(Yicai Global) Sept. 20 -- Shanghai will be the cradle for artificial intelligence and healthcare industry integration, a city health official said yesterday.

Wu Jinglei, director of Shanghai Municipal Health and Family Planning  Commission made these comments yesterday at a themed sub-forum of the 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference underway in the city from Sept. 17 to today.

"The significance of developing AI in Shanghai has three facets. First, the platform advantage, since Shanghai boasts China's largest scale of healthcare services, has a strong scientific research basis, and has amassed a comprehensive and consummated system of healthcare data which offers a sound foundation for AI services," Wu Said.

"Second, Shanghai enjoys a high level of internationalization with an innovation service foundation which gathers mainstream medical information and internet companies, has large sums of cash and numerous talents, and has technological strength in imaging, micro-invasive surgery, information, medicine and other areas," he added.

"Third, Shanghai has many outstanding electronic and smart medical equipment makers, and these will lay the foundation for AI research and development, platform construction and data-sharing," Wu said.

The most important task for Shanghai now is to devise standards and enact laws and regulations after AI has become embedded in the healthcare sector, he added.

Officials must encourage medical workers to study with AI researchers resolving the problem of the pain and difficulty of healthcare services, Wu added.

Editor: Ben Armour