AIA and Konica Minolta activate Digital Health programme

Insurance company AIA and printing solutions firm Konica Minolta jointly launched the ‘AIA – Konica Minolta Digital Health Accelerator’ programme in Singapore.The 12-week programme is designed to support entrepreneurs and businesses to deliver innovative solutions through integrating data to healthcare delivery.This announcement came on the back of another  innovation partnership announced just last week. AIA and local Singapore university NTU have also joined hands to establish an Edge Lab to develop innovative healthcare and insurance solutions.Digital health solutions present one of the most promising growth segments in the healthcare sector, as innovative solutions empower people to better manage and improve their health and provide better diagnostics and treatment options using sensors, data and imaging that are now within the consumer ecosystem.The ‘AIA – Konica Minolta Digital Health Accelerator’ is a unique collaborative effort between two major players in their industries – a leading pan-Asian life insurance group and a global leader in digital imaging, printing and medical diagnostics.It aims to create opportunities to groom and nurture start-ups and supports the Singapore government’s push on adopting information and communication technologies to develop an integrated healthcare delivery system in the country.The programme will be run by Nest, an investment incubator which has worked with large corporations to operate customised accelerator programmes.Startups with innovative ideas and technology around digital healthcare are invited to apply for the programme. Participating start-ups will be able to take advantage of the vast access to resources, expertise, markets and mentor network spanning across industry, education, research and government that the programme has assembled.Following the review, up to 10 companies will be guided through their business growth and development plans, culminating in a formal ‘demo day’ in Singapore in June 2016 when they will demonstrate their progress and seek investor support.Patrick Teow, chief executive officer at AIA Singapore said, “This launch is yet another extension of AIA’s strong belief in the power of collaborative innovation to help manage healthcare costs in Singapore and create value for families here.”“Konica Minolta has long embraced Open Innovation, and combined our expertise in Optics, Sensing and Nanotechnology to create cutting-edge medical field products for more than 30 years now,” Yuji Ichimura, executive officer at Konica Minolta, said.This accelerator program is yet another Open Innovation step to reach out to promising start-ups and Konica Minolta will make available R&D assets, and go-to-market channels to accelerate their entry into the Digital Health space,” Ichimura said.