Open Call SC1-BHC-06-2020: Digital Diagnostics - Developing Tools for Supporting Clinical Decisions by Integrating Various Diagnostic Data

European Commission The availability of appropriate decision support tools for healthcare practitioners can promote uptake of personalised medicine in health care. There is a need to carry out research activities aiming to develop and validate such decision tools that would integrate available and/or emerging diagnostic means for the area concerned, enabling increased precision of diagnostics and clinical decision making. On-going progress in the fields of bioinformatics and biostatistics, advanced analytical tools (e.g. machine learning) up to Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, should make possible the development of devices, platforms or novel approaches leading to highly personalised diagnosis, based on the integration of data available from various sources. The ultimate result would be a detailed health status assessment from a multitude of viewpoints, in a systemic way and easy to use for clinical purposes, leading to better diagnostic accuracy, increased effectiveness and efficiency of treatments. Novel hardware enabling truly innovative, integrative diagnostic platforms can also be considered.

Scope

Proposals should develop tools, platforms or services that will use information provided by most relevant diagnostic means for a particular area, resulting in an accurate, detailed, structured, systemic and prioritised assessment of the health status in a patient. The proposed solutions should integrate various data sources such as medical records, in vitro and/or in vivo diagnostics, medical imaging, -omics data, functional tests (lab-on-a-chip) etc., while taking into account the actual needs of healthcare practitioners, and should be tested and validated in real-life settings in pilot centres, facilitating future Health Technology Assessment. These tools/platforms/services should contribute to improving diagnosis and clinical decision, not only integrate existing data, and should involve intelligent human-computer interface solutions to facilitate its daily use in clinical practice. Any medical data relevant for a particular disease (textual data, numerical measurements, recorded signals, images etc.) may be considered. The aim is to steer the development of solutions towards concrete patient and public sector needs, having the citizen and healthcare providers at the centre. Careful attention should be paid to appropriately addressing ethical and legal concerns, providing adequate information to health professionals and patients to support informed decisions, and ensuring data safety and privacy, in line with existing European and international standards and legislation. Gender and sex differences should be taken into consideration when relevant.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 8 and 15 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting different amounts.

Expected Impact

  • Increase EU's capacity to innovate in the area of medical instruments technologies through the development of new diagnostic tools, platforms or services integrating various diagnostic data and providing quick, detailed, accurate and highly personalised diagnostics for optimal decision in clinical practice.
  • Improve the quality and sustainability of healthcare systems through quicker and more encompassing diagnosis of medical conditions, leading to quicker and better clinical decisions and timely delivery of effective personalised treatments, with reduction of errors and delays (and costs associated to them).
  • Contribute to the growth of the European diagnostics sector, in particular for SMEs.
  • Reinforce EU's role among world leaders in the production of medical diagnostic devices.

Opening date: 04 July 2019

Deadline: 07 April 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time

Deadline Model: single-stage

Type of action: Research and Innovation Action (RIA)

For topic conditions, documents and submission service, please visit:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/sc1-bhc-06-2020

PS: Find your partners or consortia preparing a project proposal
If you need help to identify a potential partner with particular competences, facilities or experience, please join and explore (HEALTH IT) SPACE www.healthitspace.eu.

Most Popular Now

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foun…

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) has launched new NHS App features to transform the way patients access and manage their appointments within the NHS. The programme, known...

Orion Health Strengthens French Business…

Orion Health is strengthening its presence in France with the appointment of digital health industry heavyweight, Tristan Debove, to lead its operations. Tristan Debove has more than 25 years of experience...

Genomics England Deploys Sectra Imaging …

Genomics England has completed installation of an enterprise imaging system that will help to support a world-pioneering initiative for cancer research. The programme is linking whole genome sequencing, pathology and...

AI Approach may Help Detect Alzheimer's …

Although investigators have made strides in detecting signs of Alzheimer's disease using high-quality brain imaging tests collected as part of research studies, a team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) recently...

AI Predicts Cancer Patient Survival by R…

A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia and BC Cancer have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that predicts cancer patient survival more accurately and with more...

Virtual Reality Games can be Used as a T…

Virtual reality gamers (VR game) who finished it faster than their fellow gamers also have higher levels of general intelligence and processing capacity. This was the result of a study...

Will Future Computers Run on Human Brain…

A "biocomputer" powered by human brain cells could be developed within our lifetime, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers who expect such technology to exponentially expand the capabilities of modern...

Detecting Anaemia Earlier in Children Us…

Researchers at UCL and University of Ghana have successfully predicted whether children have anaemia using only a set of smartphone images. The study, published in PLOS ONE, brought together researchers and...

AI can Help Optimize CT Scan X-Ray Radia…

Computed tomography (CT) is one of the most powerful and well-established diagnostic tools available to modern medicine. An increasing number of people have been opting for CT scans, raising concerns...

Study Reveals Smartphone Spyware Apps ar…

Smartphone spyware apps that allow people to spy on each other are not only hard to notice and detect, they also will easily leak the sensitive personal information they...

Orion Health Appoints Mark Hindle as Vic…

Orion Health has appointed Mark Hindle as its new vice president for the UK and Ireland. Mark has joined the leading supplier of digital tools to improve healthcare experience from...