ESICM: New member of the External Expert Advisory Board

We are pleased to welcome the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) to the External Expert Advisory Board of the INDICATE Project!

This collaboration strengthens our shared European reach and accelerates progress toward secure, interoperable ICU data sharing, fully aligned with the ambition of the European Health Data Space (EHDS).

ESICM will be represented by Maurizio Cecconi in the External Expert Advisory Board of INDICATE.

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Our first INDICATE HACKATHON
5 February 2026

Step into the future of Intensive Care innovation by participating in our Hackathon on ICU federated data usage. This dynamic event invites ICU clinicians, engineers, data scientists, and startups from the INDICATE and EIT Health network to co-create a vision for a global, real-time federated data infrastructure.

Together, we’ll explore how to securely link ICU data across national and EU systems using anonymization techniques and federated learning. While ensuring full compliance with EU regulations and the AI Act. Participants will gain hands-on experience implementing Equitable AI Models Across Diverse European ICU Populations​ and help us build the Value-based proposition of Federated ICU Data Usage, guided by expert mentors. Expect rich cross-pollination of ideas and help shape ethical frameworks for deploying clinical and research algorithms.

Join us for this collaborative opportunity to discuss how to better implement the ICU federated data infrastructure on Thursday 5th of February from 8:00hrs to17:00hrs in Amsterdam. The Hackathon will be a part of the 2026 ESICM Intensive Care Innovation Forum. Let’s build the future of ICU data. Secure, smart, and shared.

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INDICATE Technical Lead Jan van den Brand joins EU panel on Virtual Human Twins in Brussels

The high-level event on Virtual Human Twins (VHTs), held on the 21st of October in Brussels, Belgium, brought together leading voices from the European Commission, academia, industry, and patient organisations, all united by a shared goal: accelerating innovation in health through AI, data, and trustworthy digital ecosystems.

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INDICATE Design Workshop in Rotterdam at KPMG

End of September: INDICATE Design Workshop in Rotterdam at KPMG. Lots of bright minds in the room thinking about how we can advance patient-centered care and promote the use of Intensive Care data by developing and implementing responsible and trustworthy AI-models.

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Interview with INDICATE co-lead 
Michel van Genderen on NOS Nieuwsuur

Recently, INDICATE co-lead Michel van Genderen shared his expertise on the Dutch national news program NOS Nieuwsuur, discussing the risks associated with AI tools such as Delphi-2M, which predicts the likelihood of developing diseases.

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INDICATE: What is federated data analysis?!

Healthcare institutions possess vast amounts of untapped data that could drive innovation and improve patient outcomes. As much as 97% of health data world-wide is not re-used. With INDICATE we aim to unlock this potential by building a federated data infrastructure for Intensive Care Units (ICUs) across Europe.

But how can you analyze data without accessing it directly? The answer lies in INDICATE’s design, specifically in its first development phase due for delivery in August 2025. 

INDICATE’s federated analysis architecture enables data users, such as researchers, innovators, and policy makers, to derive insights from ICU data across multiple institutions, regions, and European countries.

This figure is conceptual, please feel free to share any feedback or suggestions!

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INDICATE: What is federated data analysis?!

At the II National Congress on Innovation for the Advancement of Health Data Management and Evaluation (INNODATA 2025), held on 24–25 September 2025 in Seville (Spain), the Computational Health Informatics Group from the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, as part of the Andalusian Health Service (Servicio Andaluz de Salud-SAS), presented their work on advancing federated integration of ICU data in Europe.

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Do you have a special request? Would you like to share news or a publication? Would you like to be (digitally) connected to a certain person? Did you speak or went to an event related to INDICATE or INDICATE-subjects? Please feel very welcome to share your questions or input with: info@indicate-europe.eu

When sharing your news, please make sure to attach your photos/images or figures and always make sure when people are visible, you have their permission to use the pictures.

Below with the format you can use to share your news with us: 

• What is the purpose of your news? 
• What title can we use?
• Who attended (names, roles, if related to INDICATE meetings/events)?
• What were the main topics discussed or key findings?
• Were any follow-up actions or appointments agreed upon?
• Is there anything special or noteworthy?

Deadline for next newsletter submissions:

• 5 December, 2025
• 13 February, 2026
• 10 April, 2026
• 12 June, 2026
• 11 September, 2026
• 6 November, 2026

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Milestones

Deliverables

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Endorsed by:

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Get in contact via e-mail:
Email address: info@indicate-europe.eu
Email address: support@indicate-europe.eu
Email address: indicate@erasmusmc.nl

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AI tool predicts diseases: ‘The risk is that we might interpret it the wrong way.’

Recently, INDICATE co-lead Michel van Genderen shared his expertise on the Dutch national news program NOS Nieuwsuur, discussing the risks associated with AI tools such as Delphi-2M, which predicts the likelihood of developing diseases.

How much risk does someone have of developing a disease like cancer? Or of having a heart attack? The Delphi-2M system can predict that. But does it really help us? Or does it also come with risks?

“When I read about it, I thought: yet another prediction model. Research shows that only two percent of all AI innovations are actually used in healthcare. Innovations often don’t fit well with real-world practice,” says Michel van Genderen, internist-intensivist and co-founder of the AI ethics lab REAiHL, a collaboration between Erasmus MC and TU Delft.

Van Genderen and his colleagues advise the World Health Organization (WHO) on the use of AI in healthcare: “Embracing AI in healthcare will go wrong if there are no moral ground rules. It must be safe and ethical.”

Read the full article here (in Dutch) or watch the news item here (in Dutch). The item starts at 30:30 minutes.

Source: NOS Nieuwsuur

We are pleased to welcome the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) to the External Expert Advisory Board of the INDICATE Project!

This collaboration strengthens our shared European reach and accelerates progress toward secure, interoperable ICU data sharing, fully aligned with the ambition of the European Health Data Space (EHDS).

Together, we aim to support Intensive Care Units across Europe in responsibly connecting data, advancing research, improving clinical decision-making, and ultimately enhancing patient care. A key element will be the development of a federated data infrastructure, enabling hospitals to collaborate without moving data outside the hospital, while maintaining privacy, trust, and local control.

ESICM will be represented by Maurizio Cecconi in the External Expert Advisory Board of INDICATE.

The high-level event on Virtual Human Twins (VHTs), held on the 21st of October in Brussels, Belgium, brought together leading voices from the European Commission, academia, industry, and patient organisations, all united by a shared goal: accelerating innovation in health through AI, data, and trustworthy digital ecosystems.

Key takeaways:

• Europe has the technology, talent, and ambition to lead, but success depends on access to high-quality, interoperable data. This highlights the importance of our INDICATE project, as well as other European health data initiatives such as Genome Of Europe, EUCAIM, and PHEMS, all of which strengthen the foundation for innovation.
• Trust remains essential. It is one of the key underlying principles of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation, and aims to give individuals more control over their health data while enabling safe and secure use for research and innovation.
• VHTs offer a unique testbed for AI in healthcare, helping translate innovation from lab to clinic.
• Collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and borders is vital to build an inclusive, patient-centred ecosystem.
• Robust regulatory frameworks Medical Device Regulation (MDR), In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR), AI Act and European health data spaces will be key to scaling impact safely and responsibly.

Discussions during the technical and regulatory sessions further highlighted the importance of secure data environments, data harmonisation, and clear guidance for AI-enabled research. Experts agreed that VHTs can accelerate clinical evidence generation, potentially reducing animal testing and enabling personalised care. The event concluded with a shared message: VHTs sit at the crossroads of digital, data, and health policy.

That intersection brings enormous potential, but also challenges, as it means VHTs touch upon regulatory frameworks across multiple domains. Building trust, ensuring quality, and fostering collaboration will determine how quickly Europe can turn this vision into real impact for patients.

Step into the future of Intensive Care innovation by participating in our Hackathon on ICU federated data usage. This dynamic event invites ICU clinicians, engineers, data scientists, and startups from the INDICATE and EIT Health network to co-create a vision for a global, real-time federated data infrastructure. 

Together, we’ll explore how to securely link ICU data across national and EU systems using anonymization techniques and federated learning. While ensuring full compliance with EU regulations and the AI Act. Participants will gain hands-on experience implementing Equitable AI Models Across Diverse European ICU Populations​ and help us build the Value-based proposition of Federated ICU Data Usage, guided by expert mentors. Expect rich cross-pollination of ideas and help shape ethical frameworks for deploying clinical and research algorithms.

Join us for this collaborative opportunity to discuss how to better implement the ICU federated data infrastructure on Thursday 5th of February from 8:00hrs to 17:00hrs in Amsterdam. Let’s build the future of ICU data. Secure, smart, and shared.

The Hackathon will be a part of the 2026 ESICM Intensive Care Innovation Forum.

At the II National Congress on Innovation for the Advancement of Health Data Management and Evaluation (INNODATA 2025), held on 24–25 September 2025 in Seville (Spain), the Computational Health Informatics Group from the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital, as part of the Andalusian Health Service (Servicio Andaluz de Salud—SAS), presented their work on advancing federated integration of ICU data in Europe.

The audience—composed of healthcare professionals, clinical researchers, biomedical informatics experts, data engineers, governance managers, and institutional stakeholders—gathered to hear the presentation titled “ETL Guide for the Federated Integration of ICU Data in Europe”, delivered by Maria Parra Rodriguez-Armijo, Celia Alvarez Romero, Maria Gonzalez Lopez, Alberto Garcia-Agundez Blanco, Silvia Rodriguez Mejias, and Carlos Luis Parra-Calderón.

The talk began by setting the stage with the motivation behind the work: the pressing need for federated infrastructures that comply with FAIR principles in order to enable the secondary use of ICU data and facilitate the deployment of Artificial Intelligence in critical care. The talk also outlined key regulatory hurdles, including GDPR compliance, governance responsibilities, and the challenge of building trust in data sharing, alongside persistent technical barriers such as data fragmentation, limited semantic interoperability, and the absence of common ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines.

The session then introduced the ETL pipeline structure of INDICATE, which operates within a federated architecture, ensuring that data remain under local governance. The pipeline is organised into three essential layers:

1. Extraction through HL7 FHIR resources.
2. Transformation and storage in OMOP-CDM for analytics and AI model development.
3. FAIR metadata to support data discovery, interoperability, and reuse.

At the heart of the presentation was the ETL Guide (INDICATE Data Provider Handbook), conceived as a living document designed to support data providers in navigating the complexities of ICU data integration. The Handbook encompasses:

• A dual approach using both OMOP-CDM and HL7 FHIR.
• Adoption of semantic and syntactic standards, including SNOMED CT, LOINC, ATC, ICD-10, and DICOM.
• Practical guidance on ETL processes, de-identification, and GDPR compliance.
• Data quality assessment frameworks such as OHDSI DQD (Data Quality Dashboard from the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) community) and validation metrics.
• A publication and maintenance strategy to ensure the document evolves continuously with emerging needs.

The closing remarks emphasized the Handbook’s pivotal role as a bridge between local ICU data and the INDICATE federated infrastructure, guaranteeing standardisation, GDPR compliance, interoperability, and scalability. By underpinning the six INDICATE clinical use cases, the Handbook contributes directly to the European Health Data Space (EHDS), aligns with the FAIR principles, and lays the groundwork for AI-readiness in critical care.

Abbreviations 

• ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
• Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM)
• OHDSI DQD = the Data Quality Dashboard from the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) community.
• HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources)
• SNOMED CT: Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms
• LOINC: Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes
• ATC: Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System
• ICD-10: International Classification of Diseases (Tenth Revision)
• DICOM: Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine