A Conversation with Vicky Tang from Synapxe’s Sector Alliance Team
When people think about healthcare innovation, they often picture shiny new technologies or complex data systems. But behind every breakthrough in Singapore’s public healthcare system lies a crucial question: What challenges do we need to solve?
At Synapxe, Singapore’s national HealthTech agency, one team plays a unique role in answering that question. The Sector Alliance Team, also known as the HealthX Tech Angels, is part of the Innovation Capabilities Enablement (ICE) department and acts as a bridge between hospitals and the tech industry. They help surface ground-level challenges from nurses, doctors, and operations staff, and match them with innovators who can co-create practical solutions.
We spoke with Vicky Tang, Assistant Director at ICE, to understand how her team works behind the scenes to help transform ideas into impact.
Q: Vicky, how would you describe what the Sector Alliance Team does — in simple terms?
We like to think of ourselves as translators. We listen to the challenges shared by our stakeholders in Public Healthcare Institutions (PHIs), such as nurses spending hours counting medical consumables or operation staff handling tedious manual processes and help turn those pain points into structured “innovation challenges.”
From there, we connect hospitals with startups and large tech companies that may have digital solutions We help the right people co-create something practical and scalable.
Q: So, you’re the link between those facing the problems and those who can solve them?
Exactly. You can think of healthcare innovation as a supply-and-demand equation. On the demand side, we have hospitals and healthcare professionals. They are the ones facing real challenges on the ground and know exactly where improvements are needed. On the supply side, we have industry, full of tech players and researchers creating new tools and ideating solutions. Our team focuses on understanding the demand. We gather the pain points and translate them into clear problem statements. Then we work closely with our colleagues in ICE’s Industry Partnership Team, who scout for promising technologies from the market. Together, we match the needs to the capabilities, so the solutions being developed are grounded in real-world priorities and actual healthcare challenges.
Q: How do these innovation challenges typically come about?
There are two main ways. The first is what we call ops-pull. This is when PHIs come to us with a specific challenge. For example, they may be struggling with manpower shortages or an inefficient process. We help them define the problem clearly and turn it into a challenge statement, which we then publish on our HealthX Call-for-Innovation platform. The second is tech-push. We invite PHI stakeholders to events and workshops organised by my department. These sessions introduce them to emerging tech solutions and often spark new ideas for future innovation challenges.
Q: That must require a mix of skills. What makes your team suited for this role?
Interestingly, most of us don’t come from traditional IT or clinical backgrounds. What we do have in common is agility and curiosity. For example, one of my colleagues previously worked in the public sector, which helps her break down complex healthcare challenges into clearly defined opportunities for innovation. Another came from a media background and her storytelling experience makes it easier to draw out user needs and translate them into briefs that our tech partners can run with. It is exciting to explore new use cases across different disciplines. We ask the right questions, drawing out insights from our stakeholders, and quickly internalising new information. That is key to what we do.
Q: What are some of the big trends you’re seeing in healthcare innovation?
The biggest one is definitely manpower. We are seeing shortages across key roles, especially nursing and radiology. So, tech isn’t just about saving costs anymore. It is becoming essential to keep things running. Another key driver is Singapore’s ageing population. With more people needing care and regular screenings, hospitals need to work smarter and more efficiently. That is why there are so much interest in AI-assisted workflows, especially those that can ease staff workload or improve productivity.
