COMEUP 2021, South Korea’s most prominent global startup festival’s day two, had insightful speeches, discussions on topics that matter for the future world. If day 1 was about the financial sectors with fireside chats on money, property, working and employment in a post-covid world. Day 2 of COMEUP 2021 dealt with critical issues like food, the emergence of digital healthcare, environment and mobility.
True to this years’ theme of ‘Meet the Future: Transformation,’ the fireside chats on day two was all about the changes that are happening at a fast pace in sectors like food, healthcare, environment and mobility that is helping us to gear up for the future in a sustainable manner. The chat also focused on how relying on rapid digitization and data-based analytics and prediction can prepare for a better tomorrow and leave a better world for the future generation.
Connectivity: Journey Towards Digital Healthcare Platform
The session dealt with the critical issue of data and connectivity in a digital world and how it can augment the functioning of the healthcare sector. The session was moderated by Chiweon Kim, Medical Graduate from Seoul National University. He is currently in charge of operating SeoulWise Convalescent Hospital and a partner at Kakao Ventures, supervising the same field.
The panelist for the session was Euiseok Wi, CEO of Cenaclesoft. He is an IT expert with years of experience in Software Engineering. Wi started Cenaclesoft Inc. in 2018, believing that prospective software engineers and healthcare providers can bring about positive changes. Currently, he is working his ways to establish daily connections between healthcare providers and customers via brand-new Cloud EMR Service.
During the chat, Wi emphasized the need for connectivity between doctors and patients through a common platform. He said that with the dissemination of accurate information, both patients and doctors could keep themselves updated and better understand the ailments. During the discussion, he said that data alone is not enough to start a business, but medical data can-do miracles when sorted and presented well. Concerning his work on electronic medical record (EMR) Cloud services, he said that the platform is a storehouse of knowledge that helps bridge the gap between patient and doctor through the distribution of information.
Reshaping Insurance and Digital Healthcare
This chat session delved into how digital healthcare facilitates an environment where people can invest today to prepare for their future healthcare needs. Julia Park moderated the panel. She is Head of Channel Innovation at LINA Korea. As Head of Channel Innovation, Julia Park is responsible for developing innovative ways of interacting with customers to address their health needs.
The panelist for the session was Doo Ah Choi, founder of Huraypositive. He has been serving as CEO of the company since 2010, intending to bring changes to the lifestyle of chronic patients. Huraypositive develops and provides digital healthcare services to insurance clients and corporate executive members. Before starting Huraypositive, Choi served as the Team Leader at Naver and successfully led the operation of video, image, and music search engines.
Talking about the future of healthcare, Choi said that Korea will have a good geriatric population in the next few decades, which will have a cascading impact on seeking healthcare. This will increase the cost of healthcare in the future as there will be more demand than the supply can meet and hence it is only through digitalization and insurance that one can prepare for the future.
Choi also spoke about the different aspects of digitization that are happening in the healthcare sector. Later he explained how digitalization is assisting in better distribution of healthcare services and at the same time ensuring affordable and sustainable healthcare for all.
How Profitable is Medical AI?
The panel discussion was about Artificial Intelligence in the medical sector. The panelist discussed Medical AI and how the industry has shaped up in the last few years and if this industry is profitable. The session was moderated by Yoonsup Choi, a representative expert in the Korean digital healthcare field.
Among the panelist for the session was Hyun-Jun Kim, CEO of Vuno. The company has contributed to the development of AI medical technology by obtaining approval for the first AI healthcare device in Korea.
The other panelist for the session was Soo-Yong Shin, Associate Professor of the Department of Digital Health at Sungkyunkwan University. His main research topics include health data standardization, privacy protection, and medical AI.
The panelist discussed in length the scope of growth in the Medical AI field. Speaking on the occasion, Soo-Yong Shin said that if we go by data, the field is flourishing. Until November 2021, the KFDA has approved 72 Medical AI devices and by the end of the year, this number will be around 85-90, which shows that the market is potent and ready for growth.
The panelists discussed the scope of designing innovative Medical AI products and the challenges and opportunities that the industry has while expanding overseas. The panel discussion concluded that the Medical AI startup segment has immense scope for growth if it can stay grounded and focus on solving issues ailing the healthcare sector.
