Technology company Vipa.pt has announced the launch of SmartHealth, a research and development project aimed at creating an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform to support healthcare professionals in breast and prostate cancer screening.
The project, with an eligible investment of €3 million and an expected duration of 24 months, has been approved by Banco Português de Fomento under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) programme for the reindustrialisation of the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
The platform will be developed on premises, meaning that all data processing will take place within Madeira, without the use of public cloud services. According to the company, this approach is intended to meet strict clinical data protection requirements while ensuring data sovereignty.
SmartHealth is being developed by Vipa.pt in partnership with the University of Madeira and the Champalimaud Foundation’s Breast Cancer Research Programme. The project aims to support the screening of two of the most common forms of cancer in the Region.
The platform will comprise three main components: AI-powered analysis of mammographic images capable of generating risk indicators and identifying priority cases; risk stratification for prostate cancer screening using PSA results and other clinical variables; and the assisted generation of clinical reports using locally hosted language models.
Vipa.pt stresses that the platform is designed to support clinical decision-making rather than replace healthcare professionals.
“We are not building a technology that replaces the doctor. We are building a tool that gives doctors back valuable time and provides an additional resource for early detection, in a context where every day counts,” said Pedro Paixão, Executive Director of Vipa.pt, in a statement.
He also highlighted the collaboration between regional and national organisations involved in the project.
“This project has only been possible because we have brought together the funding provided through the PRR, the scientific expertise of the University of Madeira and the Champalimaud Foundation, together with our own engineering capabilities,” he said.
The University of Madeira will contribute to strengthening regional technological expertise and to the methodological validation of the AI models. Meanwhile, the Champalimaud Foundation’s Breast Cancer Research Programme, led by Professor Maria João Cardoso, will provide technical and scientific support in the preparation and curation of the clinical and imaging data used to train and validate the models.
Vipa.pt is also in discussions with the regional health authorities to secure access to anonymised clinical and imaging data for training and validation purposes, as well as to identify healthcare professionals who will take part in the platform’s testing phase.
The project is currently in its initial planning stage, focusing on governance and data preparation. Over the next two years, work will include the development of AI models, platform integration, clinical validation in a pilot setting, and the dissemination of the project’s findings across the regional healthcare and technology sectors.
According to the company, SmartHealth is expected to improve the efficiency of cancer screening programmes by enabling the earlier identification of high-risk cases while reducing the administrative workload associated with preparing clinical reports.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Photo: DN
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