Japan-headquartered Olympus, a global medtech company,  has announced the plan to establish a series of Digital Excellence Centres (DECs) following acquisition of London-based Odin Vision, a cloud-artificial intelligence (AI) endoscopy company with a strong portfolio of commercially available computer-aided detection/diagnostic solutions and innovation pipeline of cloud-enabled applications.

The acquisition has strengthened Olympus' recently announced strategy and initiatives in digital health and brings the promise of AI-powered real-time diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of chronic diseases closer to reality, ultimately raising the standard of care across multiple medical specialties and improving patient outcomes.

To enable this commercial strategy, Olympus plans to develop and establish DECs for the development of digital solutions around the world, beginning in London where the acquisition of Odin Vision has laid the groundwork. In addition to its portfolio, Odin Vision brings renowned AI and software expertise and development capabilities that synergise and further accelerate Olympus' digital health strategy. DECs are to be located at current Olympus R&D sites in Hamburg, Boston and Tokyo, with the possibility of expanding to Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv at a later stage.