Big data analytics platform to be launched by year‑end – no copy and take away of data

Dr Cheung Ngai-tseung, Head of Information Technology and Health Informatics, points out that in response to Policy Address 2017, HA has set up a committee to follow up on the development of HA Big Data Analytics Platform for opening up to application from more external parties for using HA data for analytics or research while ensuring patient privacy protection, with a view to facilitating healthcare policies formulation and clinical services enhancement. The initial plan is to provide workstations connecting to information and database systems in a designated research lab where users can only analyse but cannot copy or take away any data. In the first phase, applications will be open to the academia only, and those from commercial and other sectors will be considered subsequently. Further details are still under discussion and the lab is expected to be launched by the end of this year.