Navigating the Future:
Our Vision and and Mission

Our Mission

Our mission is to build a pan-European digital federated infrastructure of cancer-related images, which will be used for the development of AI tools toward Precision Medicine.

We hope that this infrastructure will provide the means to develop AI tools that will be able to enhance the (cancer) diagnosis procedure, treatment and the identification of the need for predictive medicine benefiting patients across Europe.

Our Vision for the Future

By building a pan-European digital federated infrastructure of cancer-related images, we will provide the means to the validation and development of AI tools, which will support and enhance the (cancer) diagnosis procedure, treatment and the identification of the need for predictive medicine. Overall, this infrastructure will provide a platform for developing AI tools that aim to enhance cancer treatment and the diagnosis procedure for patients.

We will also define the legal grounds for the operation of the federated data repository on the European scale by adapting to the particularities of the data management regulations of the different European countries.

Our History

The EUCAIM project was born out of a need to advance the field of cancer diagnostics and treatment through the use of AI and medical imaging data that is available, but fragmented across Europe and the globe.

To achieve this ambitious goal, the project brings together five previously funded projects of the Artificial Intelligence for Health Imaging (AI4HI) project cluster, each of which was focused on a specific aspect of AI and cancer images. By pooling their resources, expertise, research efforts and real-world achievements, and adding additional key players, the EUCAIM project is uniquely position to create and deploy a strong and unified research infrastructure that will accelerate the development and implementation of AI-driven cancer diagnosis and treatment solutions, ultimately improving patient outcomes across Europe.

About the project

EUropean Federation for CAncer IMages (EUCAIM) is the cornerstone of the European Commission-initiated European Cancer Imaging Initiative, a flagship of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP), which aims to foster innovation and deployment of digital technologies in cancer treatment and care to achieve more precise and faster clinical decision making, diagnostics, treatment and predictive medicine for cancer patients.

arrow-icon-size3 Answers to Frequently asked questions

Driven by our Goals and values

Experience

Building on the achievements of the Artificial Intelligence for Health Imaging (AI4HI) Cluster of 5 large EU-funded projects on big data and AI in cancer imaging

Real-world data

We're start with 21 clinical sites from 12 countries providing real-world data, as well as several cancer image repositories

Additional providers

We will connect at least 30 distributed data providers from 15 countries by 2026 through an Open Call for new data providers

All Cancer Types

Cancer Image Europe covers anonymized images and annotations of common (e.g. breast, lung, prostate, colorectal) and rare (e.g. paediatric) cancers

Big Data

Cancer Image Europe will include more than 100,000 cancer cases by 2025

Artificial Intelligence

At least 50 AI algorithms, tools and prediction models for researchers will be deployed within the infrastructure by 2026

Summary

EUropean Federation for CAncer IMages (EUCAIM) is the cornerstone of the European Commission-initiated European Cancer Imaging Initiative, a flagship of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP), which aims to foster innovation of digital technologies in cancer treatment and care to achieve more precise and faster clinical decision making, diagnostics, treatment and predictive medicine for cancer patients.

Health data, including medical images, are highly distributed and fragmented in Europe. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a paradigm shift towards data-driven decision making that is revolutionising medicine. In medical imaging, an increasing number of studies are appearing in which AI tools are making important contributions towards a more accurate diagnosis or a more reliable treatment response and prognostic prediction. However, there can be a significant difference between the design and the real-world performance of algorithms, leading to ethical and safety issues. The aim of EUCAIM is to address this issue: to deploy a federated, pan-European research infrastructure in order to address the fragmentation of the health data and medical images in Europe.

This research infrastructure will support the development and validation of AI tools toward Precision Medicine. Such AI tools will support and enhance the (cancer) diagnosis procedure, treatment and the identification of the need for predictive medicine. Overall, this infrastructure will provide a platform for developing AI tools that aim to enhance cancer treatment and the diagnosis procedure for patients.

EUCAIM will build on the already existing, but fragmented data repositories of cancer images developed through the projects of the AI4HI initiative. Furthermore, we will also define the legal grounds for the operation of the federated data repository on the European scale by adapting to the particularities of the data management regulations of the different European countries. Preserving the data sovereignty of the data providers has a high priority in EUCAIM.

The EUCAIM consortium consist of 76 partners from 14 countries. Many of the partners are part of the AI4HI initiative or major European Research Infrastructures (such as Euro-BioImaging, BBMRI, EATRIS and ELIXIR).

Leadership

Luis Martí-Bonmatí

Luis Martí-Bonmatí

Scientific Coordinator

Peter Gordebeke

Project Coordinator

Monika Hierath

Project Coordinator

View our full team

Join the EUCAIM Consortium

Open Call for New Beneficiaries

We’re inviting new partners to enhance our pan-European infrastructure for cancer images and artificial intelligence.

Whether you’re a data holder with valuable cancer images or an innovator developing AI tools for precision medicine, this is your chance to contribute to a groundbreaking project.

Apply by 10 June 2024!

Find out more

Open Call Webinar

We recently hosted a webinar with more details for prospective applicants to the open call. A recording is available.

WATCH THE RECORDING

Our open Call for new collaborators
launches in April 2024

Opportunities for data holders & AI developers to contribute await! Let‘s join forces to enhance cancer diagnosis and treatment

Be the first to know and apply!

Sign up for more information

SAVE THE DATE
March 14, 10:00-11:30 aM CET

DISCOVER THE CANCER IMAGE EUROPE PLATFORM

TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATION WEBINAR

Explore the potential for AI-driven cancer care advancements!
Learn how to access and utilize our federated cancer image repository. The webinar is for AI Innovators & Data Providers interested in the platform and will feature an introduction to EUCAIM & Cancer Image Europe and a demonstration of data exploration & access.

Survey Invitation

Join Leading Experts In Shaping AI In Cancer

EUCAIM is looking for your feedback! We have recently published a Stakeholder Survey in order to reach out to potential end-users and stakeholders. We believe that your insights could significantly contribute to understanding the expectations of potential users and identifying the essential aspects that stakeholders find crucial for future engagement and collaboration with the platform.

Therefore, we would like to invite you to participate in the Stakeholder Survey about the Cancer Image Europe platform.

Completing the survey will take approximately 10 minutes. Your participation is crucial to the success of this project, and we deeply appreciate your expertise in shaping the future of cancer imaging and treatment.

Participate