ICU clinicians, engineers, and data scientists from across Europe gathered for the INDICATE Hackathon, exploring how federated ICU data can improve patient care, drive equitable AI, and deliver real-world clinical value. 

Two main challenges guided the teams:

1.  Equitable AI Model Performance Across Diverse European ICU Populations
2. Value Proposition & Long-term Sustainability

The morning started with a keynote from Michel van Genderen, INDICATE PI, providing us with valuable insights about federated ICU data across Europe and the role of AI in improving patient care: “Trust is key: the performance of AI models is limited when trained on limited datasets. Research has shown that sociodemographic factors, like a patient’s ethnicity, can affect AI outputs. We must ensure that the AI we build accounts for these factors responsibly.”

After the Use-Case presentation by INDICATE Use Case expert Paul Hilders (Amsterdam UMC) and the challenges presented by Stefan Buijsman (TU Delft) and INDICATE Technical Lead Jan van den Brand (Erasmus MC) the morning hack session got started! The teams worked intensively on the challenges. Mentors supported teams as they explored technical, ethical, regulatory, and clinical dimensions. Over lunch, expert feedback sessions helped teams sharpen and improve their concepts before pitch prep began.

In the afternoon, participants refined their storytelling, and took the stage during the ESICM Intensive Care Innovation, to pitch their solutions to the jury concluding Jan van den Brand, Stefan Buijsman, Hayley Every, Paul Hilders and Maurizio Cecconi.

A big congratulations to the winning team of Challenge 1: Boris Delange, Celia Alvarez Romero, René Schmiedler, Stefan Bartos and Maria Gonzalez Lopez. Their solution was all about how to overcome bias through transparent AI. 

Also a big congratulations to the winning team of Challenge 2: Giovanna Mercurio, John Gardner, Marcel van der Kuil and Colm Coffey. Their solution offered a unique value proposition by enabling a self-sustaining ecosystem in which all stakeholders – from bedside to industry – derive value from shared, privacy-preserving data.

The hackathon was moderated by Yolanda Sanchez and organized by the INDICATE Work Package 5 team. 

A huge thank you to all participants, mentors, and jury members for building the future of responsible, equitable AI in intensive care.