Johnson & Johnson launches AI fund to advance surgical innovation

Editor's Note

Johnson & Johnson MedTech has launched the Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence solutions aimed at improving surgical care before, during, and after procedures. According to the company’s June 25 announcement, the initiative brings together key partners, including NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services (AWS), to support innovation in areas such as AI model development, data engineering, and responsible AI governance.

According to the announcement, one of the fund’s initial initiatives will be a QuickFire Challenge that will provide funding to selected awardees—ranging from startups to academic institutions—working on AI-powered surgical technologies. According to the announcement, awardees will have access to resources the company and its partners, including mentorship, developer workshops, and exposure to proprietary technologies.

The fund builds on previous collaboration between Johnson & Johnson MedTech and NVIDIA to enhance secure, real-time surgical data analysis through the Polyphonic Digital Ecosystem, launched last year. Challenges to address include data privacy, surgical training, automation of data enrichment, and R&D efficiency. The collaboration also will include to create annotated datasets, promote collaborative AI model development, and establish governance for surgical video data science. 

The Polyphonic ecosystem is reportedly in early access at select hospitals.