HPB Partners Republic Polytechnic To Set Up Joint Innovation Lab In Physical Activity

Singapore, 30 January 2013: The Health Promotion Board’s Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (HPB-PACE) and Republic Polytechnic (RP) today launched a joint Innovation Lab in Physical Activity to foster research and development of intellectual property and technologies to enhance health promotion efforts in the community.

2. The facility, which is located within the RP School of Sports, Health and Leisure, will see a mix of student and staff-based projects in collaboration with industry partners. It will act as a research and test-bedding centre to incubate promising solutions to address key public health concerns such as diabetes, obesity and healthy ageing.

3. The collaboration spans three key areas:
   

   • Research Centre: Dedicated to experimental studies to improve physical fitness validation, ways to decrease sedentary behaviour and physical activity for diabetes prevention;

   • Test Bedding Centre: To collaborate with industry partners to test and develop new
     applications, technologies and physical activities for greater accessibility within local communities;

   • Knowledge-Sharing Centre: Conduct seminars and workshops on physical activity and technology for industry and community; provide advanced diploma and certification programmes.

4. Pilot projects currently under way include a wrist device with enhanced functionalities such as the integrated Diet and Activity Tracker (iDAT) and the ability to send an automatic text alert to a caregiver if the person wearing the watch should fall or sustain movement-related injuries. This could cut response times and aid faster treatment. It would complement HPB’s current efforts for falls prevention through functional assessment and screenings at the community level.

5. Mr. Ang Hak Seng, CEO, HPB, said: “Living a healthy lifestyle is a personal responsibility, but we can support this choice and reduce the barriers through the use of the technology. Firstly, it can be leveraged to help to create an instant positive feedback loop. The iDAT application on the wrist device not only helps to give you immediate feedback on how far you have run and how many calories you have burned, you can also share this information with friends who will help to inspire and encourage you to stay the course. Secondly, we recognise seniors’ safety is of upmost concern when engaging in physical activity. The wrist device that we have developed can give seniors an assurance that even if they fall during an activity, the device will automatically help alert others so that an immediate response can be activated. The HPB-RP Innovation Lab will serve not only as a model for thought-leadership but the living lab will support the design, development and deployment of evidence-based tools and solutions to address local health concerns. The collaboration with RP is in line with our long-term vision to continually innovate the ways in which we approach behaviour modification and lifestyle change as we see the potential in such private-public partnership to drive home-grown innovation to advance the science of health promotion. Moving forward, we will continue to collaborate with the industry to develop solutions that not only demonstrate innovation but would enable the public especially the elderly to exercise in a safe manner. ”

6. Among the projects the lab is currently studying is an equation to calculate the resting metabolic rate of Asians. This could help design customised diets and products that are better suited to local needs and would even allow for development of a localised equation for Singaporeans. Another interesting project is exploring the potential health benefits that older adults may reap from playing Movement-Based Video Games using devices such as the Kinect XBox.

7. Mr Yeo Li Pheow, Principal/CEO, RP said: “We are proud to be partnering with HPB as it is leading health promotion efforts in the region and has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as a collaborating centre. This, along with the access to industry partners, gives our students a very unique opportunity to study and develop solutions to real world problems that can impact the health and quality of life of Singaporeans.”

8. The RP-HPB Innovation Lab will be helmed by Dr Robert Sloan, Head, HPB-PACE and Dr Alex Ong at RP who will work together on IT, research, development, and continuing education projects.

9. The lab is currently working with four companies – iActive Pte Ltd, Icon Books & Multimedia Pte Ltd, Biofit Technology & Services and Bodygreen (Asia) Pte Ltd – on test-bedding and developing new healthcare tools. Diploma students are involved in evaluative testing of tools via their final year projects. HPB-PACE will collaborate with RP on assessment and supervision of final year projects and provide at least 12 RP internship placements each year to facilitate the collaborative activities. The first batch of Diploma in Healthcare Management and Promotion (DHMP) students is set to graduate in May 2013.

   Annex 1 Factsheet on RP-HPB Innovation Lab in Physical Activity
   Annex 2 Factsheet on Current Research Projects

Media Release

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