Healthcare is quickly becoming an information science, in which Big Data forms an important element. China is far ahead of Europe in the field of Big Data, because they do not have European laws that prohibit the sharing of all kinds of information. It may therefore come as no surprise that Philips, worldwide a leading health technology company, has a China Innovation Hub in Shanghai.
In 2018 Philips established an AI-lab there, which is dedicated to the integration of AI-technologies with a wide spectrum of areas, including medical imaging, patient monitoring, health informatics and home care. It aims at deepening the research and application of Philips’ AI-technology in China’s clinical environment, so as to facilitate the implementation of Philips’ HealthTech-strategy in the local market. AI-enabled solutions are expected to help solve the most pressing challenges in healthcare nowadays, for example those related to an ageing population and a shortage of healthcare professionals. Philips set out four key opportunities in the AI-based healthcare: operation optimization, decision-making support, patient empowerment and population health management.
Besides the new IA-lab, Philips also launched SHINEFLY, a secure cloud-based platform for tele-radiology applications, together with Digital Health China, the largest provider of cloud-based healthcare services in China. Radiology, a medical specialism focusing on medical imaging, is at the center of a vast number of healthcare decisions. Medical imaging combined with advanced informatics drives timely detection, accurate diagnosis, and effective treatment of disease at its earliest stages. China aims at a new healthcare system in which large and smaller hospitals share resources and expertise to provide quality care at lower cost across the system, and the innovations of Philips play their role here, just like Philips profits from the abundant availability of Big Data in China.
