Microsoft inaugurates first AI healthcare partnership in Vietnam with VinBrain

Vietnam’s AI healthcare software company VinBrain and American tech giant Microsoft have embarked on a healhtech partnership that will see the duo work on data sharing, product validation, and R&D.

The partnership, Microsoft’s first healthtech collaboration in Vietnam, will use Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing platform by the giant, to focus on the three mentioned areas, VinBrain said in a release Monday.

The collaboration is expected to open up opportunities for Microsoft to expand its presence in Southeast Asian healthcare, according to Dr. Yumao Lu, partner engineering manager of Microsoft Inc., who has signed the collaboration agreement with VinBrain CEO Truong Quoc Hung.

"At Microsoft, we have prioritized our investment in the healthcare industry to address the most prevalent and persistent health and business challenges,” Dr. Lu said in the release.

VinBrain’s Hung said, “The collaboration will also enable us to fulfill Vietnam’s potential for innovation on an international scale and show our trust in the future of AI-powered products.”

In data sharing, VinBrain will leverage DrAid, its suite of AI-powered pathology solutions which can detect disease indicators of the heart, lungs and bone. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved platform is being used by around 2,000 medical doctors and more than 100 hospitals across Vietnam, according to VinBrain, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup.

The AI platform runs on a dataset of over two million images sourced from the U.S., Asia, and Europe. Such data will be shared via Microsoft Azure, which will also ensure privacy and security, manage ever-changing compliance regulations, and improve data governance.

VinBrain will also use Azure Cognitive Services for Computer Vision to validate new deep-learning models, including Florence, a new foundation model for computer vision developed by Microsoft. It also seeks to use Azure Cognitive Services to develop its own AI capabilities for processing and returning images and building, deploying, and improving image classifiers.

With cross-product validation, VinBrain will check deep learning models and analyze AI-powered health outcomes using the latest and evolving technology along with Azure Cognitive Services.

With the help of these technologies, the VinBrain developer team can also access and develop AI capabilities for processing uploaded images and returning information and building, deploying, and improving image classifiers. This will in turn increase the accuracy rate of medical imaging for DrAid.

In product R&D, both companies will also use Azure Cognitive Services in their joint R&D to come up with new AI products that tackle global healthcare challenges.

Both teams are committed to providing trusted and reliable solutions for some of the most pressing healthcare challenges using technology innovation with advanced data and analytics capabilities, VinBrain said in the release.

With the help of Microsoft Azure technology, VinBrain can apply AI to improve medical services in remote areas, especially those with limited medical facilities, thereby ensuring healthcare is delivered impartially. This is also aligned with the corporate social responsibility initiatives of both companies, VinBrain said.