Philips launches the '+' Project
Celebrating the 60th anniversary in Thailand, Royal Philips Electronics is starting a new, multi-year programme to improve the health and well-being of people and communities in Thailand through meaningful innovation.
The ‘+’ Project will work together with people and organisations throughout Thailand to develop innovative ideas to solve modern health and well-being challenges throughout the nation. The best ideas will become real projects, led and funded by Philips and where possible run in co-operation with other organisations and stakeholders. Through the ‘+’ project , Philips takes the lead in addressing key health and well-being challenges in modern-day Thailand, and using meaningful innovation to add positively to the quality of people’s lives.
"Since its establishment in Thailand, Philips has strived to bring meaningful innovation to help improve people’s health and well-being in this country. As Thailand grows, challenges like rapid urbanisation, changing lifestyles and the provision of accessible and affordable healthcare are inevitable. The launch of the ‘+’ Project underscores our commitment to improve the health and well-being of Thais by engaging people from all walks of life to make cities more livable, empower people to live healthy lives and help make healthcare more accessible and affordable to Thais,” said Viroj Vithayaveroj, general manager of Philips Healthcare, Thailand.
The ‘+’ Project builds on the findings from the recently undertaken Philips Health and Well-being Index survey, which is a comprehensive analysis of responses from over 31,000 people across 23 countries, including Thailand. The research showcases people’s levels of satisfaction on 17 topics including physical health, jobs/career, community, etc and correlates their responses with the importance people adhere to each of them.
Thailand’s Health and Well-being Index survey, as undertaken by Philips, shows that less than half of the Thai population goes for regular annual check-ups. They perceive memory loss, joint pain/arthritis, diabetes, high cholesterol and cancer as the top potential threats to their health in the next five years. Women are generally more concerned about these health threats, and are noticeably more worried about obesity and anxiety.
“The ‘+’ project by Philips launched today aims to improve the quality of life for Thai people in general by empowering people to live healthy lives and make healthcare more accessible,” added Viroj. “It is only by listening to concerns and ideas from people in Thailand and engaging other stakeholders that we can truly understand and provide meaningful solutions to what our country needs. That is why this process of crowdsourcing new ideas in combination with our unique capabilities in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle is crucial to make a real difference to the lives of Thai people.”
Submission of ideas can be in any form including video. Ideas will be voted on by the public based on relevance and need. Weekly winners will be selected for a period of eight weeks. A panel of judges consisting of Philips executives and external experts will select three final winners under themes of Livable Cities, Access to Healthcare and Healthy Living and will be brought to life by Philips-led team.
