The future of modern medicine in Linz
The State of Upper Austria sees artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the most important technology trends of the next decade and is therefore creating the new Medical Cognitive Computing Center (MC3), a center to research and implement optimal patient care through the use of novel methods in the field of artificial intelligence. The MC3 combines the knowledge, expertise and experience of the partners Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), Kepler University Hospital Linz (KUK) and the Medical Informatics Research Unit of RISC Software GmbH.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jens Meier, head of the University Department of Anesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine and head of the Department of Neuroanesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Kepler University Hospital, is one of the few physicians with experience in basic medical research related to artificial intelligence to systematically improve patient care. “One advantage of using AI methods in medicine is the recognition of previously unnoticed correlations,” says Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jens Meier.
At JKU, there are several very successful research groups in the field of artificial intelligence, most notably the Institute for Machine Learning, headed by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sepp Hochreiter. In a unique way, scientific expertise and experience in machine learning are combined with the application areas of biology, genetics and medicine.
The Medical Informatics Research Unit of RISC Software GmbH has a strong position in the field of medical informatics due to its approximately 20 years of collaboration with physicians and healthcare providers and contributes its know-how and experience to the MC3 project, especially in the area of AI-based medical data analysis and prediction.
Within the framework of the MC3 project, a center is being created that combines the fields of medical research and AI research into a combined focus for the healthcare system in Upper Austria. This will result in knowledge- and data-intensive methods for the further optimization of clinical patient care with a scientific focus on health care research and patient safety.
In MC3 solutions are being worked on for the following medical problems:
The project partners in MC3 are specialists when it comes to the use of AI in medicine. They have access to knowhow and databases that are usually not available to other IT companies. Kepler University Hospital has been collecting all clinical data in a well-maintained data warehouse for more than ten years. This data can be exported anonymously and used in accordance with legal regulations. The rights of patients are safeguarded by the involvement of the ethics committee and by compliance with all regulations, first and foremost the GDPR and the Medical Devices Act. Since only retrospective data is analyzed, there is no risk to patients. Due to the close cooperation between physicians, bio- or medical computer scientists and AI experts, a professional understanding of the problems is available. This guarantees both medically and methodologically correct processing of data and predictive models.
MC3 enables the preservation and expansion of highly qualified jobs. Furthermore, a very high quality education within a scientifically excellent and interdisciplinary environment is made possible. The development of scientific experts in this field should enable the growth of the center itself, on the one hand, and increase the visibility and attractiveness for international scientists, on the other hand. MC3 also contributes significantly to the competitiveness of Upper Austria as an economic location.
This project is financed by research subsidies granted by the government of Upper Austria. RISC Software GmbH is Member of UAR (Upper Austrian Research) Innovation Network.
Head of Unit Medical Informatics
Read more
