services, neuro-marketing
