Date: March 25, 2025 – March 26, 2025 Location: Luxembourg City
The European Health Data Space – the first common thematic EU data space to be implemented – is a major game changer for delivering healthcare across European borders and enabling breakthrough research and innovation. The third edition of the European Digital HealthTech Conference will explore how this influences the development, innovation, use and adoption of digital health solutions.
On January 27 and 28, 2025, the official kick-off meeting of the INDICATE project took place at Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío in Seville. This event brought together experts and project partners from 20 hospitals and 36 organizations in total to discuss the objectives and plans for the project.
The two-day meeting started on Monday 27 January with a welcome speech from the project coordinators, Prof. Dr. Christian Jung and Dr. Michel van Genderen. They provided an overview of the project’s goals and its current status. Next, the Dean of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud presented insights on the role of Artificial Intelligence in Seville.
In the afternoon, an EU project officer gave a presentation on the European perspective, discussing funding opportunities and collaboration agreements between the consortium and the European Commission. After a short break, Maxim Moinat (Erasmus MC) introduced the OMOP Common Data Model, followed by Jan van den Brand (Erasmus MC), who gave a presentation on data architecture.
The day concluded with presentations from the first work packages, a summary of the discussions, and preparations for Day 2. Attendees also had the opportunity to tour the hospital. In the evening, participants enjoyed a guided city tour and an informal dinner at restaurant Rio Grande.
Highlights from Day 1 include:
Opening remarks by Christian Jung and Michel van Genderen, our project coordinators
Inspiring welcome by the Dean of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud – Dr. Cristina Suárez Mejías – Strategic Cabinet – Responsible for the Andalusian Health Service, on behalf of Mr. Ismael Vargas Pina – General Director for Information Systems and Communications
Followed by insightful presentations by the ICU department head Rosario Amaya Villar followed by EU officer Alina Lupu who nicely explained the importance of the Indicate project and the potential of Virtual Human Twins in Europe
Maxim Moinat (Erasmus MC OMOP Common Data Model expert) shared his data standardization insights
And the European data space architecture was explained by Jan van den Brand – underscored by his quote: “People should have control over their health data” and “Data must be protected while enabling lawful access.”
The second day Tuesday, January 28, 2025, began with a short introduction by the project coordinators, followed by presentations on various work packages, covering topics such as governance and business models, technical infrastructure, and dissemination, exploitation, and communication.
After a coffee break, clinical demonstrations were discussed, including use cases such as MIMIC-EU, early detection of organ failure, and prediction of neonatal and pediatric sepsis.
The meeting provided a valuable opportunity for partners to exchange knowledge, discuss plans, and establish a strong foundation for successful collaboration within the INDICATE project.
KOM Conference Room, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla (instructions and the end of the programme) If you are participating online: the meeting link will be provided to you as soon as possible
Introduction about Servicio Andaluz de Salud, AI in Sevilla Welcome by the Dean of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud: Mr. Ismael Vargas Pina – General Director for Information Systems and Communications
The dean will be accompanied by Dr. Rosario Amaya Villar, Head of the Intensive Care Unit, and Mr. Carlos Luis Parra Calderon, Head of the Technological Innovation at the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital.
13.30 – 14.00
Short Deep Dive into INDICATE – Current status
Prof.dr. Christian Jung and dr. Michel van Genderen Overview of the project objectives, updates about current processes etc.
Prof. dr Christian Jung Head, Coronary Heart Disease and Critical Care division Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf
WP2: Common data models and vocabularies (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A) (SAS)
16.30 – 16.45
Wrap-Up of Day 1
Summary and preparation for Day 2.
16.45 – 17.45
Hospital Tour for all + Group picture
Mr. Carlos Luis Parra Calderon, Head of Technological Innovation at the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital – Including a short presentation about the hospital.
17.45
Walk from the hospital to the hotel
18.30
Meet in the lobby to take the bus to the evening activity (guidedcity tour) – followed by informal dinner (funded by central INDICATE budget)
Evening program
18.30
Pick up with bus from Hotel Silken Al-Andalus Palace to the city center
WP3: Governance and business models (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A) (TCD)
WP5: Dissemination, exploitation and communication (15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A) (HSICM)
WP4: Design and implementation of the technical infrastructure (Update and demonstration: 40 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A) (UGENT)
10.30 – 11.00
Coffee Break
11.00 – 12.00
Work Package Presentations: Session 3
WP6: Clinical demonstrations (25 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A) (Dusseldorf) Use case 1: MIMIC-EU (Dusseldorf) Use case 2: Early detection of organ failure (AP-HP) Use case 3: Virtual digital twin of mechanical ventilation (VUMC) Use case 4: Prediction of neonatal and pediatric sepsis (Erasmus MC) Use case 5: Quality benchmarking dashboards (Greifswald) Use case 6: Grand rounds workspace (TCD)
12.00 – 12.30
General discussion on WP challenges and next steps
12.30
Lunch
13.30 – 14.30
Breakout Sessions: Deep Dive into Challenges and Opportunities
Small groups focusing on specific project themes (e.g., governance, data management, dissemination, etc.).
14.30 – 15.00
Coffee Break
15.00 – 16.00
Plenary: Breakout Session Feedback
Each group reports back, followed by discussion on action points.
16.00 – 16.15
Next Steps – Summary of key outcomes & action points
16.15 – 17.30
Inspirational talks by invited speakers including
Closing remarks by the Project Coordinators
17.30
ICU – presentation & Visit (possible for max 10 people)
Dr. Rosario Amaya Villar, Head of the Intensive Care Unit at the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital
18.00
Walk from the hospital to the hotel
18.30
Pick up by taxi – Celebratory Kick-off Dinner (self-funded by institute INDICATE budget) payment details in theregistration form) – Casa Ozama
Avenida Borbolla, 57-59, Cornering Calle Felipe II In front of Maria Luisa park Seville (Spain)
The 7th Critical Care Datathon, held from January 10 till February 7, is the place where multidisciplinary teams and international experts collaborate to explore clinical questions using large datasets from electronic health records. Participants also have the opportunity to enhance their data knowledge, discover new methods to address clinical questions, and build connections!
The datathon is open to all intensive care professionals (experienced or new) and open to all data scientists and machine learning professionals (seasoned or beginner). This is your chance to compete in global mixed teams to advance intensive care medicine! Together with your team members you will work on one of three real world challenges related to intensive care medicine using AmsterdamUMCdb (in OMOP format), the first freely available European ICU database. Collaboration, learning and fun are key ingredients.
This edition will be held online from January 10 till January 31, and the top three teams will be invited to present their work at the Grand Finale during the Intensive Care Innovation Forum on February 7, in Milan.
Register yourself and your team for the datathon (or read more about the programme) right here!
Improving patient care by using data securely and responsibly while developing reliable AI models—that is the goal of a new initiative aimed at enhancing data exchange among intensive care units across Europe. The project is led by Michel van Genderen, an internist-intensivist at Erasmus MC.
The project called INDICATE is developing a secure system for sharing ICU data. Instead of sending the data to researchers or healthcare professionals, the software is brought to the ICU to analyze the data locally. This ensures that the data always remains within the hospital environment, fully protecting patient privacy.
Currently, it is challenging for ICUs to collaborate effectively because data is often fragmented and difficult to access. Data access is complex for training AI models, and patient privacy must always be safeguarded. This became evident during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when even simple questions, such as how many patients in the Netherlands developed a blood clot as a complication of COVID-19, could not be answered immediately.
AI Models
The lack of real-time information and data exchange between hospitals makes it difficult to develop AI models that can be applied across different institutions. For instance, consider an AI model designed to detect bloodstream infections in newborns earlier, enabling faster treatment.
INDICATE aims to address these challenges by ensuring that data is used securely and responsibly. It facilitates secure data sharing and promotes the collaborative development of AI models that can be deployed across multiple locations. Additionally, it functions as a benchmarking platform, allowing ICUs to compare and improve their performance.
Spread Across Europe
INDICATE’s partners are spread throughout Europe, providing a broad representation of data from diverse patient populations. This diversity enhances the training of AI models for patients from various backgrounds, making them more reliable and effective for everyone. As a result, healthcare professionals are better equipped to deliver personalized care, compare ICU outcomes, and prepare for emergencies.
The project is led by internist-intensivist Michel van Genderen from Erasmus MC, in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Christian Jung (University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany), co-coordinator of INDICATE, and Jan van den Brand and Lisanne Schuurman Prooyen from Erasmus MC. The European Commission has awarded the project a grant of €10 million.
We are excited to share some fantastic news with you all – we are proud to announce that INDICATE has officially launched this week!
INDICATE aims to tackle key challenges faced by European Intensive Care Units (ICUs) that hinder progress in data-enabled clinical decision-making and data-driven innovations like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Although ICUs operate in data-rich environments, individual ICU datasets are often limited in size, and the absence of standardized, secure mechanisms for cross-border data sharing restricts AI’s transformative potential in healthcare. To address this, INDICATE seeks to develop a federated infrastructure for ICU data, facilitating secure, cross-border access to large-scale, diverse datasets.
We look forward to the success and growth of INDICATE and to sharing this exciting adventure with all of you!
