SINGAPORE – The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the National University Hospital (NUH), through its Kent Ridge Office of Innovation (KROI), have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI), marking IMDA’s first Open Innovation Platform (OIP) partnership with a public healthcare institution. The partnership aims to accelerate healthcare innovation by connecting real-world challenges faced by healthcare professionals with technology innovators who can develop and test practical solutions.
Established in April 2024, KROI works closely with clinical and operational teams across NUH to identify areas where innovation can enhance care delivery, patient experience and operational efficiency. This partnership brings together NUH's clinical and operational expertise with IMDA’s OIP network of approximately 21,000 innovators and solution providers, including startups, technology firms, and research institutions. It also supports Singapore's National AI Strategy (NAIS) to drive AI innovation and adoption in key sectors such as healthcare.
By focusing on needs identified by healthcare professionals rather than technology alone, NUH can tap on the expertise across the OIP network to identify, evaluate and pilot promising solutions that address its priority healthcare challenges and make a meaningful difference to patients and healthcare staff in a real-world hospital setting. The MOI has already seen the launch of its first healthcare-themed innovation challenge seeking AI-enabled solutions to help identify fall hazards in patients' homes earlier and at scale, with Calls for Applications (CFAs) closing in November 2026.
Since its launch in 2018, IMDA’s OIP has facilitated more than 450 innovation challenges and supported over S$25 million in prize funding, helping organisations tap external technology expertise to address business and operational needs.
Dr Ling Zheng Jye, Head of the Kent Ridge Office of Innovation, said: "Healthcare innovation is most impactful when it addresses real needs on the ground. Through the Open Innovation Platform, we can engage a broad community of innovators to tackle challenges identified by our clinicians and operational teams, creating new opportunities to develop and test solutions that can benefit both patients and healthcare professionals."
Mr. Alvin Kang, Director of Innovation at IMDA, said: "In support of Singapore’s National AI Strategy, we are bringing IMDA's open innovation capabilities into healthcare, and creating opportunities for technology companies to apply their expertise to real clinical and operational challenges. By working with NUH through our Open Innovation Platform, we want to help turn promising innovations into practical solutions that can improve healthcare delivery."
The IMDA-NUH partnership builds on KROI's broader efforts to strengthen ties across Singapore's innovation ecosystem. These include collaborations with organisations such as the National University of Singapore and academic publisher Elsevier, as well as the launch of the NUH Innovation Hub earlier this year, which supports the development, evaluation and implementation of staff-led innovations, including MedBot, NUH’s AI-powered virtual pharmacy assistant.
Building on this momentum, NUH plans to launch innovation challenges on IMDA's OIP in March, July and October each year. These regular challenge calls will provide opportunities for technology innovators to develop and pilot solutions in response to priority areas identified by the hospital, thereby creating additional avenues for collaboration between healthcare providers and industry.
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