Siemens Healthineers redefines customer experience for Korea’s future healthcare demands < Device/ICT < Article

As Korea enters a super-aged society and confronts rising rates of chronic disease, its healthcare system faces a pivotal moment.

The demand for more precise diagnostics, integrated technologies, and equitable access to care is growing, pressuring hospitals and medical professionals to adapt in real time. In this climate of accelerated transformation, Siemens Healthineers Korea is redefining how medical technology companies can serve not just as suppliers, but as long-term partners in the healthcare ecosystem.

Recent data from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) reveals a clear direction as over 55 percent of industry professionals point to aging and chronic illness as Korea’s most pressing health challenges, while nearly half of healthcare workers say adopting advanced medical technologies is essential for competitiveness.

Yet significant barriers remain, including the high cost of initial investment and shortages in trained personnel. These findings underscore the urgent need for integrated support solutions that go beyond device installation to encompass training, research, and operational guidance.

Building a multi-nodal ecosystem for engagement

To address these gaps, Siemens Healthineers Korea has built an extensive network of locally embedded facilities aimed at delivering what it calls a personalized customer experience.

The company’s footprint now includes a research-dedicated MRI center at Yonsei University, a learning facility in Gangnam, an ultrasound experience center in Bundang, and a catheter production plant in Pohang.

According to Siemens, these hubs collectively represent more than a sales infrastructure as they are designed to localize development, support long-term user training, and feed real-world clinical feedback into global innovation pipelines.

“This structure is essential not only for sustainable adoption of advanced medical technologies, but also for tailoring solutions to the specific clinical workflows and institutional constraints found in Korea,” the company said.

Notably, the Siemens Healthineers Research MRI Center, located within Yonsei University’s Shinchon campus, exemplifies the company’s collaborative posture.

The facility is equipped with the MAGNETOM Vida 3T MRI system, which features the company’s Biomatrix technology, a suite of automated imaging adjustments designed to accommodate each patient’s unique physiology. This configuration allows researchers to conduct studies in neuroimaging, psychiatry, and cognitive science with clinical-grade precision.

Researchers investigating cognitive function, depression, and neurological disorders can prepare participants in an adjoining behavioral lab, which mirrors actual clinical workflows and significantly improves research efficiency. The center’s close partnership with academic departments enables the early-stage testing of new MRI protocols in live clinical environments.

Hands-on training to close the workforce gap

Siemens is also aiming to address Korea’s shortage of medical imaging specialists and biomedical engineers, which has emerged as a key barrier to the implementation of new technologies.

To this end, Siemens Healthineers Korea established a dedicated Learning Center in Seoul’s Gangnam district in 2009. The center provides hands-on training for diagnostic imaging, in vitro diagnostics (IVD), and equipment maintenance across a wide range of clinical disciplines.

The company reports that thousands of professionals from both metropolitan and regional medical institutions have completed its courses, gaining practical knowledge that can be immediately applied on site.

As Korea increases its focus on digital health and smart hospital development, such experiential training centers are becoming an important part of workforce readiness and regional capacity-building.

In Seongnam’s Bundang district, the company operates an Ultrasound Experience Center that combines demonstration, usability testing, and early-stage feedback in one location.

The facility hosts medical professionals from across Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific region, providing opportunities to experience and assess systems such as the Sequoia VB30, Redwood 2.5, and Juniper Select 2.5 in clinical scenarios.

The center also plays a role in usability engineering by incorporating feedback from clinicians into product refinement.

The company’s collaborative approach reflects broader industry trends toward user-centric development, where system design is informed by everyday medical needs rather than driven solely by an engineering perspective.

Global technology, locally manufactured

Alongside its R&D and training activities, Siemens Healthineers has established a production presence in Korea.

Since 2008, its manufacturing plant in Pohang has been producing intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) catheters, including the ACUSON AcuNav 10F, a phased-array ultrasound device used in more than three million cardiovascular procedures worldwide.

“The Pohang facility marks one of the few instances of a global medtech company localizing high-precision production in Korea,” the company said.

From device supplier to healthcare partner

Taken together, Siemens Healthineers Korea’s initiatives reflect a broader shift in how multinational medtech companies engage with a local healthcare system.

By investing in infrastructure beyond simple product deployment, the company stressed that it aims to create a foundation for sustainable clinical partnerships, localized innovation, and continuous medical education.

“As the country’s healthcare ecosystem becomes increasingly digital and data-driven, the role of medical technology providers is evolving,” the company said. “In Korea, Siemens Healthineers is positioning itself not just as a vendor, but as part of the ecosystem—integrated into the research pipeline, training framework, and industrial landscape.”

While many challenges remain, such as ensuring equitable access to advanced technologies across all regions, the company’s strategy suggests a long-term commitment to the Korean market, aligned with national priorities around smart healthcare, AI, and global competitiveness, it added.