Interview with Professor Linmi Tao
Chinese have a saying-高瞻遠矚,which means people should see higher and see farer. The research Professor Tao has been doing is a great example of it.
Today, it is our pleasure to have the interview with Professor Linmi Tao (陶霖密) from Beijing about the research to improve the mental health and home care for elderly. As we know, China owns more than one billion population; therefore, before the interview, I assumed that most of care for people in need is done by actual the care givers. Professor Tao pointed out that due to the one-child policy, the structure of population is twisted. That is, the population ages very quickly- way to quickly that they should rely on the technology to fill the gap. With the advanced technology, they can connect the elderly with the service of medical care at lower cost.
During the interview, we got to know that Professor Tao has been actively interacted with Europe. He shared with us that he has an European project with plenty of Europeans, some are from Finland, he emphasized. Moreover, he also mentioned that Oulu University here even offers him a job as a professor. When I googled about Professor Tao, who is the expert of biology, biophysics, computer theories and engineering ,I later found more information about more communication he has had with Europe- in the end of 2000, he participated a project with the E.U, known as “Augmented Reality for Remotely Operated Vehicle for underwater survey and inspection”; in 2001, he was hired as an assistant professor in Verona University of Italy. Through his profession, he really opens the whole world to himself and hence spreads the meaning of the technology to the people- that is, to make life easier.
Nevertheless, some people stick to the way they are used to live. It may be difficult to persuade them to change. For example, the research for mental health also can be applied to help the elderly in China. With some sensors in kitchens, we can clearly see when they cook or heat water, so that easily track if the elderly function well in their daily lives. Some argue that the technology for home care would violate their privacy. How to keep a balance between the technology and privacy is the universal issue that we all should be aware of.
Promisingly, he is positive about the research he has been working on. With the cooperation with some big companies, such as IBM,INTEL,SIEMENS, he knows well how to connect himself with all the resources he needs. The capital, human resources and great ideas are the “ingredients.” Now all he needs is more time to wait for the fruits of the research. We are looking forward to it.
Ps. The audio file about our interview is the link as below:
http://helgekeitel.posterous.com/professor-linmi-tao-bejing-university
