Hospital Authority Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation will be co-launching a data collaboration lab to provide access to a sizeable clinical database for non-academic biomedical and healthcare research and development. 

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

According to a press statement, the upcoming laboratory at the Hong Kong Science Park will enable direct exclusive access to the HA Self-service Data Platform, which holds anonymous clinical records from around 200,000 patients randomly selected between 2007-2017. The database includes patients' demographic characteristics, attendance records to hospitals and clinics, clinical diagnoses, procedures, medication records, and laboratory and radiology examination results.

Following a pilot run, the HKSTP HA Data Collaboration Lab will officially open sometime this October and start accepting applications for five-day data access from 1,400 HKSTP companies, especially biotech and healthcare companies and their partners and researchers. 

To maintain the database's security and privacy, HKSTP has put stringent measures in place, including surveillance systems and a dedicated room for data access. The database has been isolated from the internet while downloading, saving, or printing data has been disabled. The company has also formed two committees that will ensure compliance with data protection and privacy and clinical research ethics.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

The HKSTP HA Data Collaboration Lab was created in response to the Hong Kong chief executive's Policy Address in 2021, which tasked both HA and HKSTP to promote better collaboration and data sharing among the R&D and healthcare sectors. Until today, access to the HA Self-service Data Platform was only intended for academic research and publications at a few secure locations.

In other related news, the HKSTP also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hong Kong Department of Health to work on "innovative solutions" to accelerate the digitisation of the department's public health functions. They intend to focus on developing solutions to support smart clinics and data collaboration, among other identified areas of partnership. 

ON THE RECORD

"This is a big moment in our mission to accelerate healthcare transformation and elevate Hong Kong’s healthcare capacity and quality at all levels," HA chief executive Dr Tony Ko said about the launch of the HKSTP HA Data Collaboration Lab. 

"Seamless data collaboration among hospitals, academia, and the industry will fuel Hong Kong’s healthcare transformation and digital economy ambitions," HKSTP CEO Albert Wong also commented.