SANTA CLARA, Calif. – June 25, 2025 – Johnson & Johnson MedTech, a global leader in surgical technologies and solutions, today launched the PolyphonicTM AI Fund for Surgery to help develop AI solutions that solve challenges before, during, and after surgery. Joined by a coalition of companies including NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the initiative builds on the company’s work to advance AI that will help redefine modern surgical practices and improve patient outcomes.
The Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery aims to ensure that innovation is both accelerated and responsibly governed and will focus on proposals that support AI model development, data engineering and management, and AI governance. One of the initial initiatives of the Fund will be to leverage the QuickFire Challenge program, which will seek submissions from applicants and grant funding for selected awardees from academic and non-academic institutions, researchers, developers, startups, and established companies.
Building on Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s nearly 140 years in surgery, NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure, and AWS’s cloud leadership, this effort brings together expertise from across the coalition. Innovators will benefit from best-in-class resources and mentorship, complete with developer workshops and programs on Johnson & Johnson MedTech, NVIDIA, and AWS technologies.
“Open innovation and open minds breed the best solutions in service of patients,” said Hani Abouhalka, Company Group Chairman, Surgery, Johnson & Johnson MedTech. “Surgeons and their teams are asking for AI to make an impact. As global leaders in surgery, we are in a position to convene solutions that can improve surgery and offer the expertise and infrastructure to bring these solutions to light through our digital ecosystem. I am excited to hear from individuals and teams on a mission to use AI for good and to make the surgery experience better for everyone involved.”
Advancing AI for Surgery
The pressing need for healthcare innovation through digital transformation and AI solutions has never been clearer. Nearly 95% of healthcare professionals surveyed by Johnson & Johnson MedTech this year advocate for greater AI integration into daily healthcare practices.
The Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery builds on the work launched last year between Johnson & Johnson MedTech and NVIDIA to accelerate secure, real-time analysis of surgical data through the Polyphonic Digital Ecosystem. The companies are now furthering AI-based solutions for surgery addressing key challenges with data privacy, surgical learning and proficiency building, automation of surgical data enrichment, and enabling efficiency in R&D processes.
Johnson & Johnson MedTech is also leveraging the collaboration to accelerate how AI innovation can reach global operating rooms (ORs) by creating high-quality data sets enriched with AI-based annotations, enabling collaborative AI model development, and establishing a governance framework for surgical video data science. NVIDIA’s purpose-built solutions, including the NVIDIA IGX edge computing platform and the NVIDIA Holoscan platform are designed to help accelerate outcomes throughout the ecosystem and speed the development and deployment of AI-accelerated applications in a secure and scalable manner.
“We are just scratching the surface of what’s possible when surgeons and technologists come together to solve problems,” said Dr. Amin Madani*, an endocrine and acute care surgeon. “Surgeons and researchers want their work in AI to make an impact, but we are challenged to find a path from bench to bedside. I am excited about the potential to merge expertise across academia and private sector to build the necessary infrastructure and scale AI around the world and for the patients who need it most.”
The Polyphonic ecosystem is available in early access to select hospitals only. To request further information and stay informed, visit https://thenext.jnjmedtech.com/digital .
* Dr. Madani is a paid consultant for Johnson & Johnson MedTech.
About Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery:
The Fund is designed to help accelerate advancements in surgical artificial intelligence (AI) by supporting innovative projects and research in this field. The program aims to responsibly fast-track the development and deployment of AI tools and solutions for surgery by providing financial assistance, resources, workshops, and mentorship to eligible innovators. One of its initial initiatives is to leverage the QuickFire Challenge program. The program applications are open to a wide range of entities, including academic and non-academic institutions, researchers, developers, startups, and established companies. The program aims to mobilize through 2026, including grant funding from Johnson & Johnson MedTech and/or access to computing tools, tech-stacks, solutions and compliant datasets from Johnson & Johnson MedTech and its partner network. Applicants can access submission information here:
https://jnjinnovation.com/innovation-challenges/Polyphonic-AI-Fund-for-Surgery-QuickFire-Challenge
About Surgical Solutions from Johnson & Johnson MedTech
Across Johnson & Johnson, we are tackling the world’s most complex and pervasive health challenges. For over 100 years, we have helped advance surgical care through our innovative portfolio across wound closure, adjunctive hemostats, surgical stapling and instruments, robotics and digital solutions. Together, with clinicians and healthcare experts around the world we are progressing what’s next in surgery to better solve patient needs in metabolic and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and aesthetics and reconstruction. For more, visit https://thenext.jnjmedtech.com. Ethicon, Inc. is a Johnson & Johnson Company.
About Johnson & Johnson
At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more about our MedTech sector’s global scale and deep expertise in cardiovascular, orthopaedics, surgery and vision solutions at
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Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the Polyphonic AI Fund for Surgery. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: uncertainty of commercial success; challenges to patents; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; manufacturing difficulties and delays; product efficacy or safety concerns resulting in product recalls or regulatory action; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including global health care reforms; changes in behavior and spending patterns of purchasers of health care products and services; and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, including in the sections captioned “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” and in Johnson & Johnson’s subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.
Media Contact:
Lindsey Diaz-MacInnis
ldiazmac@its.jnj.com