Aging societies, intelligent care: Potential opportunities for China–Hungary cooperation

Population aging has become one of the most important areas where technological innovation and social responsibility meet. Longer life expectancy is one of the great achievements of modern societies. It also creates new responsibilities for families, healthcare systems, social institutions, universities, and technology developers.

Europe and China face this transformation at the same time. Their demographic structures, institutional systems, and cultural traditions differ, yet the central questions are increasingly similar. How can societies provide dignified and personalized care for a growing elderly population? How can families receive better support? How can healthcare and social care systems respond to workforce shortages? How can artificial intelligence and robotics improve everyday life while preserving human autonomy, safety, and dignity?

In the European Union, the median age reached 44.9 years in 2025. Hungary is particularly affected by the combination of population aging, population decline, and a shrinking working-age population. In 2026, Hungary had almost 148 people aged 65 or over for every 100 children under the age of 15. This long-term structural change will influence healthcare, social care, employment, and family life.

China is undergoing a demographic transformation on an even larger scale. By the end of 2025, about 323 million Chinese citizens were age 60 or over, representing 23 percent of the population. More than 223 million were age 65 or over. These figures help explain why elderly care, rehabilitation, and the silver economy have become major fields of Chinese technological and social development.

Aging therefore offers a powerful new field for cooperation between Hungary and China. Both countries need sustainable models that connect healthcare, social services, family support, professional training, and technological innovation. Hungary can contribute clinical knowledge, European research networks, regulated testing environments, and human-centered care models. China can contribute rapidly developing technologies, advanced manufacturing capacities, and experience in moving intelligent products from research laboratories into practical application.

A Hungarian initiative taking shape in the village of Mosdós illustrates how such cooperation could develop. The planned Dementia and Elderly Care Centre would bring together long-term care, neurological and geriatric research, rehabilitation, education, and technological development at a single location. Its central concept is a living laboratory where new solutions could be tested in real care environments with continuous feedback from patients, relatives, doctors, nurses, therapists, engineers, and researchers.

The Mosdós concept extends beyond the traditional model of institutional elderly care. It includes daytime and transitional services, small residential units, geriatric and musculoskeletal rehabilitation, palliative care, family education, and psychological support. The historical buildings, residential pavilions, and surrounding 40-hectare park could provide a dementia-friendly environment based on safety, orientation, movement, community life, and contact with nature.

Research and innovation form an integral part of the proposed model. Neurology, geriatrics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and bionics would operate within the same ecosystem. The technologies considered include rehabilitation exoskeletons, assistive and social robots, wearable sensors, fall and movement monitoring, smart patient rooms, and AI-supported analysis of behavioral and mobility patterns. The aim is to evaluate technology through its capacity to respond to real human needs.

This approach matters because elderly care technologies cannot be assessed through technical performance alone. A rehabilitation robot must be evaluated through its effects on mobility, confidence, and independence. A monitoring system must contribute to safety and early intervention without creating a sense of constant surveillance. A social robot must communicate predictably and respectfully with users who may experience memory loss, anxiety, or difficulties in orientation.

The professional training program connected to the initiative follows the same human-centered logic. The proposed dementia adviser curriculum covers the biological, psychological, and social dimensions of dementia, early recognition, person-centered care, legal protection, data privacy, bioethics, palliative care, communication, and interdisciplinary cooperation. Technology appears as part of a wider care system organized around the needs and dignity of the individual.

These priorities correspond closely to the current direction of Chinese robotics development. In 2025, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Ministry of Civil Affairs launched a national pilot program for intelligent elderly-care robots running from 2025 to 2027. The program focuses on home, community, and institutional care, including support for people with physical disabilities or dementia, emotional companionship, health promotion, intelligent living environments, and assistance with daily activities.

The program also introduces a demanding model of real-world validation. Products are expected to be tested in homes, communities and care institutions, with developers and service providers working together to improve safety, reliability, usability, and service quality. In September 2025, 32 projects were selected, showing that elderly-care robotics is moving from isolated experiments towards coordinated application.

The connection with Mosdós is direct. Both approaches recognize that useful care technologies must be developed together with the institutions and people who will use them. Both combine research with practical testing. Both treat safety, usability, and adaptation to older people as essential design criteria. Intelligent care also involves more than a single robot — it includes sensors, data systems, rehabilitation equipment, smart environments, and professional workflows.

This creates several promising areas for joint research and development. One is rehabilitation. Chinese developers have strong capabilities in movement-assistance systems, exoskeletons, and robot-supported therapy. Hungarian hospitals, universities, and rehabilitation specialists could contribute clinical expertise, patient-centered evaluation, and long-term observation. Joint projects could examine usability, therapeutic outcomes, and adaptation to different groups of elderly patients.

A second field is early detection and prevention. Changes in walking speed, balance, sleep, speech, daily routines, and social activity may contain useful information about physical or cognitive decline. Sensors and AI-supported analytical tools could help professionals recognize patterns that require further examination. Such systems should support qualified specialists and preserve clear human responsibility for clinical decisions.

A third field is social and assistive robotics. Elderly people living alone may benefit from systems that provide reminders, facilitate communication, detect emergencies, and support structured daily routines. People living with dementia require particularly careful interaction design based on simple language, predictable behavior, and strong ethical safeguards. Hungarian expertise in psychology, care practice, and ethics could complement Chinese engineering and product-development capacities.

A fourth field is intelligent care environments. Smart rooms, wearable devices, and mobile robotic systems could work together to support safety, movement, and communication. The central research question is how these components can become a coherent care ecosystem rather than a collection of disconnected devices. Mosdós could offer a setting where such systems are studied in long-term, everyday use.

European validation would also create value for Chinese developers. Intelligent care technologies may process sensitive health information, video, audio, movement patterns, and behavioral data. Joint projects in Hungary could address European data protection requirements, transparent consent, local data processing, and clearly defined professional responsibility. Physical safety is equally important because robots and rehabilitation devices interact with people who may have limited mobility, reduced balance, or cognitive impairment.

Cultural and linguistic adaptation creates another substantial research task. A system developed for one social environment cannot automatically be transferred to another. Communication styles, family roles, expectations of privacy, and attitudes towards machines differ. Joint Hungarian–Chinese research could examine how elderly users respond to different forms of human–robot interaction and how technology can be adapted to European languages, care practices, and cultural expectations.

Hungary offers a useful environment for this cooperation. Its hospitals and universities can support clinical, engineering, and social-science research. Its scale allows direct collaboration between researchers, healthcare professionals, and public institutions. Membership of the European Union provides access to a demanding regulatory environment and a wider European market. Hungary's established academic and economic relations with China offer an additional foundation for long-term cooperation.

China brings complementary strengths. Its robotics ecosystem connects AI research, hardware development, component manufacturing, and industrial production. Its large and rapidly aging population creates strong demand for practical solutions and extensive experience across home care, community services, hospitals, and residential institutions.

The most productive cooperation would begin before products are completed. Hungarian institutions could participate in defining use cases, ethical principles, and clinical requirements. Chinese researchers and manufacturers could adapt their technologies to these needs. Joint teams could test systems, analyze results, train professionals, and prepare successful solutions for wider European use.

Aging is frequently described as a demographic burden. It can also become a major field of scientific, technological, and social innovation. The objective is to help people live longer lives with greater independence, security, connection, and dignity.

While Hungary and China approach this challenge from different historical and institutional positions, their needs are increasingly converging. The Mosdós initiative and China's expanding elderly-care robotics ecosystem show how care, research, and technology can be organized around a shared human purpose. This creates a promising foundation for a new generation of China–Hungary cooperation in AI, rehabilitation, dementia research, and intelligent care.

The author is a Hungarian researcher affiliated with the University of Miskolc.

The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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