Big tech meets big pharma in a collaboration between Johnson & Johnson Medical Device Companies (JJMDC) and Microsoft. The deal will be focused on expanding JJMDC's digital surgery ecosystem by employing Microsoft's Cloud. According to Microsoft, JJMDC will use its Azure product to develop a dashboard to monitor its digital surgery ecosystem. 

The platform could help personalize surgical care by using AI, machine learning and data, according to the Microsoft release.

The partners specify that Microsoft Cloud will give JJMDC additional resources in machine learning and data insights, improve connectivity and intelligence using Azure IoT and Edge computing tech, and help increase the rate of development of its digital ecosystem. JJMDC will be able to tap into Microsoft Cloud's AI tools on Azure, as well as Microsoft 365 and Dynamic 365.

WHY IT MATTERS

The med tech space is increasingly integrating digital capabilities. According to the release, the partnership is intended to help increase connectivity between health stakeholders and improve surgical workflows. 

“Collaborating with Microsoft will help take our digital approach to the next level as we create a best-in-class, unified platform across our innovative surgical technologies,” Larry Jones, group CIO and global vice president for medical devices at Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement. “It brings together our collective expertise and is an exciting step towards creating a connected patient journey across the entire care continuum, before, during and after a procedure.”

THE LARGER TREND

Microsoft has been involved in the healthcare space for some time. In fact, in August Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare announced it was expanding its portfolio of data services for the healthcare and life sciences industries. This came roughly two years after Microsoft launched its Azure API for FHIR to help health system and medical device startups to move their data to the cloud.

Microsoft has worked in the surgical space before too. Over the summer, U.K.-based CMR Surgical announced a collaboration with Microsoft on a proof of concept data storage effort.