A strategic and first-of-its-kind collaboration between the giant corporation NTT and RISE, the innovation arm of Asuta Medical Centers, will help advance global medical research and connect AI to the medical world of tomorrow. Assuta will be the first Israeli body to connect to Advocate AI, the research platform developed by NTT DATA in the USA, which aims to make medical data from around the world accessible on one platform that enables advanced and efficient medical research and training of artificial intelligence models from several global sources.
The collaboration between the parties was initiated by NTT Israel, which promotes and leads commercial collaborations between startups and players in the Israeli ecosystem and the hundreds of subsidiaries of the giant NTT Corporation around the world. Assuta was chosen to be the first partner in Israel thanks to its and RISE’s advanced capabilities in the development and use of medical AI in collaboration with researchers and companies.
The field of AI in medicine is undergoing a significant acceleration process in recent years. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to carry out medical research more efficiently and on a larger scale than before, developing new or improved drugs based on huge databases, innovative medical equipment and training of AI models of medical startups who wish to improve and refine their solutions. NTT DATA’s platform takes the field of AI in medicine one step further – and enables research from a large number of sources and territories in a uniform manner and with advanced research tools while fully protecting the privacy of users.
NTT DATA’s new platform is based, among other things, on technology from the Israeli startup Rhino Health, which allows information to be used in its source environment, without “pulling” it into the database itself through the creation of a Federated Computing Network, this is another collaboration created through NTT Israel. Rhino Health has been working with Assuta for two years as part of the innovative ecosystem developing around RISE in the worlds of AI, which allows Assuta to bring value to the collaboration with NTT from day one.
Lilach Denwitz, Director of Partnerships and Strategy, NTT Israel: “We are very happy about Assuta’s joining the AI platform, one of the leaders in the medical world, and call on other Israeli institutions to join. The connection between Israeli medical institutions and the NTT platform creates a perfect synergy: for the Israeli institutions, the connection with NTT enables A global leap by introducing innovation to a giant company and from there to the rest of the world, as well as leveraging the relative advantage of the Israeli market to gain access to global opportunities for the development of technologies in the field of medicine. For global research bodies, pharmaceutical companies and start-ups in the field of medicine, Israel is a real “paradise” where The vast majority of medical information has been digitally documented for several decades. In addition, the ethnic diversity of the population in Israel makes it a microcosm for medical research, which enables the development of global tools more easily and accurately.”
Daniel Rabina, head of RISE: “Assuta is proud to continue leading the medical AI revolution in Israel and the world. The partnership with NTT will increase our involvement in the development processes of medical technologies, in cooperation with leading research and development bodies around the world. We are excited to join the NTT network and contribute For the future of medicine and the health of millions of patients. We see great importance in engaging in innovation and creating collaborations with leading entities such as NTT, which lead to continuous improvement in the quality of care and service we provide to patients.”
The NTT Corporation has about a thousand subsidiaries, with over 100 billion dollars in annual sales, more than 330 thousand employees worldwide, and operations in over 80 countries. So far, NTT has invested in more than 10 Israeli companies and since the establishment of the laboratory about 3 years ago, it has carried out close to 80 POCs with Israeli startup companies and closed 19 collaborations between Israeli startups and NTT branches and their customers around the world, many of them in the field of digital health.
Assuta Medical Centers, from the Maccabi Group, is the largest and leading private hospital chain in Israel, with 8 hospitals and medical centers spread from Haifa to Be’er Sheva. Over 2 million patients are treated in Asuta every year, and about 2,800 of the leading doctors in Israel work there. RISE, Assuta’s innovation arm, was established in 2021 to encourage Assuta’s collaborations with researchers, companies and entrepreneurs who develop breakthrough medical technologies, and since then has helped dozens of entrepreneurs, companies and researchers achieve significant achievements in the development and testing processes of medical products in a clinical environment.