A poster is seen at the Next forum, which was held by New York-listed Medidata earlier this month in New York. Artificial intelligence is playing a key role in new drug development and smart medical treatment by capturing, analyzing and activating data. It's a category of AI often underestimated by the public, even though it influences the health of millions of people. China, as well as the Asia-Pacific region, is regarded as fertile ground for technology firms working with drug developers, providing artificial intelligence and cloud services. For example, US-based Medidata, the biggest software firm in the life sciences industry, has 357 clients in the Asia Pacific, or about one-third of total client numbers.