• Alibaba Cloud to provide infrastructure support and technological expertise (cloud credits and mentorship) to startups selected under this alliance.

• Fintech Academy to galvanize industry experts and academia to drive innovation and growth through talent development and venture building in support of innovators’ journeys.

• Pfizer to provide in-depth understanding of patient journey and healthcare systems across Asia Pacific and bring expertise with its scientific and commercialization knowledge for startups.

SINGAPORE, July 6, 2020 — Alibaba Cloud, Fintech Academy and Pfizer announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) leading to the formation of a Healthcare Fintech Alliance (HFA) to catalyze transformation across Asia Pacific’s healthtech and fintech sectors.

The HFA will establish a Southeast Asia (SEA) Centre of Innovation in Singapore that aims to create a healthcare technological ecosystem to support startups and research centre in the region to provide scientific and technological expertise through incubator support, training content and incentive programs.

The alliance is set to spur the development of tech-driven innovations in the region, with Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam piloting this initiative, before its expansion to Malaysia and Philippines (subject to compliances of local legal regulations). By sharing innovation best practices with local startups and businesses, HFA seeks to cement Singapore’s position as Asia’s digital capital by providing local organizations with a testbed where they can experiment, prototype and commercialize products and solutions for the region, with the right partners in funding, mentoring and networking.

Under this partnership, Alibaba Cloud will provide cloud credits and mentorship to healthcare and fintech startups helping them harness the power of AI, Cloud and other digital technologies to meet current and future business needs. Fintech Academy will help identify and train startups through a venture building program and will provide talent management support for business operations and project execution, with academic. Pfizer, with its ‘go-to-market’ commercialization experience, will provide thought leadership to address barriers around affordability and accessibility through its established network with healthcare professionals and key opinion leaders.



Key Focus Areas of HFA
 

• Solutions to address Affordability, that can utilize micro-financing and other financial models between patients, family members, payers, insurers and other healthcare stakeholders.

• Value Based Agreements, that can link payment schemes between healthcare stakeholders or patients to a drug’s effectiveness, health outcomes or utilization.

• Digital therapeutics, driven by a software to prevent, manage or treat a physical, mental or behavioral condition.

• Outcome Monitoring by tracking and reporting of outcomes derived directly from patients, remote devices, healthcare providers, R&D databases and real world evidence.

• Population Health by leveraging and managing patients’ medical records and associated data and insights using new technological tools in a compliant way to better understand population health characteristics, so as to keep people healthy and drive down costs in a coordinated manner.

• Personalized Healthcare by digital healthcare solutions or products tailored to the individual needs of patients.

• Drive adoption rate of innovative health technologies devices, e.g. diagnostic tools to address medicine access and reimbursement obstacles in the current healthcare landscape.

“As Singapore continues to build for the future to maintain its competitive edge as the region’s innovation powerhouse, it is critical for local start-ups to take advantage of emerging technologies to drive transformation for the healthcare sector. The ability to harness the collective resources that HFA is providing will help them make their mark on the global stage.” said Derek Wang, General Manager, Alibaba Cloud in Singapore.

Dr Lillian Koh, Founder of Fintech Academy said, “We are excited to be involved in empowering  innovators by bridging them to academia and industry experts in technology translation for addressing real healthcare issues in impacting beneficiaries' journeys. This Alliance will drive collaboration and scholarship among the finance, health, and digital technology sectors through the network. This could reap positive outcomes as we journey with them to provide the necessary access to mentors and funding.”

“Pfizer’s purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. We understand  the importance of building on collective expertise to strengthen healthcare ecosystems and communities enabled by technology and backed by financial knowledge. The formation of this Alliance is a clear demonstration of Pfizer’s commitment in Asia emerging markets to leverage synergies between cloud technology, financial capabilities and pharmaceutical expertise so as to be patient-centric in fulfilling healthcare needs.” said Enver Erkan, Country Manager, Pfizer Singapore.



About Alibaba Cloud

Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com), the data intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, is among the world’s top three IaaS providers, according to Gartner. It is also the largest provider of public cloud services in China, according to IDC. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to businesses worldwide, including merchants doing business on Alibaba Group marketplaces, start-ups, corporations and public services. Alibaba Cloud is the official Cloud Services Partner of the International Olympic Committee.

 

Fintech Academy: Building a Culture of Lifelong Learning and Professional Excellence.

Fintech Academy (FTA) is incorporated in Singapore for spearheading talent development programmes ranging from financial and fintech literacy awareness to deep dive fintech engineering courses with experts from the industry. FTA works closely with professional bodies, polytechnics and universities. Besides our universities in Singapore and overseas, FTA collaborates with international organizations like ACCA, CPA Australia, ICAEW, Prudential and Pearson and institutes of Higher Learning like Nanyang Technological University (NTU), SUSS, NUS and PSB Academy. FTA  is committed to reliable and efficient professional development services to develop human capital. FTA will continue to curate innovative education programmes by integrating learning, industry and community so as to heighten fintech literacy awareness.



Pfizer Inc.: Breakthroughs That Change Patients’ Lives

At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products, including innovative medicines and vaccines. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 150 years, we have worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.Pfizer.com. In addition, to learn more, please visit us on www.Pfizer.com and follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer and @Pfizer News, LinkedIn, YouTube and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer.