MedTech World Magazine: From HKUST Lab to the world stage

Artificial intelligence is transforming industries worldwide, but few sectors stand to benefit more than healthcare. Born out of research at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), SmartCare is emerging as a powerful example of how AI can address one of medicine’s most persistent challenges: giving clinicians more time to focus on patients.

Medtech World’s Duncan Barry speaks with SmartCare CEO Justin Cheng about the company’s journey from a research initiative at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to a pioneering AI-driven platform transforming patient-centred care, reducing clinicians’ administrative burden, and reshaping the healthcare experience.

The inspiration behind SmartCare came from a simple yet widespread problem. Researchers at HKUST’s Smart Lab observed that clinicians were spending a significant portion of their working hours completing documentation rather than delivering care. Across both public and private healthcare settings, doctors often stayed late to finish clinical notes, contributing to burnout and reducing valuable patient interaction time.

At the same time, advances in large language models (LLMs) were opening new possibilities. Rather than treating AI as a technological novelty, the SmartCare team saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between what AI could achieve and what was actually being deployed in healthcare environments.

Today, SmartCare supports the entire patient journey through an integrated AI-powered workflow. The process begins before a patient even meets a doctor. SmartTriage helps frontline staff assess symptoms and direct patients to the appropriate level of care, reducing waiting times and easing pressure on emergency departments.

Once the consultation begins, SmartConsult listens in real time, extracting key clinical information from conversations involving multiple participants and languages. By the end of the appointment, SmartDoc automatically generates a structured clinical record with more than 97 per cent accuracy, ready for clinician review and approval.

Supporting these tools is SmartChat, a conversational assistant that allows clinicians to quickly summarise medical histories, review treatment guidelines, and retrieve relevant patient records. Together, these technologies create a seamless workflow from patient admission through to medical record completion.

At the heart of the platform is MedDr, one of SmartCare’s core medical large language models. Trained on extensive multimodel medical data, MedDr uses the company’s GSCo framework to combine its own reasoning with specialist diagnostic models and comparable historical cases. This enables the system to identify inconsistencies, surface relevant clinical guidelines, and suggest differential diagnoses with both breadth and precision.

Importantly, SmartCare’s success has been driven by clinician trust. Feedback from healthcare professionals has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly regarding the accuracy of its documentation capabilities. Clinicians report significant reductions in time spent correcting consultation notes, while pathologists have noted that the platform achieves significant accuracy in recognising medical terminology. The result is improved efficiency, reduced administrative burden, and more meaningful patient engagement.
Beyond clinical practice, SmartCare is also helping shape the future of medical education through its collaboration with the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine. Using virtual patients powered by the same AI technology, trainees can safely practise managing rare and complex cases that they may not encounter during routine clinical training.

The platform also addresses challenges of cost and accessibility. Unlike traditional standardised patient programmes, virtual patient training can be conducted anytime and anywhere, making repeated practice more affordable and scalable. Reflecting Hong Kong’s multilingual healthcare environment, these virtual patients can communicate in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, helping trainees develop both clinical and communication skills.

Despite its advanced capabilities, SmartCare’s developers are clear about one principle: AI should enhance clinical judgment, not replace it. Every recommendation, whether a triage suggestion, drafted note, or diagnostic insight, is presented as a recommendation for review, modification, or rejection by a healthcare professional.

The company describes its philosophy as “co-pilot, not autopilot.” Transparency and human oversight remain central to the platform’s design, ensuring clinicians understand the reasoning behind AI-generated suggestions and retain full responsibility for patient care.

With its world-class research institutions, multilingual clinical environment, and strong healthcare infrastructure, Hong Kong has provided the ideal testing ground for innovation.

For SmartCare, the journey from an HKUST research lab to international healthcare markets reflects a broader story about Hong Kong’s growing role in global health technology. As healthcare systems worldwide search for ways to improve efficiency without compromising quality, SmartCare demonstrates how AI can empower clinicians, enhance patient experiences, and help shape the future of medicine.

If you have a story to tell or an insight to share, we’d love to hear from you for a future edition of the magazine.

Up next: MedTech World Europe 2026 | Malta

MedTech World returns to Malta for MedTech World Europe 2026, its biggest edition yet. Taking place from 11-13 November 2026, MedTech Malta Week expands the traditional conference into a five-day experience across Malta and Gozo, bringing together investors, founders, healthcare leaders, innovators, and industry experts from across the global MedTech ecosystem.

The week opens with the MedTech World Investors Retreat in Gozo from 9–11 November, offering accredited investors and senior industry leaders an exclusive setting for strategic conversations, networking, workshops, and curated experiences. The programme then moves to Malta for a cultural immersion day in Valletta and Mdina on 11 November, before the main MedTech World Europe conference takes place from 11 to 13 November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.

Throughout the conference, attendees can expect keynote sessions, panel discussions, workshops, company showcases, investor meetings, an exhibition floor, and the MedTech World Startup Pitch Competition, followed by the MedTech World Gala Awards, honoring achievements across the global MedTech ecosystem.

Interested in being part of the biggest MedTech World Europe yet? Book your ticket now.