Korea Health Industry Development Institute and Roche Diagnostics Sign MOU for R&D Support Project

Kit Tang, Head of Roche Diagnostics Korea, and Cha Soon-do, President of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (from left), are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement for the global research cooperation support project.
[Photo by Korea Health Industry Development Institute]

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) announced on the 18th that it signed a mutual business agreement (MOU) with Roche Diagnostics Korea on the 17th to support a global research collaboration project. The signing ceremony was held with key internal and external guests in attendance, including Cha Sundo, President of KHIDI, Kit Tang, CEO of Roche Diagnostics Korea, and Yoon Muhwan, Executive Director of the Digital Insight Division at Roche Diagnostics Korea.

This business agreement was made as part of the Korea-Switzerland global pharmaceutical joint research support project, which is supported by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and KHIDI. The purpose is to conduct joint projects with domestic research institutions in the medical device and digital healthcare fields linked to Roche Diagnostics’ open collaboration model, while exploring potential collaboration opportunities among stakeholders in the healthcare industry ecosystem.

For this project, KHIDI will collaborate not only with Roche Diagnostics Korea but also with Roche Diagnostics APAC and Roche Korea, focusing on research and development in medical device development areas such as pre-screening, early diagnosis, home monitoring, patient monitoring, and point-of-care (POC) diagnostics in hospital settings, as well as digital healthcare fields including the development of wearable devices integrated with electronic medical record (EMR) platforms usable in hospitals and homes.

KHIDI plans to select domestic research institutions and act as a bridge connecting them with Roche, while helping to secure an international network base to enhance their research competitiveness and commercialization. Roche plans to design collaborative projects linking internal experts according to the global Roche Diagnostics innovation framework for domestic research institutions and provide mentoring and coaching on professional business models and solution design to support the growth of these institutions.

Kit Tang, CEO of Roche Diagnostics Korea, said, “Through the business agreement with KHIDI, I feel deeply moved to be able to realize open innovation together with competitive research institutions,” adding, “We will continue multifaceted efforts to build a collaborative ecosystem with an open mind for joint growth as a trusted partner of domestic industries and companies.” Cha Sundo, President of KHIDI, also stated, “We aim to nurture the health industry as the ‘second semiconductor’ to grow it into a leading export industry and lead innovation through digital health,” and added, “We hope this business agreement signing will serve as an opportunity to enhance the global competitiveness of domestic biohealth research and lay the foundation for global expansion and business growth.”