City University of Hong Kong (CityU) launched Digital Health Asia 2025 (DHA 2025) in partnership with Times Higher Education (THE) and the Institute of Digital Medicine (IDM) on Tuesday, marking the start of a three-day programme aimed at advancing digital healthcare innovation across the region.
The summit is being held from Monday (Sep 8) to Wednesday (Sep 10) at CityU. More than 420 delegates from 17 regions—spanning academia, industry, government, and non-governmental organisations—have gathered to collaborate on cutting-edge digital solutions addressing shifting demographics, growing consumer awareness and demand, and rapid digital innovation.
During the opening ceremony, the CityU team used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create cartoon portraits of the speakers, aligning with the summit’s theme of “AI and Innovation”.
This is the first time the university has hosted the summit series, according to CityU President and University Distinguished Professor Freddy Boey, who thanked THE for its trust in the institution.
He also highlighted that CityU has been named the “Most International University in the World” by THE for two consecutive years.
“Interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative thinking will be key to the future of healthcare development,” said Lim Mei Mei, President for APAC at THE. “This summit provides an ideal platform for promoting global dialogue and cooperation.”
Key themes of the event include strategic digital health partnerships and innovation, AI and data science in healthcare, gerontology, the intersection of biotechnology and digital health, ethics and regulation, and support for digital health entrepreneurship.
The programme features keynote speeches and panel discussions. More than 50 speakers from around the world—including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Middle East—will share their expertise across three major areas: AI and health data, biotechnology and digital health, and collaboration and commercialisation.
Prominent speakers include:
- Professor Michael Yang Mengsu, Senior Vice-President (Innovation & Enterprise), CityU
- Professor Anderson Shum Ho-cheung, Vice-President (Research), CityU
- Professor Sir Mark Welland, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge
- Ambassador George Hara, Group Chairman and CEO, DEFTA Partners
- Professor Dean Ho, Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore
- Professor Kannie Chan Wai-yan, Director of the Hong Kong Centre for Cerebro-cardiovascular Health Engineering (COCHE) and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, CityU
- Professor Sunny Lee, Board Chairman of the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI)
- Professor Juhee Cho, Chair of the Department of Clinical Research Design and Evaluation at the Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology (SKIHST), Sungkyunkwan University
- Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova, Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact, University of Exeter
The summit will also include informal networking sessions to encourage interaction among leaders from diverse backgrounds, professions, and regions.
