SAP and Fresenius are teaming up to create a new AI platform designed specifically for healthcare. This platform focuses on keeping patient data secure and under control, addressing concerns about data privacy and governance that often come with public cloud solutions. The goal is to give hospitals a safe environment to develop and run AI tools without risking data sovereignty.

Building a Sovereign Healthcare AI Ecosystem

The project aims to develop an open, integrated system that hospitals can use to deploy AI safely. Instead of running small, isolated experiments, the companies want to establish a digital backbone for a healthcare system supported by AI. This approach helps move AI projects from simple pilots to full-scale operations that improve patient care.

Michael Sen, CEO of Fresenius, explained that this collaboration can accelerate digital transformation across European healthcare systems. He emphasized that the platform will make data and AI tools more secure, simple, and scalable for medical teams. This, in turn, allows healthcare providers to focus more on caring for patients rather than managing complex technology.

Technical Foundations and Data Integration

The platform is built on SAP’s Business AI and Business Data Cloud, which together create a compliant and sovereign environment for healthcare AI. This infrastructure ensures health data is handled responsibly, meeting strict regulations needed to support automated patient care processes at scale.

One key challenge the platform addresses is data fragmentation across hospitals. SAP’s “AnyEMR” strategy supports integrating different hospital information systems (HIS). Using open standards like HL7 FHIR, the platform connects electronic medical records (EMRs) and other medical applications, creating a seamless data flow that helps hospitals develop more efficient AI-powered solutions.

This connectivity aims to build a scalable, personalized platform that enables connected and data-driven healthcare workflows, ultimately improving the quality and speed of patient care.

Investing in the Future of Healthcare AI

Both SAP and Fresenius plan to invest hundreds of millions of euros over the coming years. The investment will focus on transforming healthcare systems in Germany and across Europe using AI-supported solutions. Part of this strategy includes investing in startups and scaleups to expand the range of tools available on the sovereign platform.

Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, highlighted that combining SAP’s technology with Fresenius’ healthcare expertise can set new standards for data security and interoperability. He believes this partnership will help unlock the full potential of digital and AI tools to improve patient care and create a more resilient healthcare infrastructure.

This initiative signals a shift toward sovereign infrastructure in European healthcare AI. As industries like healthcare prioritize data control and security, this partnership aims to lead the way in building trusted, scalable AI solutions that benefit patients and providers alike.

Inspired by

• https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news/sap-and-fresenius-build-sovereign-ai-backbone-for-healthcare/

Sources

• sap.com
• fresenius.com