Inclusion
The Distance Between Love and Presence
Kevin Ku (顧偉揚) often says,“Seeing each other in person is more precious than any gift.”
It’s a simple sentence, but deeply sincere. So even knowing the market would be difficult,
we chose to walk part of this journey with him—to search for answers together.
It’s a simple sentence, but deeply sincere. So even knowing the market would be difficult,
we chose to walk part of this journey with him—to search for answers together.
Duration：2016~2018
Rationale
Taiwan is rapidly becoming a super-aging society.
But if we truly want to design services for most older adults, goodwill alone is not enough—we must also face a practical question:
Can they actually use it?
And can they afford it?
Marble Technology’s original idea was quite straightforward:
integrate video calling into the television, allowing seniors to connect with family simply by pressing a remote control.
The design was thoughtful.
Yet reality quickly intervened.
Older adults tend to be frugal and rarely purchase such devices for themselves.
Would their children buy it for them?
A crowdfunding campaign in 2015 provided the market’s answer.
Kevin Ku (顧偉揚) often said:
“Seeing each other in person is more precious than any gift.”
The sentiment was moving and genuine.
And so—even knowing the path would not be easy—we chose to accompany him for a while and look for solutions together.
Initiatives
Through ongoing discussions and observations, we gradually realized something important:
The problem was not whether seniors needed connection.
The problem was that companionship cannot rely solely on family.
Consider today’s realities:
fewer children, adult children working far from home, sometimes even overseas.
Family companionship becomes increasingly difficult — yet the need for companionship only grows stronger.
We began looking for clues in an unexpected place: the cable television ecosystem.
Why do singing channels popular among seniors continue to thrive?
Why do younger people have live interactive streaming platforms, while older adults rarely do?
The answer became clear:
What seniors seek is not complex technology — they want interaction, and someone present.
So Marble Technology made a crucial pivot.
Instead of selling a device, they shifted toward providing companionship services.
Hardware was no longer the centerpiece.
Instead, the system was integrated into existing cable TV set-top boxes, allowing two-way interaction to become part of everyday life — not something new that seniors had to learn.
Impact
When the team decided to fully commit to companionship and elder care, they made a major decision:
They relocated the company from Taipei to Taichung.
The reason was practical.
Taichung has one of the strongest concentrations of talent and academic resources in elder services and social work in Taiwan.
In hindsight, it proved to be the right choice.
Marble Technology’s interactive services for seniors gradually received support from:
Hsinchu City Government
Taichung City Government
Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare
In real home-care settings, large-screen video interaction proved warmer than phone calls and more efficient than frequent in-person visits.
At the same time, Marble successfully partnered with Taiwan’s four major cable TV groups—
Topmso(台數科), Kbro(凱擘), TBC(台灣寬頻), and Homeplus(中嘉) integrating the service into next-generation set-top boxes.
In doing so, they helped build the infrastructure for two-way digital interaction for the silver generation—
long before the need becomes impossible to ignore.
When the team decided to fully commit to companionship and elder care, they made a major decision:
They relocated the company from Taipei to Taichung.
The reason was practical.
Taichung has one of the strongest concentrations of talent and academic resources in elder services and social work in Taiwan.
In hindsight, it proved to be the right choice.
Marble Technology’s interactive services for seniors gradually received support from:
Hsinchu City Government
Taichung City Government
Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare
In real home-care settings, large-screen video interaction proved warmer than phone calls and more efficient than frequent in-person visits.
At the same time, Marble successfully partnered with Taiwan’s four major cable TV groups—
Topmso(台數科), Kbro(凱擘), TBC(台灣寬頻), and Homeplus(中嘉) integrating the service into next-generation set-top boxes.
In doing so, they helped build the infrastructure for two-way digital interaction for the silver generation—
long before the need becomes impossible to ignore.
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