Announced in early July 2020, Alibaba Cloud, Fintech Academy and Pfizer will form a Healthcare Fintech Alliance (HFA) to boost transformation of healthtech and fintech sectors in Asia Pacific.
Establishment of the HFA comes after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the three entities. The alliance will be founded as the Southeast Asia Centre of Innovation in Singapore. It will aim to create a conducive environment to incubate and develop a healthcare technological ecosystem to support start-ups and research centres in the region to provide scientific and technological expertise through incubator support, training content and incentive programs
“As Singapore continues to build for the future to maintain its competitive edge as the region’s innovation powerhouse, it is critical for local start-ups to take advantage of emerging technologies to drive transformation for the healthcare sector. The ability to harness the collective resources that HFA is providing will help them make their mark on the global stage.” said Derek Wang, General Manager, Alibaba Cloud in Singapore.
The alliance is set to spur the development of tech-driven innovations in the region, with Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam piloting this initiative, before its expansion to Malaysia and Philippines (subject to compliances of local legal regulations).
By sharing innovation best practices with local start-ups and businesses, HFA seeks to cement Singapore’s position as Asia’s digital capital by providing local organizations with a testbed where they can experiment, prototype and commercialize products and solutions for the region, with the right partners in funding, mentoring and networking.
Under this partnership, Alibaba Cloud will provide infrastructure support and technological expertise. Fintech Academy will look into urge industry experts and academia to drive innovation and growth through talent development and venture building in support of innovators’ journeys. Pfizer looks to bring to the table its in-depth understanding of patient journey and healthcare systems across the region together with its scientific and commercialization knowledge of start-ups.
Dr Lillian Koh, Founder of Fintech Academy said, “We are excited to be involved in empowering innovators by bridging them to academia and industry experts in technology translation for addressing real healthcare issues in impacting beneficiaries’ journeys. This Alliance will drive collaboration and scholarship among the finance, health, and digital technology sectors through the network. This could reap positive outcomes as we journey with them to provide the necessary access to mentors and funding.”
“Pfizer’s purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. We understand the importance of building on collective expertise to strengthen healthcare ecosystems and communities enabled by technology and backed by financial knowledge. The formation of this Alliance is a clear demonstration of Pfizer’s commitment in Asia emerging markets to leverage synergies between cloud technology, financial capabilities and pharmaceutical expertise so as to be patient-centric in fulfilling healthcare needs.” said Enver Erkan, Country Manager, Pfizer Singapore.
Key focus areas of the HFA include; solutions to address affordability, generating value-based agreements, drive digital therapeutics, outcome monitoring, population health, personalized healthcare, and drive adoption rate of innovative health technology. [APBN]