Technological innovations such as AI and machine learning have the potential to transform the Irish health industry. The challenge is to find new ways to leverage data to empower healthcare professionals to make the best decisions, based on the best available evidence. Interdisciplinary collaborative research focused on human-centric AI in healthcare therefore has the potential to make a powerful impact.
There’s an enormous opportunity to bridge the gap between disparate datasets in Ireland and effective healthcare decision-making. “There’s all this untapped intelligence in silos around the country,” says Declan McKibben, executive director at ADAPT, the world-leading SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology. “The low adoption of electronic health charts in hospitals hinders real-time, concurrent access to data.”
Research focused on improving data can prompt a quicker adoption rate of data-driven technologies, helping to bolster Ireland against future health crises and fuel human-centric innovations.
Taking an interdisciplinary research approach helps find robust solutions to complex problems in the health industry. Based across eight universities, ADAPT brings together leading academics, researchers and industry partners to address severe medical problems by using quality data and human-centred technology.
“Our interdisciplinary approach to research ensures a holistic approach, and our unique structure allows us to marshal the full breadth of AI expertise and deploy that into the health domain,” says McKibben.
Collaborative research and AI can make a transformative impact on healthcare professionals and patients in many ways. Using multidimensional, data-driven predictive simulation computer models, the researchers on the Precise4Q project aim to improve the lives of stroke patients by developing personalised treatment.
There’s also PrecisionALS, a project led by ADAPT, which will provide an interactive platform for all European clinical research in ALS (a motor neuron disease). By making large datasets accessible and creating a space for collaboration, the project produces better clinical outcomes for patients and reduces economic costs.
