Philips brings winning ideas to life with the '+' Project

MANILA, Philippines - Royal Philips Electronics added an important chapter to The “+” Project, a multi-year regional Asia Pacific program to improve the health and well-being of people in the region, by officially launching the program in Thailand.

As with the launch in Indonesia, The “+” Project in Thailand will first crowdsource for ideas to improve health and well-being across three themes — Livable Cities, Healthy Living and Access to Healthcare — where the best ideas in each theme will be realized through Philips-led projects.

The launch in Thailand comes at a time where the second leg of The “+” Project’s Indonesia campaign begins. During this phase, three winning ideas will be selected through a mechanism combining popular voting and expert jurying. In total, 603 ideas to improve the health and well being of Indonesians were submitted in the contest, during an eight-week time frame. There was a high volume of idea submissions across the three themes of The “+” Project, with 247 ideas pitched for Livable Cities; 171 ideas proposed for Healthy Living; and 185 ideas sent across for Access to Healthcare.

Philips will take the lead in bringing winning ideas to life and deliver them, where possible and relevant, in co-operation with various stakeholders. Philips has committed to fund each project with a budget up to US$50,000.

Officially launched in Indonesia last November, The “+” Project aims to achieve tighter collaboration between the public, companies and governments to improve people’s health and well-being by finding new, innovative solutions to everyday challenges people face across the region.

“We are very pleased with the overwhelming reaction we’ve had in Indonesia to this new program,” said Robert Fletcher, president director of Philips Indonesia. “It is just wonderful to see that Indonesians are so passionate about improving their quality of life, and that they are so willing to share and work together. It’s now on us to make sure we take the best forward and in doing so demonstrate just how profound the difference that Philips can make. I look forward to seeing this program grow and continue to engage with people across Asia Pacific on these subjects that really matter.”

The launch of The “+” Project in Thailand builds on findings from the Thailand Philips Health and Well-being Index, where Thai respondents in the survey were measured on satisfaction of 17 topics including physical health, jobs and community. Thailand’s Health and Well-being Index determined that less than half of the population undergoes regular annual checkups, highlighting the need for accessible and affordable healthcare on a major scale.

Local campaigns of The “+” Project are slated to be launched across Asia Pacific in the coming months.