NHN (181710.KS) announced Thursday that it has signed a business agreement with its senior care subsidiary NHN WaFlat and digital healthcare company Healthmax to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) smart home care system.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has been promoting the 'AX-Sprint' (AI Application Product Rapid Commercialization Support) project to realize the core principle of the Integrated Care Support Act, implemented in March, which aims to enable "healthy aging in one's own home" through AI technology. The 'AI Smart Home Care' component of this project involves building a platform that combines various smart devices and AI technology in the actual living environments of care recipients to provide 24-hour life-integrated support for independent living. The three companies have pooled their capabilities to align with the government's 'AI Smart Home Care' policy.
Under the agreement, NHN will provide high-performance AI infrastructure capable of processing vast amounts of health and care data. NHN has experience operating national AI data centers and was selected as the largest contractor in the government's GPU procurement project last year.
NHN WaFlat plans to provide its 'WaFlat AI Life Support Worker' service. The 'WaFlat AI Life Support Worker' is a smartphone-based care platform that integrates safety monitoring, well-being checks, health management, daily living support, and emotional care for elderly users. Using AI human technology, the service replicates the user experience of conversing with an actual female life support worker in her 50s from a real care setting, achieving a 98% app usage rate among elderly users with an average age of 77.2 years. Through this function, the system monitors seven major risk factors for elderly individuals and summarizes results for delivery to care workers.
Healthmax will provide digital healthcare devices capable of measuring over 34 types of health and lifestyle data including blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, along with its AI-based health analysis and coaching service 'Biogram.' Healthmax operates prevention-focused healthcare services based on health data measurement and has provided services across various sectors including local governments such as Seoul, Changwon, and Gimhae, as well as companies like Samsung Electronics and Lotte Engineering & Construction, public institutions, and welfare facilities.
"This agreement marks an important starting point for expanding Healthmax's accumulated digital healthcare and health management device and platform capabilities into the AI-based smart home care ecosystem," said Lee Sang-ho, CEO of Healthmax. "By combining Healthmax's health management devices and data-based customized health management services with NHN's AI smart home integrated care platform, we expect to implement a practical and proactive prevention, management, and coordinated customized care model that goes beyond simple monitoring."
"We will continue to collaborate with companies possessing specialized capabilities to develop care models that align with the Ministry of Health and Welfare's policy direction, and strive to build Korea's care infrastructure in response to the super-aged society," said Hwang Sun-young, Director of NHN's Legal Policy Group and CEO of NHN WaFlat.
