Johnson & Johnson Advances Creation of Global Intelligent OR Network in collaboration with Department of Health - Abu Dhabi

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Johnson & Johnson today announced a collaboration with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DOH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi, UAE, launching a global program to develop an open surgical intelligence network— establishing Abu Dhabi as the first node in a global infrastructure designed to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) innovation for every stage of the surgery experience.

Integrating Johnson & Johnson’s Polyphonic™ open digital ecosystem with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and technology partners including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NVIDIA, the initiative is expected to deploy the Polyphonic Surgery application into Abu Dhabi’s intelligent health system to connect operating rooms across the emirate to a surgical intelligence system. Through Polyphonic, relevant procedures contribute high-fidelity video and multimodal data that will be curated, labeled, and continuously flow into a governed infrastructure. Designed to accelerate responsible and trusted AI and compress technology development, the ecosystem will connect insights generated before, during, and after surgery.

The initiative aligns with Johnson & Johnson’s work to shape the future of surgery across open, laparoscopic, and robotic surgery, bringing together deep surgical expertise with the open ecosystem architecture the next era demands.

“Today marks an important step forward for the global community to advance innovation for surgical teams and in service of patients,” said Hani Abouhalka, Company Group Chair, Surgery, MedTech, Johnson & Johnson. “No single company, hospital, or developer can do this alone. We must bring together innovative health systems, technology leaders, clinicians and researchers with a drive to start now and serve the world.”

From Abu Dhabi to Global Surgical AI

Deploying the Polyphonic network at scale across Abu Dhabi supports a first-of-its-kind surgical network in the emirate. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, PureHealth, Mediclinic Group, and NMC Healthcare will deploy Polyphonic across operating rooms. Participating hospitals will use the Polyphonic Surgery solution, capturing surgical video, enabling real-time collaboration, and supporting structured case review, peer consultation, and case efficiency. As teams integrate these tools into routine care, each case will add to a structured, anonymized surgical dataset that will establish an approved source for AI development in surgical care — beginning in Abu Dhabi and in the future extending globally.

This builds on Abu Dhabi’s rapidly advancing intelligent health system of AI-enabled infrastructure, assembling the conditions for AI to scale in surgery: a coordinated network of hospitals, government institutions, academic partners, research organizations, and technology leaders, working within a single foundation where data can be responsibly aggregated, models validated, and improvements scaled from one operating room to many.

“This program builds on Abu Dhabi’s intelligent health system, where clinical care, data, AI and research are connected to deliver impact at scale,” H.E. Dr. Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, said. “By extending the intelligent OR network across hospitals, we are standardizing capabilities, enabling shared intelligence, and creating a continuous learning system where every procedure has the potential to improve the next. Moving from individual advancements to system-wide progress for patients globally.”

“Working with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and their integrated health ecosystem has helped us to accelerate the pathway of building the first node of a global surgical network,” said Shan Jegatheeswaran, Global President, Polyphonic, MedTech, Johnson & Johnson. “We are already seeing that same spirit in other health authorities, hospital leaders, academic institutions, and technology partners joining this ecosystem. Our role is to create the conditions for the leading minds in medicine, technology, and research to do their best work together in service of better outcomes for patients, everywhere.”

About Polyphonic™

Polyphonic™ is Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s open ecosystem, created to harness the power of digital technology, activate AI-driven innovation, and connect surgical minds worldwide. Polyphonic Surgery empowers surgeons and multidisciplinary teams to leverage video and telepresence for collective review, peer assessment, and streamlined information in one convenient platform. Beneath these solutions sits a governed data platform creating the foundation designed for the development of next generation surgical AI. Built to work across surgical environments, Polyphonic is designed to grow through native development, technology partnerships, and collaborations with innovators shaping the future of surgery.

Surgical Solutions from Johnson & Johnson MedTech

Across Johnson & Johnson, we are tackling the world’s most complex and pervasive health challenges. For over 100 years, we have helped advance surgical care through our innovative portfolio across wound closure, adjunctive hemostats, surgical stapling and instruments, robotics and digital solutions. Together, with clinicians and healthcare experts around the world we are progressing what’s next in surgery to better solve patient needs in metabolic and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and aesthetics and reconstruction.

About Johnson & Johnson

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more about our MedTech sector’s global scale and deep expertise in cardiovascular, orthopaedics, surgery and vision solutions at https://www.jnjmedtech.com/en-US. Follow us at @JNJMedTech and on LinkedIn.

Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 related to Polyphonic. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the potential that the expected benefits and opportunities related to the collaboration may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected; challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development, including the uncertainty of clinical success and of obtaining regulatory approvals; uncertainty of commercial success; manufacturing difficulties and delays; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges to patents; product efficacy or safety concerns resulting in product recalls or regulatory action; changes in behavior and spending patterns of purchasers of health care products and services; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including global health care reforms; and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, including in the sections captioned “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” and in Johnson & Johnson’s subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com, www.investor.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521559549/en/