Media Release

(11 June 2025 – Hong Kong) IHH Healthcare North Asia announced today the establishment of an Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) in Hong Kong, reinforcing its commitment to advancing innovation, research and excellence in healthcare. IHH Healthcare (IHH), one of the world’s largest private healthcare providers, has headquartered its North Asia operations in Hong Kong where it runs an integrated network comprising Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong (Gleneagles), primary care and specialist clinics, an ambulatory care centre and laboratory services, in addition to a service network in Shanghai. The AI Lab will serve as a hub for cutting-edge AI technologies, fostering collaboration among academia, startups, and technology companies to innovate healthcare solutions that can transform patient care, service quality and operational efficiency. The initiative will start off with local partnerships and intends to welcome innovators from outside of Hong Kong as the Lab develops.

The AI Lab will be strategically located in a leading innovation cluster in Hong Kong and will provide a dynamic ecosystem for researchers and innovators to develop and test AI-powered healthcare solutions. As an affiliate teaching hospital of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Health System, Gleneagles has been maintaining close collaborative ties with the University on various healthcare innovation initiatives. Discussions that are underway between HKU and the AI Lab include AI-based remote heart and lung auscultation, home-use wireless electrocardiogram monitoring, and AI-powered risk prediction tool for heart diseases. The Lab is also engaging with other academic partners, including The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and healthtech startups on collaborative initiatives in areas such as AI-driven smart clinic solutions featuring virtual client servicing, online pre-checkin, digital triaging and vital signs measurement, innovative diagnostic tests, as well as remote monitoring and telemedicine solutions. Bridging the gap between research and applications, the Lab, fully supported by Gleneagles and its clinic network in Hong Kong as real-world testbeds, will facilitate clinical trials, provide access to high-quality healthcare data to enable prototyping and validation of AI solutions, and offer advanced computing infrastructure to accelerate the training of AI models.

Dr Kenneth Tsang, Regional Chief Executive Officer of IHH Healthcare North Asia and Chief Executive Officer of Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong, emphasises the importance of the AI Lab initiative in translating healthcare innovations into clinical applications, “We believe that innovation and technology are not just tools but transformative forces essential to addressing rising patient needs and delivering smarter, more efficient and personalised care. Our new AI Lab underscores IHH’s unwavering commitment to pioneering breakthroughs and future-proofing healthcare services. Through this initiative, we aspire to create a collaborative innovation hub converging academic institutions and technology startups to develop impactful healthcare solutions that revolutionise diagnostics, treatment and patient experience. By harnessing cross-sector collaboration, we strive to redefine the future of patient-centred healthcare where advanced AI seamlessly integrates with human touch.”

The establishment of the AI Lab is a strategic step forward following the recent launch of partnerships with PanopticAI Limited and SmartCare Technology Co Limited, both nurtured by HKUST, to develop and implement smart clinic solutions at Gleneagles MediCentre to be launched in late 2025; and with Emerging Viral Diagnostics (HK) Limited (EVDL), a partner of HKBU, to integrate its innovative diagnostics system into Gleneagles’s laboratory and telemedicine services. The collaboration agreements were signed and witnessed by Dr Prem Kumar Nair, Group CEO of IHH; Professor Nancy Ip, President of HKUST; Professor Alex Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU; Professor Manson Fok, Co-Founder & Chairman of EVDL, and Dean of Faculty of Medicine and President of University Hospital, Macau University of Science and Technology; and Dr Patrick Lau, Deputy Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, at the Asia Summit on Global Health in May 2025.

IHH operates over 140 healthcare facilities across 10 countries, including over 80 hospitals, clinics, and ambulatory care centres. IHH's business operations in North Asia include state-of-the-art tertiary care hospitals, Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong and Parkway Shanghai Hospital, networks of primary, specialist and surgical clinics, as well as ambulatory care centres in Hong Kong and Shanghai. With its global scale and reach, IHH is advancing innovation to address real patient needs and deliver better care through strategic investments and partnerships.