Award Program

HAPI will return in 2024!
Please keep watching this space for updates. In the meantime, please visit our Innovative Cases page to read more about our HAPI winners!

In the next 30 years, the number of people 65 and up in East and Southeast Asia is expected to double. Rapid population aging requires creative approaches from both the public and private sectors in the region to meet the wide range of challenges it presents and to create vibrant, healthy, and resilient societies where people can enjoy long and  productive lives.

Launched in 2020, the Healthy Aging Prize for Asian Innovation (HAPI) seeks to recognize and amplify innovative policies, programs, services, and products that address the challenges facing aging societies, help extend healthy and meaningful lives, and improve the provision of care to older adults. 

INNOVATIONS MUST BE A POLICY, PROGRAM, SERVICE, OR PRODUCT THAT FALLS INTO ONE OF THREE CATEGORIES: 

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

New technologies and techniques that encourage healthy and productive aging, that improve the way that older persons receive care, or that provide greater efficiency, safety, and/or convenience for older persons and caregivers

COMMUNITY-BASED INITIATIVES

Community-based approaches—including inter-generational approaches—to keeping older adults healthy, active, engaged, and/or safe

SUPPORTING SELF-RELIANCE

New ways to help older adults maintain, improve, or restore their ability to carry out activities of daily living and to age in place

This prize is an initiative of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), under the auspices of the Japanese government’s Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative (AHWIN).

Recognizing the importance of promoting healthy longevity, the United Nations declared 2021-2030 to be the UN Decade of Healthy Aging. By sharing lessons from East and Southeast Asia, HAPI aims to contribute to this international movement, and to meeting the objectives of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing—advancing health and well-being into old age and ensuring enabling and supportive environments—and of the Sustainable Development Goals—particularly Goal 3, of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.

To apply for the award please complete our online application form, which can be accessed here or using the “Apply Online” button below. You may also download a copy of the application form and submit it to us via email at [email protected]

The following requirements pertain to all applicants:

  • Applicants must be an organization; individuals are not eligible. Applicants may not be central government ministries/departments or international organizations.
  • Applicants must be based in an ASEAN member country or in China (including Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan), Japan, or South Korea.
  • Applicants must be willing to share their experience with others and must be willing to respond to inquiries from those in other countries to the best of their ability.
  • Applicants must be in good legal standing and have no record of criminal or ethical violations.
  • The applicant’s innovation must have already reached the implementation stage. The award is not intended to evaluate proposals that have not yet been put into practice.
  • Applications should be submitted by the organization(s) directly responsible for creating or developing the innovation. Those implementing a program model or marketing a product developed by others are not eligible.
  • Is the innovation focused on extending healthy and meaningful lives, or on the provision of care to older adults? [Required]
  • Does the innovation represent a creative and/or unique approach to an aging-related issue? [Required]
  • Has the innovation demonstrated, or can it be expected to achieve, some broad-based impact and/or outcomes?
  • Does the innovation provide a cost-efficient and effective response to the issue it seeks to address?
  • Does the innovation contribute to human resource development through capacity-building and training components?
  • Is the innovation accessible and inclusive?
  • Have manuals or other instructional materials been created that would allow the innovation to be implemented or utilized elsewhere?
  • Is the innovation scientifically sound and/or evidence based?

Below is a list of themes and questions that the award is seeking to address, which may be helpful in preparing your application. Please note that if you innovation is addressing an issue that is not included below we still encourage you to apply as long as your work meets the eligibility requirements above.

  • How can we build resilience and protect older people during pandemics or other crises?
  • How can we ensure an adequate supply of well-trained and fairly compensated caregivers?
  • What can be done to prevent dementia and support and protect those it affects?
  • How can communities best engage and support their elder members, particularly those who are socially vulnerable?
  • How can we provide the best living options for older adults and promote greater self-reliance?
  • How can new technologies and innovations—for example, caregiving robots or ICT devices—support the health and wellbeing of older persons and their caregivers?
  • How can governments maintain or improve care for older persons in ways that are both effective and efficient?
  • How can we overcome negative stereotypes of older persons among the general public and among older persons themselves?

One Grand Prize will be selected in each category and additional finalists will be selected as Second Prize awardees.

Grand Prize winners will receive a trophy and all winners will receive a commemorative certificate and their innovations will be featured prominently on the AHWIN website. (Note: awardees may be asked to provide further information, photographs, etc., for the website coverage.)

The Grand Prize winner in each category will be invited to attend the next AHWIN Forum.*

Travel and accommodation costs will be covered for one representative of the awardee organization.

*Due to current travel restrictions, the timing of the next AHWIN Forum has yet to be decided.