Synergy A.I. (CEO Taeyoung Shin) announced its participation in the Future Innovation-tech eXpo 2024 (FIX 2024) at Daegu EXCO from October 23 to 26.
Synergy A.I. was founded to drive disruptive innovation in the AI healthcare market and develop business models based on solving unresolved issues in the medical field.
A company representative explained the background of its founding, saying, “Until now, the driving force behind the digital healthcare market has been AI innovation. However, many companies faced unforeseen difficulties in their domains as business operations progressed. We’ve observed that the issues perceived by company executives and those felt by medical experts differ somewhat.”
The representative added, “In the medical field, for ‘innovation’ to be recognized as a ‘standard,’ there needs to be a process and effort akin to the phases of drug development, accompanied by a validation history. Synergy A.I. was launched with this understanding of the medical industry’s complexities, centered around professors from medical schools.”
Synergy A.I. has developed several AI solutions that cater to real clinical needs, including AI for predicting arrhythmias using electrocardiograms (ECG), AI for automatic charting of medical consultations, and AI for automatic kidney volume calculation.
In particular, the Mac’AI solution uses data from standard 10-second, 12-lead ECG sensors to record biological signals for 10 seconds. This provides the risk probabilities (Sigmoid output) for 27 arrhythmia conditions that require treatment in the form of risk scores. Mac’AI’s AI can predict arrhythmia events up to 14 days in advance.
This is useful in cases where arrhythmias are asymptomatic and go unnoticed when symptoms are present. Still, a diagnosis isn’t made during a hospital visit or when repeated ECG tests fail to detect the condition. By recommending continuous ECG monitoring for high-risk patients, Mac’AI helps maximize the efficiency of specialists in diagnosing arrhythmias.
Mac’AI has been trained using over 320,000 ECG datasets. It analyzes individual heartbeats by breaking down ECG signals and predicts arrhythmia events with an accuracy of 91.7%. This innovation earned Mac’AI the CES 2024 Innovation Award in the “Digital Health” category.
Designated as an innovative medical device by Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Mac’AI has also been registered as a Class II medical device. 11 university hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital, have adopted it. Starting in November, it will be available as a non-reimbursed service through the New Medical Technology Evaluation Deferment Track.
Synergy A.I. will highlight this solution at the exhibition. One of Mac’AI’s main features is its focus on defining “clinically important arrhythmias” (CIA) that require treatment. Predicting all arrhythmias or only specific types without a clear clinical need can lead to inefficiencies, which is why Synergy A.I. designed Mac’AI from the planning stage to identify and prioritize arrhythmias that require treatment. This approach was developed through close communication with cardiology professors to optimize clinical application and ensure cost-effectiveness.
Mac’AI’s high prediction accuracy contributes to early diagnosis, reducing healthcare costs. A company spokesperson stated, “Mac’AI analyzes individual heartbeats using a deep learning model and focuses on suspicious ECG signals. It predicts future arrhythmias based on normal ECGs, achieving 91.7% accuracy. Even leading institutions like the Mayo Clinic have not achieved such high accuracy (Mayo Clinic research reported an AUC of 0.87 and F1 score of 0.392), and their model only predicts atrial fibrillation. Applying such high-performance AI to health checkups can greatly increase the number of early diagnoses, reducing disease management costs by over 50%.”
The spokesperson added, “Currently, no diagnostic solutions predict future arrhythmia events based on ECGs used in clinical settings globally, but Mac’AI has already been introduced to 12 university hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital and Samsung Medical Center. In the future, we plan to expand Mac’AI’s capabilities to predict strokes and heart failure and obtain FDA 510(k) approval for entry into the U.S. market.”
FIX 2024 will feature specialized exhibitions, conferences, and business programs focusing on mobility, robotics, AI, and startups. The Daegu International Future Auto & Mobility Expo 2024 at EXCO’s East Wing will showcase trends in UAM, autonomous driving, batteries, components, and services. Meanwhile, the 2024 ICT Convergence Expo Korea, held in the West Wing, will exhibit AI, big data, blockchain, ICT, and metaverse technologies. The 2024 Daegu Robot Expo will display industrial robots, humanoid robots, and digital transformation solutions for the robotics industry. The “Start-up Arena” will also be newly launched, facilitating meetings between startups and experts from startup accelerators like Samsung C-Lab and Plug and Play.