｜Taiwan and Singapore Co-create Smart Healthcare Ecosystem: Southeast-Asia Impact Alliance Partners with National University of Singapore ｜
With the rapid development of AI technology, traditional healthcare has gained a new ally, offering innovative treatments through applications rather than relying on medication for patients suffering from sleep disorders, back pain, and diabetes. Recognizing this trend, CY Huang, an investment banker and founder of the Southeast-Asia Impact Alliance (SIA) and the Tunghai Industry Smart-Transformation Center (TISC), organized the Taiwan-Singapore Digital Healthcare Summit and Book Launch Event. This collaboration features Dr. Dean Ho, head of the WisDM Digital Medicine Centre at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Asia’s leading medical school, and author of the book Medicine Without Meds.
How will digital therapeutics transform human health? A new type of digital medicine, Digital Therapeutics (DTx), is gaining increasing attention as it reshapes how patients interact with healthcare systems. Leveraging algorithms to help cancer patients manage symptoms is one of the innovative approaches explored in the book “Medicine Without Meds” by Dr. Dean Ho, Yoann Sapanel, and Agata Blasiak, highlighting this emerging form of healthcare.
Dr. Dean Ho, a renowned Chinese-American expert in smart healthcare, is a global authority in the field. Five years ago, he joined the National University of Singapore (NUS), after many years of teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His father is also an academician at the Academia Sinica. During his visit to Taiwan, Dr. Ho shared the essence of his new book and revealed plans to build a smart healthcare ecosystem in Taiwan. He stated that Taiwan’s healthcare and technology standards are world-class and comparable to those of Singapore. Therefore, after Singapore, Taiwan was chosen as the second experimental hub for this ecosystem, fostering close strategic collaboration between Taiwan and Singapore.
The summit attracted over 80 participants, with Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan and Minister of Digital Development Audrey Tang delivering online speeches to highlight the government’s support for the digital healthcare industry. Legislator Chang Yu-mei noted that Singapore has expanded to nine smart healthcare initiatives this year, providing valuable lessons for both sides to learn from. Legislator Cynthia Wu emphasized that collaboration with Singapore significantly enhances the internationalization of Taiwan’s digital healthcare sector. Additionally, PwC Taiwan is collaborating with Professor Dean Ho on a digital healthcare white paper, which is scheduled for release early next year.
