High-tech medical industry predicted to be worth 1 trillion yuan in 20 years
Artificial intelligence technology will transform the medical sector and trigger an estimated 1 trillion yuan ($147 billion) market during the next 20 years.
A report from Firestone Inventing, a consultancy specializing in the medical industry and based in Hangzhou, showed that China is now one of the leading AI research and development centers along with the United States.
Last year, there were 144 Chinese AI companies involved in the medical sector. The majority of them were based in Beijing, Guangdong and the Yangtze River Delta.
“The era of AI is inevitable and has already been broadly applied to the healthcare area,” said Dai Tao, deputy director of the Development Center for Medical Science and Technology at the National Health and Family Planning Commission in Beijing.
“For example, when AI is applied to the field of radiodiagnosis, it only takes five seconds for a computer tomography (CT),” he added. “Before, it would take up to half an hour.”
Dai stressed that what is happening in the AI sector is just a glimpse of the future.
During the next two decades, artificial intelligence will radically change the healthcare industry and save lives.
“The government should strongly support the development of smart medical treat- ment, and promote the innovation of medical techniques,” he said.
AI will also have a crucial role in the field of big data, a vital pillar of the information industry.
Medical big data is used to crunch vast amounts of com- plex statistics to show patterns and trends which are vital in healthcare.
Already doctors are using artificial intelligence systems to help them when dealing with patients.
“AI now is widely used in medical care,” said Zhang Jiang, president of Ping An Ventures, a major investment company in Shanghai. “It helps doctors in diagnosing problems with patients.”
“This not only lowers the service costs, but also improves the accuracy of the diagnosis,” Zhang added.
The government has been
AI now is widely used in medical care. It helps doctors in diagnosing problems with patients.”
Zhang Jiang, president of Ping An Ventures