The Daejeon International Marketing Enterprise (DIME; President Ko, Kyung Kon) launched the Daejeon Healthcare Business Association, comprised of medical institutions, bio and healthcare enterprises and other relevant enterprises as members, with the aim of improving preparedness for changes in the global healthcare industry and promoting cooperation among medical institutions and enterprises to create a strong foundation for digital healthcare. The organization then hosted the 1st Digital Healthcare Forum on May 26, 2021.

The Daejeon Healthcare Business Association, originally a working-level council body consisting of medical institutions as members, eased the membership eligibility criteria to invite bio and healthcare enterprises and other relevant institutions to participate. Dr. Yun Hwan-jung, President of Chungnam National University Hospital, was appointed as the first President of the Daejeon Healthcare Business Association, and there are plans to power digital transformation in the healthcare industry and build a cooperative governance system for sustainable operation of the organization.

At the forum, Dr. Lee Seung-bok, Professor of Medicine from Seoul National University Hospital, gave a presentation titled “Digital Healthcare: Opportunities and Changes.” He explained the paradigm shift in the healthcare sector to platform-based personalized medical services incorporated with big data and ICT and emphasized the need to provide services that enable the use of personal health data.

DIME explained the telemedicine platform development project that it is working on with Daejeon Metropolitan City and Sun Healthcare International and shared the progress of developing the platform to provide local foreigners with information on medical institutions, improve accessibility through chat and consultation services, and offer follow-up management services to patients visiting from abroad.

A participant from a medical institution said, “There are great expectations for the platform that can be used to promote the healthcare infrastructure and services available to foreigners living in Daejeon, and the convenience provided to foreign users of the local healthcare services is expected to attract additional customers in the future.”

The Daejeon International Marketing Enterprise (DIME; President Ko, Kyung Kon) said, “I hope that the Daejeon Healthcare Business Association serves as a communication channel and a place to share knowledge for medical institutions and enterprises and that diverse collaborative projects can be discovered and implemented to spearhead the transition to digital healthcare,” and added, “We will make an even greater effort to draw participation from ICT companies, AI companies, and financial investors.”