J&J, Abu Dhabi Launch Global Surgical AI Network

Johnson & Johnson has partnered with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi to launch a global initiative aimed at building an open surgical intelligence network, positioning Abu Dhabi as the first hub in an international infrastructure designed to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI)-driven innovation in surgery.

The collaboration is expected to establish Abu Dhabi as the first node of a broader global network intended to improve every stage of the surgical journey—from pre-operative planning and intraoperative decision-making to post-surgical analysis and learning. The initiative combines Johnson & Johnson’s Polyphonic™ open digital ecosystem with government-backed healthcare systems and technology infrastructure to create what the companies describe as a responsible and scalable framework for surgical AI development.

The program will integrate Polyphonic with Abu Dhabi’s intelligent health system, supported by technology partners including Amazon Web Services and NVIDIA. Through the platform, participating operating rooms will be connected to a surgical intelligence system capable of collecting high-fidelity surgical video and multimodal clinical data generated during procedures.

According to Johnson & Johnson, the Polyphonic ecosystem is designed to curate, label, and govern this data in a structured environment to support the responsible development of AI tools. Insights collected before, during, and after surgeries are expected to create a continuous learning system intended to improve efficiency, clinical decision-making, and patient outcomes.

The initiative reflects the company’s broader strategy to shape the future of surgery across open, laparoscopic, and robotic procedures by combining surgical expertise with digital ecosystem architecture that supports AI-enabled healthcare advancements.

“No single company, hospital, or developer can do this alone,” said Hani Abouhalka, Company Group Chair for Surgery at Johnson & Johnson MedTech. He said the effort represents a milestone for global collaboration among healthcare systems, technology leaders, clinicians, and researchers working toward better surgical outcomes.

A key component of the initiative will involve expanding the Polyphonic network across healthcare institutions in Abu Dhabi. Major health systems including Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, PureHealth, Mediclinic Group, and NMC Healthcare are set to deploy the Polyphonic Surgery solution across operating rooms.

Hospitals participating in the program will use the technology to capture surgical video, support structured case reviews, facilitate peer consultation, and enable real-time collaboration among clinicians. Over time, anonymized and structured datasets generated from surgical cases will contribute to a centralized and approved resource for AI model development in surgery.

Officials in Abu Dhabi said the project builds on the emirate’s growing AI-enabled healthcare ecosystem, where hospitals, academic institutions, research organizations, regulators, and technology companies operate within a connected infrastructure.

“This program builds on Abu Dhabi’s intelligent health system, where clinical care, data, AI and research are connected to deliver impact at scale,” said Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi. She said expanding an intelligent operating room network across hospitals would help standardize capabilities, enable shared intelligence, and create a continuous learning system in which every procedure contributes to improving future care.

Shan Jegatheeswaran, Global President of Polyphonic at Johnson & Johnson MedTech, said Abu Dhabi’s integrated health ecosystem has accelerated efforts to establish the first node of a global surgical network. He added that interest from health authorities, hospital systems, academic institutions, and technology companies around the world is already emerging as the initiative expands.

The companies expect the Abu Dhabi deployment to serve as a blueprint for broader international adoption, potentially enabling a global surgical intelligence system capable of improving patient outcomes through data-driven and AI-supported innovation.