Seoul – November 12, 2025 –

As populations age rapidly worldwide, medical demand is skyrocketing while chronic shortages of nursing staff persist. This structural challenge in healthcare systems is a global issue that cannot be resolved in the short term. In this climate of severe supply–demand imbalance, “smart hospital solutions,” which integrate AI, IoT, and big data technologies to eliminate operational inefficiencies and maximize patient safety, are emerging as the most practical alternative.

The global smart hospital market is growing at more than 15% annually and is currently estimated to be worth USD 42.8 billion (approx. KRW 63 trillion). Although South Korea was relatively slow in adopting smart hospital systems, recent regulatory progress is accelerating the transition. Notably, the E6544 reimbursement code—originally for ECG tests—can now be applied to real-time monitoring using wearable devices, significantly enhancing incentives for hospitals to adopt such technologies.

Against this backdrop, People & Technology has become the No. 1 company in Korea’s smart hospital RTLS (Real-Time Location System) market. True to its mission—connecting “People and Technology”—the company aims to enhance safety and efficiency in industrial environments through advanced technology. Its IndoorPlus+ indoor positioning platform currently powers businesses across smart healthcare, industrial safety, defense, smart cities, and the public sector.

We spoke with CEO Sungpyo Hong to learn more.

◇ From Solving Indoor Positioning Challenges to Leading AIoT Smart Hospital Innovation

People & Technology was founded in 2013, when GPS still had significant limitations indoors.

CEO Hong explained, “We saw the need for technology that could accurately identify the location of people and assets and leverage that data. That led us to develop IndoorPlus+, an indoor positioning solution based on low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) beacon technology. This technology enables safety management, asset tracking, and workflow optimization in complex indoor environments such as hospitals, factories, and logistics centers.”

He added, “In the early days, we focused on navigation and location-based services. Now, we aim to connect people and technology and reinvent the world through data—starting from solving indoor positioning challenges. Beyond location information, we analyze data to generate new value and reduce inefficiencies in traditional industries.”

IndoorPlus+ is an AIoT/DX platform that integrates BLE-based RTLS technology with big data, cloud computing, and AI. It supports indoor positioning, multi-sensing, data integration and analytics, edge-device AI modeling, and more. With its open APIs, it has become core infrastructure that accelerates digital transformation across healthcare, industry, defense, and public sectors.

In particular, its flagship service IndoorPlus+ SmartCare supports the construction of smart hospitals by enabling real-time patient monitoring, hospital workflow optimization, and wearable-based bed monitoring—enhancing both operational efficiency and patient safety.

People & Technology now serves over 100 B2B/B2G clients, including more than 50 hospitals. During COVID-19, the company rapidly expanded its hospital customer base through its secondary-infection tracking solution. It has raised over KRW 17.5 billion in Series A and B funding and formed global partnerships with NVIDIA, Hanwha Vision, and others. The company is also creating new revenue streams by shifting from on-premise deployment to subscription-based real-time patient monitoring services.

CEO Hong noted, “Through hospital digitalization projects, we found that much information and data are fragmented or underutilized. Solving this issue can simultaneously improve patient safety and operational efficiency. The most valuable area, in our view, is real-time inpatient vital-sign monitoring.”

He continued, “Healthcare has traditionally relied on reactive care—responding only after a patient’s condition deteriorates. But with wearable devices that measure vital signs in real time, the paradigm is shifting to proactive care, which detects abnormalities earlier. This is not just digitalization—it fundamentally transforms the quality of medical care. Through collaborations with hospitals like Shinchon Severance, we are actively implementing this new paradigm in Korea.”

◇ “We Want to Showcase K-Digital Healthcare to the World”

People & Technology has grown nearly fourfold in just 2–3 years, recording KRW 11.3 billion in revenue in 2023. The company has also received recognition such as the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation.

CEO Hong attributes the company’s competitive edge to three pillars: Interoperability, Open Ecosystem, and Reliability. IndoorPlus+ integrates smoothly with existing hospital systems such as EMR and HIS based on international standards, while its open ecosystem enables collaboration with diverse devices and software without vendor lock-in.

“We have earned customer trust as a ‘platform that works reliably in real-world environments’ by connecting and integrating diverse heterogeneous data,” Hong said. “This is why we have been able to deploy our solutions in more than 50 hospitals across Korea.”

Hospitals report that workflow efficiency—such as nursing call/response management and equipment allocation/usage tracking—has significantly improved with the solution. Some hospitals, like St. Mary’s Hospital, even showcase the solution in recruitment materials for new nurses due to high satisfaction.

Short-term, People & Technology aims to secure a total of 15,000 monitored beds by next year, accelerating its real-time patient monitoring business. Mid-to-long term, it plans to advance medical AI and expand globally. The goal is to develop proprietary medical AI solutions within 2–3 years to support hospital CDSS (Clinical Decision Support Systems) using the vast collection of real-time biometric data. Over the next 3–5 years, the company also plans to establish overseas subsidiaries and achieve meaningful global revenue—ultimately positioning Real-Time Healthcare Systems (RTHS) as a global standard.

Hong said, “In the U.S., the HITECH Act encouraged EHR adoption, and CPT codes enable insurance reimbursement for RPM services. Korea also needs broader reimbursement for new technologies like RPM, DTx, and AI clinical support systems, along with government financial support to help not only large hospitals but also smaller ones undergo digital transformation.”

He added, “Korea has some of the world’s best IT and medical infrastructure. With the right policy support, People & Technology can play a leading role in exporting Korea’s new medical paradigm worldwide and championing ‘K-Digital Healthcare’ on the global stage.”