{"id":2712,"date":"2024-10-23T08:36:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T06:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websites.fraunhofer.de\/smart-sensing-insights\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2024-10-23T08:36:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T06:36:43","slug":"tef-health-2024-porto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websites.fraunhofer.de\/smart-sensing-insights\/tef-health-2024-porto\/","title":{"rendered":"TEF-Health 2024 @ Porto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 6th<\/sup> General Assembly since the start of the European TEF-Health project was held in tandem with the Innovating Health Together conference (IHT). TEF-Health 2024 promised no less than to address the \u201cfuture of health in Europe\u201d. The events convened on October 15 in the beautiful city of Porto, Portugal. Thanks go out to Cristiana Costa and her team from the Institute Pedro Nunes (IPN) for organizing the event. Aiming to facilitate and push the validation and certification of AI and robotics in medical devices, the EU-funded project T<\/strong>esting and E<\/strong>xperimentation F<\/strong>acility for Health<\/strong> AI and Robotics (TEF-Health\u00a0<\/a>) gathers interdisciplinary experts from industry, academia, and other players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEF-Health<\/p>TEF-Health is a pan-European network that aims to offer centralized access to a wide array of services and expertise. Its main goal is to accelerate AI and robotics development in healthcare by providing tailored support to innovators and SMEs, ensuring efficient testing processes, and facilitating market access while adhering to regulatory standards.

TEF-Health focuses on validating AI solutions in real or realistic, large-scale environments to foster user trust in intelligent technologies and promote the deployment of EU innovations from the lab to the market. Simultaneously, it aims to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of EU health systems, address inequalities, and ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards.<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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This general assembly meeting focused on synchronizing all partners in their efforts to develop physical and virtual testing services, as well as discussing the next steps for defining quality metrics for data and AI models. Fraunhofer IIS is providing essential testing facilities and services<\/a> for this new digital innovation cluster, including several clinical research services as well as four physical validation services. The first agenda item was a workshop at the University Hospital Center of S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o (CHUSJ) that underscored our commitment to the TEF-Health project. We engaged in several fruitful discussions with our partners, clearing up some critical points concerning the physical services planned for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to test their AI and robotics products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the second day, we were greeted by several representatives of the meeting venue, the Super Bock Arena. We realized at that point, that we were wholly underdressed for this occasion in comparison to these fine gentlemen.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Peacocks<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the day started with a very constructive meeting on how to proceed with defining quality metrics. These metrics will enable SMEs and other stakeholders to quantitatively evaluate their AI products in terms of generalizability, robustness, trustworthiness, fairness, and explainability. Exciting new publications are on the way, so stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would like to thank our partners in crime in achieving this goal: Patrick Schwabe (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt), Ilaria Campioni (Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0), Nikolaos Matskanis (CETIC), Guillaume Bernard (LNE Paris), and Markus Wenzel (Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From left right: Maximilian Oppelt, Nikolaos Matskanis, Ilaria Campioni, Guillaume Bernard, Tobias Zech, Markus Wenzel, Daniel Schwabe (\u00a9 Maximilian Oppelt)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After introductory keynote talks from the host institute (IPN) and its Director Ant\u00f3nio Cunha, the talk of Petra Ritter (Charit\u00e9 Berlin) highlighted what TEF-Health is all about: helping SMEs through the regulatory jungle when developing medical devices with AI capabilities. Notably, the invited representatives form Lisbon, Berlin, and Brussels, gave us new insights into the importance and goals of the TEF initiatives from the perspective of the EU commission, as well as the Portuguese and German governments. Another key aspect was provided by Maxime Rossi (HUmani) and Anne-Laure Cadji (Multitel), who gave an inspiring talk on how to effectively communicate the benefits of the TEF-Health project to SMEs: We are here to help and support them get their products on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n