KeYi Intelligence Breaks Ultrasound Data Silos with AI-Driven Cloud Platform, Serving 60 Hospitals and Partnering with Fujifilm

“Ultrasound imaging technology is closely aligned with the public’s healthy living. China sees a massive volume of ultrasound services, yet there is a significant shortage of ultrasound physicians. We aim to assist ultrasound specialists in consultations while promoting the decentralization of ultrasound services, thereby benefiting grassroots physicians and patients,” said Chen Zhemeng, CEO of Shanghai Keyi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Keyi Intelligent”).

According to a research report by Frost & Sullivan, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of China's medical imaging equipment market from 2015 to 2020 was 12.4%, with its market size exceeding RMB 50 billion in 2020.

The medical imaging market is substantial in size, attracting a large number of healthcare companies to enter the field. How to “survive and thrive” in this highly competitive arena is a critical challenge facing every participant.

KeYi Intelligence, established in 2018, is an innovative company focused on the development and application of 5G-enabled medical big data, medical artificial intelligence, and full-imaging cloud platforms.. The company became a supplier to Fujifilm in Japan in July 2020, and in 2021, it was awarded the “2021 Shanghai Science and Technology SMEs Technological Innovation Fund Project Approval” and recognized as part of the “Fifth Batch of High-Tech Enterprises in Shanghai for 2021,” delivering impressive results.

Recently, VCBeat interviewed the core founding team of Keyi Intelligence—Dr. Zhebin Qian, CTO; Zhemeng Chen, CEO; and Dr. Lehong Guo, Clinical Advisor—to discuss the developments at Keyi Intelligence.

Keyi Intelligent Technology is a leading domestic provider of 5G remote ultrasound system solutions, offering intelligent products and application scenario services to globally renowned enterprises, China’s three major telecom operators, and large-scale medical consortia and flagship hospitals in China.

The company provides remoteCheng Intelligence and Acquisition Control Substation, among other hardware products, as well as software services such as cloud platforms and mobile apps.

Figure: On April 2, 2019, Keyi Intelligence, the Institute of Ultrasound Medicine at Tongji University School of Medicine, and Shanghai Mobile jointly established China’s first 5G remote ultrasound laboratory.

Dr. Qian Zhebin, Chairman and CTO,Dr. Qian graduated from the Institute of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He conducted postdoctoral research under the supervision of Professor David Lane, a pioneering scholar in robotics and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He has worked for renowned international corporations, including Huawei’s Wireless Business Department, Beijing Zhongqing, and the GE Global Research Center. Dr. Qian serves as a Visiting Professor at the Shanghai Ultrasound Diagnosis and Treatment Engineering Technology Research Center and the Tenth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, and is a committee member of the Special Committee on Remote and Mobile Ultrasound. With over twenty years of experience in medical product R&D, he possesses core expertise in medical image transmission technology and holds more than ten domestic and international patents.Currently responsible for product R&D and technology development at Keyi Intelligence.

CEO Chen Zhemeng,Graduated from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, founded a startup in 2011 specializing in the sales of cutting-edge medical instruments. With over a decade of deep expertise in the sales and after-sales service of medical devices, possesses extensive marketing resources.Currently responsible for driving the commercialization of Keyi Intelligence.

Clinical Advisor, Dr. Lehang Guo,He is a Clinical Researcher in the Department of Ultrasound Medicine at Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, and concurrently serves as a Standing Committee Member and Association Secretary of the Committee on Remote and Mobile Ultrasound. He has published 25 SCI-indexed papers, possesses a solid medical background and extensive frontline clinical experience, and is adept at accurately identifying healthcare needs.Currently responsible for providing support on product application scenarios.

Each of the three excels in their respective domain. Dr. Guo Lehao jokingly referred to them as the “troika,” driving the company forward in tandem across the medical, engineering, and sales functions.

Unlike the traditional startup model of establishing a company before developing a product, Keyi Intelligence was founded after precisely identifying medical needs through discussions with Dr. Xu Huixiong, Chief Physician at the Shanghai Ultrasound Diagnosis and Treatment Engineering Technology Research Center, first developing the product, and then validating its commercial viability.

“Many medical products are developed without physician involvement from the outset. Although supported by extensive preliminary research data, they remain theoretical exercises. When these products are actually deployed in clinical settings, they either feature superfluous, flashy functions or fail to meet practical usage requirements, lacking real-world applicability and failing to effectively address actual problems.” Dr. Guo Lehang, with many years of frontline clinical experience, is well aware of the pain points and challenges physicians face in using such products. Therefore, Keyi Intelligence involves a team of physicians right from the initial stage of product development, truly meeting genuine clinical needs and addressing critical challenges in medical research.

The Centralized Procurement and Control Smart Station, a core product of Keyi Intelligence, provides a full range of intelligent hardware based on comprehensive imaging solutions for the medical sector.

Figure: Centralized Procurement and Control Intelligent Station

Its main components includeTeleconsultation, Remote Quality Control, Tele-education, Research PlatformFour Major Functions.

Figure: Overview of the Four Core Application Functions of Centralized Procurement and Intelligent Control Stations

Compared with ultrasound products on the market, Keyi Intelligence’s Intelligent Station for Centralized Procurement and Control has the following three distinct advantages:

“Ultrasound generates a massive volume of data. Traditionally, this data is stored locally on the machine itself, requiring CD burning or USB drive export for transfer. This approach is not only cumbersome and inefficient but also prone to poor archival practices, resulting in significant data loss. Consequently, many ultrasound examinations are reduced to paper reports containing only textual descriptions; even when a few static images are included, they fail to capture the dynamic nature of the examination,” explained Dr. Guo Lehang. “Furthermore, the market is fragmented, with different products operating in silos. Their workflows, data formats, and subsequent services are tied to specific ultrasound equipment brands, leading to data fragmentation and the formation of information islands.”

Centralized Procurement and Control Smart Stations Have Emerged as the Times Require,Its two primary functions are storage and data management.When paired with this product, traditional ultrasound diagnostic equipment can directly acquire raw patient examination images from the machine via a local station and upload them to the cloud.

Regardless of their location, physicians can log in via computers, smartphones, and other devices to view, process, and share medical images on the cloud. They can also download and batch-process these images directly, breaking through the physical constraints of time and space that once tied doctors to specific machines. This significantly enhances the convenience of data export, ensuring that valuable data no longer lies dormant and gathers dust on isolated devices.

Dr. Guo Lehang believes that traditional ultrasound diagnostic equipment is bulky, often dictating that doctors and patients must go to where the machine is located. This has created an “equipment-centric” paradigm, which constrains diagnostic scenarios and contradicts the spirit of “people-oriented” humanistic care in medicine.

Unlike other similar products on the market that come in a single size, Keyi Smart offers three size options: 4-inch and 7-inch (5G version), 10-inch, and 15-inch. The largest model is comparable in size to a tablet computer. Lightweight and portable, with an intuitive interface, it meets the needs of diverse medical scenarios and physicians.

Leveraging the low latency, high bandwidth, massive connectivity, and high reliability of 5G networks, this product provides technical support for scenarios such as remote and mobile ultrasound consultations, thereby achieving a patient-centric approach. It helps deliver high-quality ultrasound medical services in settings with scarce ultrasound resources, including frontline emergency care, public health emergencies, and remote mountainous areas.

Meanwhile, the product also features ultra-low latency, full imaging compatibility, support for access control and personalized settings, and is equipped with a remote database for intelligent retrieval, significantly enhancing physicians' work efficiency and patients' healthcare experience.

Furthermore, by establishing an AI-assisted diagnostic ecosystem based on a 5G and edge cloud computing environment, this product enables batch intelligent preliminary screening and auxiliary diagnosis for all imaging data. This reduces physicians’ workload, reveals hidden information beyond traditional diagnostic results, and improves diagnostic accuracy.

In addition to the aforementioned features, this product has another hidden highlight: “visible and invisible lines interwoven in a dual-line pattern.”

Dr. Qian Zhebin explained,Currently, the procurement demands of many hospitals lie in the need for both remote capabilities and data management.. This perfectly aligns with the product’s characteristic of “interwoven light and dark threads.”

“The explicit layer” primarily refers to the visible components, encompassing the four major scenarios mentioned above: remote consultations, remote quality control, remote education, and research platforms. The “implicit layer” consists of the underlying, invisible DICOM data, addressing issues related to data management.

Figure: Centralized Procurement and Control Intelligent Substation Director Management Interface

For example, during consultations, doctors gather in a virtual consultation room for interaction. On the surface, this appears to be a video conference; however, it also requires underlying infrastructure support—medical images need specialized data formats for storage and transmission. The same data flows simultaneously along both the visible and invisible channels.

“While remote consultations may appear similar to screen sharing, they entail significant technical complexity and stringent requirements. To meet the needs of specialists, these systems must also enable the timely transmission and reception of raw data generated in real time by ultrasound machines. The system developed by Keyi Intelligence incorporates the transmission and processing of DICOM, a standard format for medical imaging,” explained Dr. Qian Zhebin. “Only with access to raw data can physicians conduct subsequent scientific research and leverage big data development.”

KeYi Intelligence pioneers the organic integration of consultation services with raw data, weaving together visible and invisible insights to address physicians’ data requirements in their daily workflow and the practical needs of remote consultations.

Leveraging its profound understanding of ultrasound and healthcare, advanced concepts, and years of experience in the R&D and operation of the “Intelligent Acquisition and Control Station,” Keyi Intelligent Technology has currently deployedShanghai, Karamay (Xinjiang), Gaoping (Shanxi)three major regional centers, and withShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Ruijin Hospital, Zhoupu Hospital, Gaoping People's Hospital, Wuhan Sixth People's Hospital, Qinghai Fourth People's HospitalWaitCollaboration with 60 tertiary and primary hospitals, relevant departments, and experts across China, jointly establishing an ultrasound technology initiative with clear positioning, leading-edge technology, domestic demonstration value, and international first-class standards.

Figure: Keyi Intelligence, leveraging technologies such as 5G, AI, and cloud computing, is dedicated to the research and development of medical imaging. By collaborating with universities, state-owned enterprises, academic societies, and other organizations, it has co-established numerous medical imaging R&D centers.

Speaking of the future, Chen Zhemeng stated, “Currently, our primary focus is on remote ultrasound and data storage. In the future, we willExpansion in the Digital Ultrasound Sector。”

After four years of stealth development in medical imaging, Keyi Intelligence secured an RMB 8 million angel financing round in July 2019. Currently, Keyi Intelligence’s business model has matured, and Chen Zhemeng hopes that this year the product’sMedical device registration certificates can be approved, and more distributors can be recruited.Expand product markets, whileInitiate a New Round of Financing, dedicated to deepening product development, enhancing technological barriers and added value, assisting hospitals at all levels in filling the gap in ultrasound imaging data management, and facilitating the decentralization of ultrasound medical resources.