Daegu City Opens 'Medical Artificial Intelligence Development Support Center' with 7 Billion Won Investment

On the 20th, Daegu City held an opening ceremony for the ‘Medical Artificial Intelligence Development Support Center’ at D-Center 1976 in Seo-gu, Daegu, in collaboration with the Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) to support research and development of medical devices based on medical artificial intelligence and big data, as well as to assist companies in developing medical AI technologies and obtaining regulatory approval.

The opening ceremony was attended by about 60 people, including Kim Sang-hoon, a member of the National Assembly from the People Power Party (Daegu Seo-gu), Lee Man-gyu, Chairman of the Daegu City Council, Lee Jong-hwa, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Daegu, Kim Se-jong, President of the Korea Testing Laboratory, and representatives from local medical industry organizations and resident companies.

Attendees who finished the opening ceremony of the 'Medical Artificial Intelligence Development Support Center' in Seo-gu, Daegu, are gathered together for a commemorative photo.

The ‘KTL Medical Artificial Intelligence Development Support Center’ was established starting in December 2020 with a budget of 7 billion KRW (5 billion KRW from Daegu City and 2 billion KRW from KTL) to successfully promote the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s ‘AI-based Image Analysis Solution Development Project for Imaging Diagnostic Medical Devices’ and to build an AI and big data-based medical industry ecosystem in the Daegu region.

The newly opened ‘Medical Artificial Intelligence Development Support Center’ is a specialized testing and evaluation institution in the medical device field, equipped with over 30 medical device safety testing and evaluation devices and four server racks for AI medical device performance evaluation. It provides technical support to companies through AI medical device performance testing, AI algorithm development and analysis, and conducts research and development based on medical AI and big data.

In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the global digital healthcare market is expected to grow to 508.8 billion USD by 2027 due to population aging and increased demand for personalized healthcare. In particular, with the integration of AI into medical devices, various convergent products such as digital therapeutics and AI imaging diagnostic medical devices are being launched in the market.

In response, Daegu City has selected the advanced medical healthcare industry as one of the five major future industries in its 8th term of local government. The city is actively promoting research and development and corporate support projects to build and utilize essential medical big data for AI development, support digital healthcare medical device verification, and foster the digital transformation and ecosystem of the medical industry.

Lee Jong-hwa, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Daegu, stated, “With the establishment of Daegu’s only Medical AI Development Support Center, medical AI companies in the region can now develop products stably and receive prompt regulatory approval support.” He added, “We will actively support local medical companies to successfully carry out digital transformation and secure a leading position in the global digital healthcare market.”