Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and Rennes University Hospital, one of France's leading hospitals in image-guided interventions, robotics and clinical research, today announced the signing of a 5-year technology and innovation partnership to support diagnostic, interventional imaging and patient monitoring and management, undertake clinical research, and leverage Philips' and Rennes University Hospital's ecosystems of open innovation to foster French start-up companies.

Philips will deliver new medical technologies and provide management and maintenance services for the hospital's diagnostic and interventional imaging modalities (MRI, CT, and image-guided therapy) as well as patient monitoring. Informatics solutions will offer central, high-resolution data capture and storage (data warehouses) to drive quality and efficiency improvements, and comprehensive visualization and analysis tools to enhance diagnostic confidence for complex medical cases. Philips Healthcare Transformation Services experts will help to optimize the hospital's clinical pathways and patient experience, especially for intensive care units (ICUs) and neuro-radiology departments.

"Philips and Rennes University Hospital are entering into a ground-breaking partnership aimed at significantly improving the stroke pathway and co-developing AI algorithms to improve care for the most acute patients, particularly those in the ICU," said David Corcos, General Manager Philips France. "Leveraging the hospital's clinical expertise and our respective innovation ecosystems, we believe we can jointly innovate to help the hospital's healthcare professionals improve care and outcomes for their patients, while contributing to a more sustainable healthcare system. We are thrilled by this unique opportunity."



Research and innovation

Key elements of the partnership are collaborative research and innovation activities focused on areas that combine Philips' technological expertise with Rennes University Hospital's clinical expertise. Co-development projects will focus on several key areas of joint strategic interest – optimized stroke management, robotics for neurological interventions, big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) for monitoring patients in ICUs, and AI algorithms to support digital pathology. In addition, the hospital will have access to Philips' in-house expertise and open-innovation ecosystem to foster the creation of French tech start-ups that can translate research into clinical solutions.

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