EU to invest €35m in Healthcare AI

EU invests €35 million to develop Artificial Intelligence solutions for cancer prevention and treatment

The European Commission has announced a €35 million budget for proposals to be submitted with the aim of supporting the development of analysis of health images for cancer diagnostics based on Artificial Intelligence.  The brief also calls for development of tools and analytics focused on the prevention, prediction and treatment of the most common forms of cancer. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, through which the Commission is investing a total of €177 million on the ‘Digital Transformation of Health and Care’ and ‘Trusted digital solutions and Cybersecurity in Health and Care’, it is hoped that AI can be instrumental in the diagnosis and analysis of cancer cases. Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, said: “Working together across silos will boost our capacity to better help the patients by sharing and interpreting technological advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment prediction across the EU.”

Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, added: “Today’s investment confirms our strong support in advanced technologies that will shape the future of the health sector in the European Union. Together with Member States, we must put in place a framework that balances individual concerns and health system constraints, while unleashing innovation in healthcare for the benefit of all Europeans.” Commissioner Gabriel will also convene a second high-level roundtable brining together representatives of the European Commission, the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technology industries. Up for discussion will be the roadmap set out in the Communication on the digital transformation of health and care, from April 2018, as well as other key topics, including the interoperability of electronic health records systems, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. The importance of taking forward the exchange of health data across borders and addressing the relevant privacy and data protection aspects will also be on the agenda.