A memorandum of understanding was concluded between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Thailand’s Mahidol University Sept. 22 to cooperate on artificial intelligence model validation to accelerate commercialization of smart healthcare solutions.
According to the MOHW, the pact was signed by Lee Chien-chang, director of its Department of Information Management, and Piyamitr Sritara, president of the Thai university. Officials and healthcare experts from both sides were present to witness the signing that took place in Thailand.
Under the MOU, the Thai university will recommend AI models for validation in Taiwan, while Taiwanese medical institutions will work with the Thai university’s affiliated hospital to establish pilot validation sites in Thailand. Models developed by each can undergo validation at the other’s medical facilities at their own expenses, the ministry said.
In a move to address challenges faced by AI medical models in real-world clinical applications, the MOHW has helped set up four demonstration centers for AI certification and validation in Taiwan since 2024, as well as a medical database involving multiple healthcare facilities in compliance with Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources standards.
The MOHW department has also promoted the formation of hospital alliances spanning multiple healthcare systems and constructed a Federated Learning-based validation architecture, the MOHW said. These initiatives enable AI developers and research teams to validate their models using larger-scale datasets that better reflect the characteristics of Taiwan’s population, thereby enhancing the quality, safety and reliability of AI applications in healthcare, the ministry added.
The MOHW praised the new partnership as a breakthrough and a major step forward in bilateral exchanges, as the Thai government moves to implement its national AI strategy and action plan (2022-2027). The ministry expects the pact to help establish Taiwan as an innovation hub for AI medical solutions and other smart medicine developments. (SFC-E)
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