GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

The aim is to establish and deploy a pan-European digital infrastructure facilitating access to cancer images and related patient data in full compliance with the applicable data protection requirements. It will be used by clinicians, researchers and innovators with the ultimate aim of more precise and faster clinical decision-making, diagnostics, treatments and predictive medicine that will benefit citizens, patients, healthcare systems and the overall economy. The resulting data infrastructure will be inter-operable with the other components of the European health data space, in particular the genomic data infrastructure.  In order to maximise the societal benefits of health data use, the data space should be supported by advanced IT tools and capacities, e.g. AI and HPC. Moreover, the measure will support creation of new cancer image datasets and further extension of the existing ones.

The infrastructure should consist of a central coordination entity, a federated network of FAIR-conform connected data sources, a platform enabling data discovery, querying and capability to access appropriate computing capacities for distributed data analysis. The action may combine existing data sources and support creation of new data sets. To ensure maximum data protection, identifiable data will in principle be analysed using distributed data analysis and AI learning techniques, while fully taking into account the applicable data protection requirements and the EU’s international obligations. Central storage may take place if the data are anonymised and in accordance with applicable legal requirements. The project will be in full compliance with the relevant legal, ethical, quality and interoperability requirements and standards.

The project should also enable linking and analysing cancer image data together with other types of health data (in particular electronic health records, repositories of molecular and clinical information and genomic-phenotypic data).