Artificial intelligence receives special attention in the last year of H2020. AI excellence centres and AI for cancer will get a dedicated financial boost.
The European Commission (EC) makes efforts to boost research and innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) with dedicated calls in the last year of Horizon 2020 (H2020). It has announced a EUR 35 million call to contribute to developing AI solutions for cancer and reserved EUR 50 million to create a network of AI excellence centres.
The specific call for AI in cancer comes as part of the ECs EUR 177 million initiatives ‘Digital Transformation of Health and Care’ and ‘Trusted digital solutions and Cybersecurity in Health and Care’, which are a commitment to advanced technologies for shaping the future of the health sector in Europe. The initiatives will break the silos between health on one hand and the digital economy and society on the other hand. The EUR 35 million call aims at advancing the development of analysis of health images for cancer diagnosis based on AI in particular; but will also support other AI tools for the prevention, prediction and treatment of cancer. It is in line with the focus on combating cancer with a dedicated research and innovation mission under Horizon Europe.
The potential for AI in health is large. It has been shown that AI can outcompete humans when it comes to the analysis of medical images and help in early monitoring and prevention of disease. However, when it comes to the application of AI in healthcare, there is still a long way to go, a recent article by ScienceBusiness shows. Even though the technology is available, doctors still stick to their old ways of taking decisions and are reluctant to apply it or are lacking the relevant training. Other stumble stones are the access to sufficient patient data to train algorithms and privacy issues. Finally yet importantly, there are barriers between physicians and data scientists, which hinder cooperation on new technologies. Here, the ECs approach of breaking down silos between health and the digital economy may help.
The second call to create a network of AI excellence centres draws on Europe’s potential to become a leader in technological advancement in the field. It wants to support the best research teams to join forces and tackle the challenges hampering the deployment of AI-based solutions. The call is divided into two actions, a research and innovation action to mobilise top researchers into networks of excellence centres and thereby create a critical mass and a coordination and support action to enhance the exchange between selected projects and other initiatives. Even though the actions will touch upon synergies with industry, their core focus is on academia and the training of talents with PhD programmes and the integration of AI into curricula. The call refers to the goals stated in the European AI Strategy and the commitments in the Coordinated Plan for AI.
The ECs investment in AI is timely, as competitors are also gearing up to become global leaders. The Israeli government is currently developing a national AI strategy to make the country a leader in the field. Research on AI in the country is already top and investments are increasing, many of them stemming from global companies. Originally developed for military applications, AI in Israel is moving to other fields now. The country aims at becoming a global leader in medical applications of AI and use patient data to accelerate diagnosis. A centralised system for the collection of such data, unlike in other parts of Europe or the US, may help move the Israeli ahead fast.