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Singapore rolls out lighter and cheaper wheelchair
By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 26 October 2006 2107 hrs

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Singapore rolls out lighter and cheaper wheelchair

SINGAPORE: Singapore has rolled out a motorised, foldable wheelchair that is a third lighter and 20 percent cheaper than current ones in the market.

Named Vivace, which means fast and lively in Italian, it is fully designed in Singapore, weighs 80 kilogrammes and costs $2,500.

Orders for this wheelchair have already started pouring in from Germany and Thailand.

Before Vivace, the lightest and cheapest motorised wheelchair available in Singapore weighs 120 kilogrammes, costs $3,200, and requires two men to load it into a car.

Florence Tan, a wheelchair user, says that overseas wheelchairs are costly and rather bulky. Vivace is much lighter, which makes it very easy for her to load into her car by herself.

The first prototype of Vivace has already attracted a lot of overseas interest.

Thailand, for example, has already ordered two wheelchairs to be showcased at Thai Disability Day later this year, in hope that the local government would subsidise these cheaper alternatives for the rural population.

If this comes to pass, Singapore is expected to supply 500 sets of Vivace to Thailand each year.

Vivace is the brainchild of the Singapore Therapeutic, Assistive and Rehabilitative Technologies or START Centre - a company looking at viable academic projects for the disabled.

START Centre will be launched in November 2006.

Zen Koh, CEO of START Centre, says: "Many of the products we brought in from States or Europe are mainly developed for Caucasians. In terms of providing technologies, customisations and developing new technologies for Asians, there's a huge vacuum.

"At this stage, many of such scenarios never materialise or end up being a commercially driven project. With START Centre, we would be able to help them acquire grants or funds to actually manufacture or commercialise a product."

Vivace will be showcased at the upcoming Assistive and Rehabilitative Technology Symposium in Singapore next week. - CNA/so

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