Google has opened a new AI research hub in Singapore and struck a string of healthcare partnerships, deepening the National AI Partnership it signed with the Singapore government in May. The announcements came at Google’s inaugural Google for Health Summit, held in Singapore and attended by Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, and for Health, as guest of honour.
Key Takeaways
- Google Research is opening a new Singapore hub focused on frontier AI efficiency, working with NUS and NTU to develop local scientific talent.
- Google DeepMind is partnering with the National University Health System to trial its AI co-clinician as a decision-support tool for doctors.
- Google Cloud and NHG Health are building a predictive population health programme, backed by an AI-enabled Health Coach on the NHG HealthBot.
A new research hub, and funding for disease surveillance
Google Research is setting up a local team of research scientists and software engineers in Singapore, focused on frontier AI efficiency and on partnering with the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University to develop local scientific talent. The hub will also scale Google’s existing health research work in the country, including applying open models such as MedGemma to frontline care settings so local healthcare providers can build their own solutions while keeping data within the country.
Separately, Google.org and Google DeepMind have joined the Philanthropy Asia Alliance’s Health for Human Potential Coalition with a US$7 million funding contribution. Of that, US$1 million from the Alliance will support PathGen, an AI-enabled public health intelligence platform built through the Asia Pathogen Genomics Initiative that helps countries detect and respond to communicable disease threats while keeping genomic data within national borders.
“Singapore brings together world-class research institutions, a forward-looking national AI strategy and a healthcare system ready to put AI to work. Our new Google Research team here will focus on making frontier AI more efficient and easier to deploy, while partnering with academia to nurture the next generation of scientific leaders.”
Dr Yossi Matias, Vice President, Google, and General Manager, Google Research
Testing an AI co-clinician with doctors
Google DeepMind is working with the National University Health System to begin trusted-tester evaluations of its AI co-clinician, part of a global research initiative exploring how AI can support clinicians rather than replace their judgment. In this trial, the tool acts as a decision-support system in routine outpatient practice, helping doctors with clinical queries by drawing on existing guidelines and medical literature. Independent clinicians will assess the accuracy, safety and usefulness of its responses against established clinical criteria before any wider rollout is considered.
Training healthcare workers, and predicting health risks at scale
Google is also expanding its Career Certificates portfolio with a new Google AI for Healthcare Professionals Certificate, an online programme to help healthcare workers use AI for administrative tasks and ongoing learning, rolled out through Google’s existing scholarship partners.
At a larger scale, Google Cloud and NHG Health are building a Population Health Digital Transformation Programme around two linked pieces: a predictive model that combines NHG Health’s de-identified population data with Google’s geospatial tools to flag health risks such as chronic disease and frailty at a granular level, and an AI-enabled Health Coach running on the NHG HealthBot through Google’s Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience platform. The coach will initially focus on two use cases, screening uptake and frailty prevention, with continuous anonymised interactions meant to refine the underlying models over time.
“By bringing data and intelligence together, we can better understand the individual residents behind the data, reach them earlier, and turn every interaction into a personalised and targeted opportunity to help residents in Central and North Singapore take charge of their health with good outcomes.”
Professor Joe Sim, Group CEO, NHG Health
Ben King, Country Managing Director of Google Singapore, said the collaboration pairs Google’s technical expertise with Singapore’s health institutions and talent base, with the aim of scaling what works in Singapore to other markets. The announcements build on earlier Google initiatives in the country, including a running-guidance agent developed with SGEnable for blind and low-vision runners, a precision nutrition programme with healthtech startup AMILI, and the expansion of its Debug facility to support the National Environment Agency’s mosquito-control efforts under Project Wolbachia.
