With an eye on expanding its IT offerings for hospitals, Canon has signed a partnership and taken an equity position in French computer-aided detection (CAD) software developer Median Technologies.
As a result, Canon will gain a license to Median's CAD platform and will work jointly with Median to develop new CAD functionality. Canon invested 8.6 million euros ($12.3 million U.S.) to take a 15% stake in Median.
Via the joint development effort, Canon said it will work to enhance Median's CAD technology and also target synergies with its image processing and other related imaging technologies. Canon said it would also jointly expand Median's accumulated clinical image and case database to accelerate product development.
Through cooperation with major hospitals in Japan, the U.S., and Europe, Canon said that it also plans to enter the hospital IT solutions business via the introduction of cloud-based medical image management technology and related systems.