SEOUL, KOREA - SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) announced that today it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Somalogic, a privately held protein biomarker discovery and clinical diagnostics company in the U.S., to cooperate in the development of healthcare technologies and business.
Under the MOU, SK Telecom and Somalogic will jointly conduct research and development activities in the fields of diagnostics and bioinformatics, and seek new business models.
SK Telecom said that the MOU with Somalogic, a high-tech company with core and original healthcare technologies, will serve as a strong basis for the company to secure competitiveness in the global healthcare market.
Byun Jae-woan, CTO of SK Telecom said, “We expect to create valuable opportunities in the healthcare business by combining our ICT capabilities and Somalogic’s strength in bio technology. Going forward, we plan to develop attractive ICT convergence services in diverse areas related to healthcare and make aggressive efforts to expand our global reach with these services.”
Meanwhile, SK Telecom has been laying a solid foundation to create long-term business opportunities in the healthcare business by acquiring stakes in NanoEntek in 2011 and X’ian Tianlong Science and Technology Co. Ltd., a Chinese medical device manufacturer in 2012.
Moreover, in 2012, the company established HealthConnect, a joint venture with Seoul National University Hospital, to combine ICT with medical services to build new healthcare models. In particular, HealthConnect has commercialized Health-On, a smart health management service, in March 2013, and applied Smart Hospital, the world’s first mobile-and ICT-based hospital solution, in April.
