REDMOND (dpa-AFX) - The Ohio State University and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) announced a five-year partnership to advance healthcare, research and education through artificial intelligence and cloud technologies.
The collaboration aims to strengthen patient care, accelerate scientific discovery, support the healthcare workforce and expand opportunities for students and communities across Ohio.
The partnership will focus on developing a smart hospital model, modernizing clinical and research workloads through the cloud, building a unified data foundation, and applying AI to support clinicians, care teams and researchers.
The smart hospital platform, co-developed by Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and Microsoft and powered by Microsoft Azure and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, is already in use at the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital and the James Outpatient Care facility. Ohio State Wexner Medical Center plans to extend the platform to additional healthcare facilities.
The organizations also aim to move approximately 70% to 80% of Ohio State's storage and computing workloads to Microsoft Azure, including digital pathology and imaging workloads. The medical center is also moving its electronic health record system to Azure as a backup to support business continuity.
In addition, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center is developing a unified data platform using Microsoft Fabric and OneLake to connect clinical, operational and research data across its medical center, colleges and regional campuses. The platform could support forecasting surgical demand, staffing requirements and operating room utilization.
The partnership will also deploy AI capabilities to reduce administrative workloads and improve clinical collaboration. The organizations are also exploring AI-supported tumor-board workflows to help multidisciplinary teams coordinate pathology, imaging, genomic and clinical information.
As part of the collaboration, Microsoft and Ohio State will expand AI learning programs, Microsoft Learn resources and certification opportunities for healthcare professionals, researchers, faculty, staff and students.
Ohio State will become a Microsoft Training Services Provider, expanding access to Microsoft training and certifications for students, employees and community members. The initiative aims to create pathways to in-demand careers and strengthen Ohio's talent pipeline.
On the Nasdaq, MSFT shares closed down 2.20% at $533.16 on Tuesday.
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