Establishment of a cooperation system based on a medical data safety zone, improvement of regional medical and healthcare AI R&D conditions

The problem of insufficient data and computing resources that medical device companies in the Changwon region have faced during the research and development process is expected to be partially resolved through cooperation with public institutions. The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) have decided to strengthen the research foundation of the local medical and healthcare industry by linking medical data with computing infrastructure.

On the afternoon of March 31, the two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) titled "Cooperation on Safe Zone Data Policy and Activation for Fostering the Manufacturing of Advanced Medical Devices in the Medical and Healthcare Industry" at the KERI Changwon Intelligent Medical Equipment Support Center (CIMES) located within the Changwon Jinhae Knowledge Industry Center. The focus of the agreement was on enabling local companies to more easily access the data and analysis environments necessary for medical AI research.

CIMES, which opened last February, was established as a hub to expand Changwon's existing manufacturing base into the medical and bio-device industries. The plan is to create new growth engines by integrating medical device development elements into the region's industrial structure, which possesses capabilities in manufacturing precision machinery and electrical and electronic components. This agreement is interpreted as a measure to reinforce key resources necessary for research and development in that context.

The key is the data utilization system through the 'KERI Medical Data Safe Zone Platform.' The National Information Society Agency (NIA) will provide standardized labeled medical and healthcare data to the KERI Safe Zone, and KERI plans to support a high-performance GPU-based computing environment so that companies utilizing this data can perform medical image analysis and AI model training and inference. For local companies, this means they will be able to utilize data and computing environments at local bases, which previously relied heavily on external sources.

The provided data and infrastructure are expected to be used for the advancement of algorithms for detecting tumors and lung diseases using medical imaging such as CT, MRI, and X-ray, as well as for the development of AI models for disease prediction through large-scale data training. This is an area where there has been continuous demand from the industry during the development of medical devices and diagnostic aids. The entire process, from data usage application to review, import, and export, is managed through KERI's operational management system, and researchers, corporate employees, and university students can use the CIMES analysis lab after applying in advance.

This collaboration is significant as an attempt to add medical AI development capabilities to the region's manufacturing base. Given that data reliability and a stable computational environment are considered essential prerequisites for medical AI development, the establishment of a related research hub in Changwon is likely to impact the product development and validation capabilities of local companies. Attention is focused on whether the approach of public institutions providing both data and infrastructure will lead to the revitalization of the local medical device industry.