- Philips aims to propel its digital innovation strategy in China and drives the local innovation and implementation of the company's AI-enabled healthcare solutions
- Based on the "people-oriented" innovation philosophy, Philips will combine AI and healthcare scenarios on a deeper level to provide customers and consumers with total solutions covering the entire healthcare continuum
SHANGHAI, April 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Philips China announced today that it has established an AI lab in Shanghai. Affiliated to Philips China Innovation Hub, the newly opened AI lab will be dedicated to driving the deep integration of AI technologies with a wide spectrum of areas including medical imaging, image-guided therapies, patient monitoring, health informatics, home care, and personal health. The lab will not only help speed up local innovation, and facilitate the interconnection of people, data and technology in the entire health continuum, but also improve healthcare accessibility in China by providing seamless care for patients, optimizing the healthcare process, and increasing healthcare efficiency.
The new AI Department will mainly work on research projects including natural language processing, big data mining and analytics, structured data generating, combining AI and medical imaging to build auxiliary diagnostic models to help physicians make precise diagnoses and provide personalized treatments, and using AI to connect hospital and home, to enhance the management of chronic diseases, and to create conditions for people to manage their own health.
"AI technology is an important part of the company's innovation strategy, and most of Philips products will be based on digital and AI technologies in the future. The creation of the AI lab marks an important step for Philips China down the road of innovation and digital transformation. Based on our rich clinical knowledge and experience, as well as our deep insights into the pain points and needs in clinical practice, we applied AI in the actual clinical environment to deliver a reliable medical value. This is precisely our advantage in boosting innovation with AI in healthcare," said Dr. Xi Wang, VP and CTO, Philips China.
In a response to various challenges in the healthcare industry such as the growing aging population, the burgeoning medical expenses, the inefficient operating systems, and the increasingly acute shortage of healthcare professionals, the AI-enabled solution is rising at an unprecedented rate and is expected to fundamentally help to solve the most pressing challenges in healthcare. According to predictions, about 30% of the hospitals around the globe have the intention of adopting AI in two years, and more than 50% of the hospitals plan to adopt this technology in five years. Philips is a forerunner in AI-based healthcare. Currently, 60% of Philips' researchers worldwide are focusing on software development, and most of the researchers are doing AI research at the same time. In the healthcare continuum, the role of AI is to convert massive data into practical insights, to help clinical physicians, hospital administrators, patients and healthcare consumers achieve better health outcomes at a lower cost. Philips has seen four key opportunities in the AI-based healthcare—operation optimization, decision-making support, patient empowerment, and population health management. Focusing on these areas, Philips always adheres to the people-oriented principle, striving to develop intelligent solutions that can help healthcare service providers improve outcomes of treatments, and enables consumers to have a healthier lifestyle.
In the healthcare industry, Philips came up with the concept of "adaptive intelligence". With a focus on people-centered innovation, the concept involves integrating AI and other methods as well as the solutions based on these technologies and methods to see how Philips can better integrate them into clinical diagnosis and treatment and operational management or personal health management scenarios so as to improve the user's capability and help them adapt and adjust on their own in accordance with the actual situation. Jeroen Tas, Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer at Royal Philips, pointed out: "Adaptive Intelligence is about the combination of human's own capability with technology, so as to create solutions that can help improve people's life."
The newly created Philips China AI Lab will interact with other divisions of Philips China Innovation Hub and integrate global innovation resources to collaborate closely with the business units. It will not only participate in the research activities on global platforms but also strive to deepen the research and application of Philips' AI technology in China's actual clinical environment and in the personal health area, so as to facilitate the implementation of Philips' "HealthTech" strategy in the local market.
Dr. Choo Chiap Chiau, Department Head of AI Lab at Philips China Innovation Hub, said: "Philips provides a variety of products and solutions covering the entire healthcare continuum and has a global technology network covering extensive clinical paths and various sites. All of our R&D and design activities are carried out to meet the needs of consumers and the needs in clinical practices. We are fully aware of clinical needs as well as related processes and requirements. The creation and self-improvement of algorithms and AI engines which deliver real application value would not be possible without the real clinical environment. In this sense, Philips has had a unique advantage from the very beginning."
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips of the Netherlands is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. The company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. As a leading multinational company in China headquartered in Shanghai, Philips now operates in over 100 cities worldwide with over 74,000 employees. The establishment of AI lab will propel Philip's digital transformation in China and strengthen Philips' leading innovation position in healthcare industry.
Contact:
Philips Research China
Public Relations Department
Ms. Lauren Xuan
Email: lauren.xuan@philips.com