India emerges as global hub for Philips’ AI healthcare solutions

AMSTERDAM: India has emerged as the global development hub for more than 85% of Philips’ artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for healthcare, underscoring the country’s growing role in shaping next-generation medical technologies even as the company bets on AI-enabled diagnostics to help address India’s shortage of advanced imaging services and trained specialists.The company said its Bengaluru innovation campus has evolved into Philips’ largest innovation hub globally and serves as a software powerhouse where thousands of engineers develop AI-enabled healthcare technologies for both Indian and international markets. According to Ozlem Fidanci, chief of international region at Philips, India’s talent pool, digital capabilities and innovation ecosystem have made it central to the company’s global AI strategy.Despite significant improvements in healthcare access, India continues to face gaps in the availability of MRI, CT and other advanced diagnostic services, particularly outside major cities. Fidancı said the challenge is not a single bottleneck such as cost or manpower but a combination of infrastructure, financing, skilled professionals and technology.“The biggest opportunity lies in combining data, AI, intelligent software and hardware into integrated solutions that improve productivity across the healthcare system. AI should always work with human supervision, supporting clinicians rather than replacing them,” she told TOI.She said AI-enabled MRI systems being deployed in Indian hospitals can reduce scan times by up to three times, while improving image resolution by as much as 65%, allowing hospitals to examine more patients using the same infrastructure.(The writer was in Amsterdam at Philips’ invitation)