Significant EU funding for proposing a scalable AI tool for smart hospital

Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) is leading an EU project that aims to develop an adaptable AI-based toolset for a variety of clinical use cases. The project will start in early 2021 and its pilot cases will focus on patient-centric digital care pathways and on optimizing patient flow management.

The AICCELERATE consortium consists of specialists in the fields of IT, machine learning, robotics, neurology, paediatrics and surgery from Finland, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

Healthcare systems lack flexible AI solutions that allow hospitals to improve efficiency and the quality of patient care. Current solutions provide limited scalability and are confined to isolated applications. Scalable models that address data sharing, integration, privacy, and ethics are needed to ensure better adoption of AI in healthcare. Patient empowerment and evidence-based trust towards AI is a key part of the project. Evaluation activities will also focus on cost-benefit analysis of the AI-solutions.

AICCELERATE will develop partners’ existing digital solutions further to enable the development of a Smart Hospital Care Pathway (SHCP) Engine. This engine serves as a toolset for AI models and robotics to improve the quality of care and health outcomes. It will also enable lean management and effective decision-making.

These tools are tested in three pilots that will provide feedback for improving the SHCP Engine: (i) patient flow management for ER and surgical units, (ii) digital care pathway for Parkinson’s disease, and (iii) pediatric service delivery.

The pilots are carried out by 5 hospital partners: Helsinki University Hospital and Oulu University Hospital from Finland, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù from Italy, Barcelona Children’s Hospital from Spain, and University Hospital Università degli Studi di Padova from Italy.

–

In addition to these above-mentioned hospitals, the AICCELERATE consortium is formed by Erasmus Univ. Rotterdam from the Netherlands, RTO Fundació Eurecat from Spain, a Spanish non-profit Ticbiomed, 6 SMEs aiming to advance the digitalization of the European healthcare services: Chino from Italy, Symptoma from Austria, Nuromedia from Germany, SRDC from Turkey, Evondos from Finland, NeuroPath from Belgium, and 2 large enterprises NEC Laboratories Europe from Germany and Innofactor from Finland. The preparation of the proposal was supported by Spinverse from Finland.

More information

Development Manager Tuuli Pajunen
tuuli.pajunen(at)hus.fi, +358 40 182 5028

Research and Innovation Manager Suzan Ikävalko
suzan.ikavalko(at)hus.fi, +358 50 583 4292