India-Made AI Healthcare Solutions Poised to Reform Global Models: Philips CEO

He added that AI must operate within evolving regulatory frameworks, with innovation and governance advancing together to ensure adoption.

India is emerging as a global innovation engine, and AI solutions built for healthcare in the country have the potential to reform global care models, Royal Philips CEO Roy Jakobs said.

Speaking at the AI India Summit, Jakobs said, "Artificial Intelligence will have the biggest impact on the healthcare sector, in which India represents a remarkable opportunity, standing at the intersection of skill, digital infrastructure and ambition."

India's digital initiatives, including Ayushman Bharat and the Digital Mission, are laying the foundation for interoperable health records and longitudinal patient data. Jakobs highlighted the importance of these developments, stating, "The foundation for big data play, unique health ideas and digital registries creates the possibility for the continuity of care for a population at scale. This matters enormously."

He added that healthcare is shifting "from reactive to predictive, from fragmented to connected, from episodic to continuous," and that the systems being built today will shape the health of billions tomorrow.

Jakobs further emphasized the role of structured, high-quality, longitudinal data for AI systems, noting, "India's real-world complexity at scale - spanning urban and rural settings, public and private systems - are unparalleled testbed for resilient solutions."

"Solutions built for India's scale and constraints have the potential to inform global models of care. And at Philips, we see India as a global innovation engine," he said.

Royal Philips, which has been present in India for 97 years, has invested heavily in research and development, manufacturing, digital platforms, AI engineering, and clinical collaboration through its Bengaluru and Pune innovation centres.

Jakobs noted, "The work done here does not stay here alone. It shapes solutions deployed around the world. For example, AI algorithms developed and validated with diverse data sets here improve robustness across geographies."

He also pointed to clinical workflow solutions co-created with Indian partners as examples of designs that can scale globally, aligning with the Prime Minister’s vision.

Addressing global healthcare pressures, Jakobs said that rising demand, chronic diseases, stretched workforces, and high patient expectations will accelerate AI adoption. However, he stressed, "We must be clear about one thing. Healthcare runs on trust. AI in healthcare needs to be transparent. It must be validated continuously, not approved just once."

He added that AI must operate within evolving regulatory frameworks, with innovation and governance advancing together to ensure adoption. "If they move at different speeds, trust erodes, and if they move in alignment, adoption accelerates," he said.

Jakobs concluded by emphasizing the need for clarity among clinicians, patients, and regulators: "Clinicians need to understand how systems arrive at their recommendations. Patients need to know how their data is protected. And regulators need confidence that safety and efficacy is rigorously monitored all the time."

Philips currently operates two R&D centres in India: the Healthcare Innovation Centre (HIC) in Pune and an innovation campus in Bengaluru.

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