PwC: The Middle East is uniquely positioned to become a global centre of excellence for AI research and development; the public is ready but more needs to be done at the business level

Sunday 13 January 2019
Dubai - MENA Herald:

PwC launched today its latest report on healthcare transformation:  From Virtual to Reality: Six imperatives for becoming an AI-ready healthcare business - drawing on learnings and examples from global and regional use cases of AI implementation across 6 areas: Leadership & Culture, Workforce Transformation, Clinical Effectiveness, Commercial Investment, Public Readiness and Regulation, Ethics and Confidentiality.

With regulators actively working on developing governance and regulatory frameworks that can facilitate the application and implementation of AI for healthcare businesses, PwC’s view is that the Middle East is in a unique position to lead the development of international standards and become a hub for AI research and development. From Virtual to Reality looks at the key enablers and challenges for healthcare innovation, highlighting the ways in which the industry is adopting AI, both globally and across the Middle East. It also explores the necessary components to successfully enable an AI-powered healthcare environment.

Commenting on the report launch Hamish Clark, Partner and Middle East Health Industries Consulting Leader at PwC said “AI has the potential to revolutionize every aspect of the healthcare sector, with digital transformation and AI at the forefront of regional government’s strategic plans and on the agenda of healthcare leaders in the GCC. The economic benefits are clear and the technology is already here in our everyday lives. However, there is a significant implementation challenge which requires new skills and strong leadership. Disruption to traditional healthcare delivery models is happening at pace now. Who will succeed in this Digital age in the Middle East?”

Hamish Clark added:“In 2017, as part of our What Doctor? report, we explored how willing people were to engage with AI for their healthcare needs and what might encourage them to broadly adopt such solutions. Our survey revealed there is not only an increasing willingness for AI integration across healthcare in the Middle East, but that this willingness is comparably higher than in many other parts of the world.”

The public’s attitude towards AI raises new questions for healthcare industry leaders. Given their readiness to embrace this new wave of technology, what are business leaders doing about it? With this question in mind we reached out to over 160 healthcare leaders in both the public and the private sectors across Europe and the Middle East to understand three things:

  • The impact business leaders believe AI will have on their business over the next 5 to 10 years;
  • Their readiness to embrace AI and whether they are preparing their business for this change;
  • And the key challenges and enablers for implementing AI services and solutions within their organisations.

Our findings suggest that many businesses across Europe and the Middle East are only at the beginning of AI implementation for their organisations. In particular, in the Middle East we found a large gap (approximately 50%) between public readiness and business readiness and adoption.

Almost two thirds of the business leaders who participated in our research in the Middle East believe that AI will have a major impact on their business over the next 10 years, yet fewer than 10% have started doing something about it, falling far behind European respondents.

Using this as a basis for our publication, we cut through the haze by defining six imperatives healthcare leaders need to consider to be successful in their transition into an AI-powered, innovative, healthcare organisation. These imperatives cover Leadership and Culture; Workforce transformation; Clinical effectiveness; Commercial investment; Public readiness; and Regulation, ethics and confidentiality - all of which the report outlines at length, while providing international case studies, and practical steps to set business in the right direction. There is also a greater need for collaboration and partnerships between different players in this sphere.

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