Singapore – The National University Health System (NUHS), Singtel and Ericsson have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance connected healthcare through research into 5G-Advanced, future 6G technologies and artificial intelligence (AI).
The collaboration will focus on developing healthcare applications that use successive generations of telecommunications technology. NUHS will provide clinical, academic and research leadership, while Ericsson will contribute expertise in mobile networks and 6G research. Singtel will support the work with its advanced network deployment and services capabilities.
Singtel and Ericsson will be founding partners of NUHS’ newly established National University XG AI Centre (NXAC), which will develop and test network-enabled healthcare applications. The centre will bring together healthcare, telecommunications and technology specialists to assess applications using next-generation networks and AI.
The partners said the centre will support technology development in a hospital environment, working with clinicians, nurses and operations teams. Planned activities include joint training, fellowships, internships and clinician-engineer collaborations. The organisations also intend to pursue public research and innovation funding for a corporate laboratory or equivalent programme hosted by NUHS.
“Our interest in advanced networks and AI lies in what they can do for our patients across our 14 entities, and the healthcare professionals who care for them. By bringing together clinical and industry expertise, we hope to harness future generations of telecommunications technology into practical healthcare applications,” said NUHS Chief Executive Professor Yeoh Khay Guan.
“These range from autonomous mobile robots supporting hospital logistics and patient care, to connected mobile devices that extend care into the home, AI-enabled intelligent fabric for the healthcare industry, and human augmentation for advanced surgeries,” Guan continued.
The partners will explore applications including continuous patient monitoring, contactless sensing, autonomous robots for hospital logistics and medication delivery, and extended-reality tools for surgical support, clinical training and remote specialist collaboration.
“As Singapore prepares for a rapidly ageing population and increasingly complex healthcare needs, we have an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how care is delivered with technology,” said Singtel Singapore Chief Executive Ng Tian Chong.
“Singtel is proud to bring our advanced network and digital capabilities to help realise NUHS’ vision of an intelligent, trusted and borderless healthcare system – one that empowers healthcare professionals and enables more Singaporeans to live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives,” Ng continued.
“Next-generation healthcare applications such as robotic surgery, holomedicine, and remote monitoring demand deterministic network performance that cannot be compromised,” said Daniel Ode, Head of Ericsson Singapore, Brunei and Philippines and Global Customer Unit Singtel.
“Through NXAC, Ericsson is proud to partner with Singtel and NUHS, contributing our global R&D and advanced network capabilities to translate innovation into clinical practice. By elevating clinical care standards and augmenting frontline clinical teams, we are further reinforcing Singapore’s global leadership as the benchmark for the AI-native hospital,” Ode continued.
The partnership builds on five years of work between the organisations on advanced connectivity for healthcare. The collaboration began with 5G infrastructure in 2021 and expanded to an indoor 5G network at National University Hospital in 2022, covering 10 operating theatres and three inpatient wards when fully commissioned in November 2023.
