At the MoU signing to launch the Global Health Innovation Network: (from left) Ms Lai Wei Lin, Permanent Secretary, Policy and Development, Ministry of Health of Singapore; Adjunct Professor Jason Phua, Deputy Chief Executive (Clinical Transformation), National University Health System; Ms Kim Suyeon, Country President, AstraZeneca Singapore; Dr Boubou Hallberg, Chief Executive Officer, Sahlgrenska University Hospital; Mr Daniel Ode, Head of Ericsson Singapore, Philippines and Brunei; Mr Jan Larsson, Chief Executive Officer, Business Sweden; Ms Miriam Söderström, State Secretary, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Sweden.
SINGAPORE — The National University Health System (NUHS) and Sahlgrenska University Hospital have formed a strategic partnership with technology partners AstraZeneca, Ericsson and Business Sweden to launch the Global Health Innovation Network (GHIN) that aims to drive global healthcare innovation.
The partnership was formalised through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Singapore-Sweden Royal Business Forum, witnessed by State Secretary for Healthcare, Ms Miriam Söderström and Singapore’s Permanent Secretary for Policy and Development, Ms Lai Wei Lin. The event was attended by Singapore’s Minister for Health, Mr Ong Ye Kung.
GHIN will identify, implement, and scale health innovations in screening, diagnosis, and monitoring. The purpose of the GHIN is to facilitate the actual implementation of innovative technology, which is the major challenge globally in driving healthcare innovation forward.
This collaboration marks the first concrete initiative under the government-to-government MoU on healthcare innovation collaboration, signed by Singapore and Sweden during the same event.
Scaling innovations and sharing expertise
The GHIN brings together various players in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and communication industries. NUHS and Sahlgrenska University Hospital will take on a shared role of providing clinical experience and knowledge, hospital resources for prototype testing and research, sharing research materials and publications as well as providing mentoring support. By leveraging their collective expertise, all the partners will work towards facilitating the development of novel technologies in healthcare, successful implementation and scaling up of these healthcare services.
“Implementing the newest technologies and leveraging opportunities from research and innovation worldwide strengthens global healthcare,” states Dr Boubou Hallberg, CEO, Sahlgrenska University Hospital. “This collaboration also helps new treatments reach patients from all over the world faster.”
“As an academic health system, we will bring together expertise in clinical care, research, and education to support this collaboration,” states Adjunct Professor Jason Phua, Deputy Chief Executive (Clinical Transformation), NUHS.
“When we combine our strengths with the unique capabilities of our partners, we can contribute meaningfully to the advancement of patient care and the improvement of global health.”
Ms Kim Suyeon, Country President, AstraZeneca Singapore says, “We are really excited to come onboard this meaningful collaboration, leveraging AstraZeneca’s global healthcare innovation platform, A.Catalyst Network. As part of a broader network of ecosystem stakeholders, our role as a founding industry partner is to support the scouting of innovative solutions towards solving identified problem statements across the healthcare systems, potentially helping to scale effectively implemented solutions to other markets via our network.”
“High performance connectivity based on 5G will transform healthcare. By joining the GHIN as a founding partner, we will fuel innovation in healthcare services based on our ability to blend technological innovation with medical knowledge. With 5G, we can extend the reach of the healthcare system to many people for whom healthcare access and treatment is a challenge.” says Mr Daniel Ode, Head of Ericsson Singapore, Philippines and Brunei.
Business Sweden will serve as the project management office (PMO) for GHIN, facilitating collaboration and strengthening connections between Swedish, Singaporean, and international stakeholders.
“I am proud that Business Sweden can support GHIN and hope that we can enable a strong and productive collaboration. We will focus on expanding its reach by bringing in new partners and aim for faster adoption and larger scaling of healthcare innovations worldwide,” says Mr Jan Larsson, CEO, Business Sweden.
GHIN has been created as an open innovation ecosystem, welcoming collaborations with Swedish, Singaporean, and international stakeholders. While the establishment of the GHIN is still in the early stages, the founding members hope that more partners will come onboard in the years ahead, to amplify their collective efforts in creating more effective healthcare solutions globally.
To download the PDF version of the media release, click here.
