KyeeTech and Philips Unveil Vision for the Ideal Smart Ward Ecosystem

On February 12, 2022, Kyee Technology and Philips signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Shanghai. Through this partnership, the two parties have formally established a long-term and stable collaborative relationship in the realm of smart healthcare, leveraging their respective strengths in software and hardware. They will jointly develop next-generation comprehensive solutions for smart wards, deliver higher-quality products and services to customers, co-create a new future for smart healthcare, and lead the new era of intelligent full-screen displays.

Dr. Xuan Jiansheng, President of TPV Technology Group; Ms. Zhou Weijun, Vice President and General Manager of China Region; Mr. Mike Xuan, Vice President and Global Product General Manager; Mr. Li Cheng, General Manager of Philips Monitors and Commercial Displays in China; Dr. Li Zhi, Chairman of Shanghai Kingyee Technology Co., Ltd.; Dr. Shao Huagang, Executive Vice President; Mr. Miao Qingrong, Vice President; and other leaders attended the signing ceremony.

Following the conference, VCBeat held in-depth discussions with Dr. Li Zhi, Chairman of Kyee Technology, and Li Cheng, General Manager of Philips Monitors and Commercial Displays for China. The dialogue focused on this collaboration and the two parties’ strategic planning within the smart healthcare ecosystem.

The collaboration between Kyee Technology and Philips is a story of two parties striving independently, only to meet at the pinnacle.

Since its establishment in 2004, the smart ward has been one of Kyee’s core business segments. As a key subsector of smart healthcare, Kyee’s Smart Ward solution leverages a ward medical information system integrated with IoT communication capabilities to deliver a “patient-centric” medical information service platform through innovative concepts and approaches.

Kyee Technology is also one of the earliest manufacturers in China to develop and deploy mobile healthcare/smart ward products. It boasts the most comprehensive nursing software solutions and serves as a smart ward provider for 11 hospitals among China’s top 20 and over 30 hospitals among China’s top 100. With nearly two decades of dedication to the medical informatics industry, Kyee Technology has successfully delivered technologies, products, and services to more than 13,000 medical institutions of various types, including village health stations, across China, among which are over 700 tertiary hospitals.

Philips boasts extensive experience in hardware R&D, particularly in the display sector, where it holds significant advantages in component selection—such as screens and main chips—and supply chain management. Its high-standard R&D processes and robust quality control ensure superior product quality, while its powerful, mature, and standardized after-sales service system eliminates any post-purchase concerns.

In recent years, Philips has sought to integrate and co-create with local smart ecosystems, applying digitalization, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to real-world clinical scenarios in China. The company aims to develop intelligent solutions that meet the actual needs of China’s healthcare market and tangibly enhance user capabilities. Furthermore, Philips strives to deliver superior healthcare experiences for physicians and patients at lower costs through innovative business models. To this end, Philips is actively engaging diverse stakeholders within the digital healthcare ecosystem.

Under this strategic cooperation, both parties will leverage their respective strengths,Leveraging Philips’ leading advantages in hardware R&D and design, combined with Kyee Technology’s extensive experience in medical informatization construction and rich resource accumulation, we provide customers with industry-leading, highly competitive smart ward overall solutions to build a new ecosystem of smart healthcare across all screens.

Specifically, Philips provides hardware display support, which, by integrating Kyee’s various smart ward software systems and leveraging centralized multi-screen displays—including smart bedside interactive screens, intelligent head-of-bed screens, smart interactive door screens, nurse station touchscreens, and corridor screens—helps healthcare institutions build high-end smart wards.Provide patients with a range of medical and daily life services, strengthen interaction between patients and healthcare professionals, significantly improve service quality, and reduce costs for healthcare institutions.

Based on the unique characteristics of its open platform, the smart ward solution can be expanded to include various software and hardware applications such as bedside nursing, bedside rounds, bedside payment, smart large-screen interactive systems, dynamic infusion monitoring systems, and intelligent vital signs collection systems, achieving centralized access for various IoT hardware and centralized collection of patient vital signs data.By integrating medical software with hardware and enabling multi-screen display, we create a comprehensive information presentation and interaction system for the entire ward. This approach provides multiple channels for interaction among medical staff, nurses, and patients, meeting the demand for higher-quality patient care and delivering a more comprehensive, thoughtful, scientific, and comfortable healthcare environment.

It is understood that after a year-long period of adjustment and iteration,Kyee Technology and Philips’ collaborative product is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2022.

“The entire ward will gradually achieve comprehensive digitalization, from the nurse station to the nursing unit and patient rooms. Information technology will cover all medical activities of doctors, nurses, and patients, truly realizing paperless operations.”Dr. Li Zhi, Chairman of Kyee Technology, shared his vision for an ideal smart ward ecosystem.

Dr. Li Zhi, Chairman of Kingyee Technology

Dr. Li Zhi noted that prior to 2004, hospital wards lacked any meaningful informatization capabilities. A key challenge was the “last ten meters” gap in digital integration, referring to the lack of informational support between nurse stations and patient rooms. Drawing inspiration from PDA handheld terminals used in the security and financial sectors, Kyee Technology pioneered the launch of China’s first mobile nursing PDA in 2004, thereby bridging this final stretch from nurse stations to ward bedsides.

In 2012, leveraging years of accumulated expertise in mobile healthcare, Kingyee Technology achieved rapid product development and launch. Within that same year, the company expanded its focus from mobile healthcare to in-hospital medical solutions.To date, Kyee Technology has achieved a 35% market share in the in-hospital mobile nursing sector.

In 2016, Jingyi Technology introduced a comprehensive smart ward solution, leveraging bedside patient interaction as the entry point. By deploying large-screen information terminals shared among doctors, nurses, and patients, the solution addressed ward informatization, improved the efficiency of medical staff working at the patient’s bedside, and enhanced the accessibility of inpatient services for patients.

AlsoIn 2016, Kyee Technology proposed two industry trend predictions: one screen per hospital bed, and one cloud per hospital.“We anticipate that every hospital bed in public hospitals across China will require a dedicated screen. This is precisely the objective of the integrated smart ward solution, combining hardware and software, launched by Kyee Technology in partnership with Philips.”

As Dr. Li Zhi stated, standing at the forefront of the digital era’s transformation, and empowered by Kyee Technology and Philips through their strong brands, technologies, and solutions, smart wards are poised to reach new heights. In the future, Kyee Technology will join hands with Philips in the field of smart healthcare to actively explore new models and drive the continuous advancement of the medical industry.

So, what spillover effects will the collaboration with Kyee Technology have on Philips’ smart healthcare initiatives?

In hospital settings, display devices are ubiquitous. In smart ward scenarios alone, there are no fewer than dozens of screen applications, including triage queue displays, interactive panels at nursing stations, outpatient queue notification screens, and bedside displays for patients. Extrapolating from this niche scenario to the vast scale of China’s healthcare institutions, it becomes evident that the market for medical display screens is immense.

Li Cheng, General Manager of Philips Monitors and Commercial Displays in China, stated,“Previously, we mainly focused on the research and development of medical devices. This time, with Jing“Our partnership with Yi Technology marks a significant step forward in our hospital information technology infrastructure. By leveraging smart wards as an entry point, we aim to cover all display-enabled areas within hospital settings, achieving ‘ubiquitous displays.’”

Dr. Li Zhi of Kyee Technology and Mr. Li Cheng, General Manager of Philips Monitors and Commercial Displays China (far right), being interviewed by the media

Overall, the smart healthcare industry, bearing multiple expectations from the government, the sector, and society at large, may face more unknown changes in the coming years, while also holding the promise of yielding greater achievements. As leaders in their respective fields, what innovative intelligent solutions can Kyee Technology and Philips bring to China’s healthcare market through their strategic partnership? It is certainly something to look forward to.