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The Saarland alliance impressed an independent jury of experts with its strategic concept for the second phase of the initiative. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is stepping up its funding and investing millions in research as part of the 'WIR! – Change through Innovation in the Region' programme. Further planned projects can now apply for federal funding under the 'Health.AI' umbrella.
The following text has been machine translated from the German with no human editing.
Within just a few years of receiving initial funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Health.AI team in Saarland has built up a large network and already launched nine research projects. Another 14 planned projects have now been given the green light and can submit a full application. The common goal of all research projects funded by the Health.AI network is to harness the advances in artificial intelligence for healthcare.
In 2020, the association ‘cc-NanoBioNet’, the ‘K8 Institute for Strategic Aesthetics’ and the ‘German Institute for Dementia Prevention’ at Saarland University joined forces to initiate the network and, in the following year, secured federal funding in the millions. The alliance now has 181 partners: In addition to the University of Saarland, the Saarland University Medical Centre, the HBKsaar and the htw saar, 46 research institutions such as the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) and the August-Wilhelm Scheer Institute are involved, as well as 73 companies, 17 associations and federations, 15 clinics, 10 networks and transfer companies, six health insurance companies and its own Health.AI cooperative. The participating partners are mainly based in the Saar region, but many also come from all over Germany.
The network has now successfully completed the next step: in the interim assessment of the ‘WIR! – Change through Innovation in the Region’ funding programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the alliance secured previously estimated and newly approved funding for the network and its individual projects totalling around 14 million euros until 2028.
The independent panel of experts was impressed by the network's development phase to date, its expanded strategic concept for the future and its solid financial planning. Following the assessment at the end of June, the expert jury has now confirmed the alliance's progress in the implementation phase and the viability of its long-term strategy. The jury praised the results achieved and rated the overall concept presented as convincing: The network brings together and supports the research projects under its umbrella, assists with applications and organisational, legal, ethical and data protection issues, finds partners and synergies, and provides training and further education. In order to consolidate this and make the alliance's activities independent, a cooperative has now been founded for the network members. The jury particularly highlighted the establishment of this cooperative as an important step towards sustainably anchoring the innovative momentum in the field of AI-supported healthcare solutions in Saarland.
‘The €14 million in funding is a strong signal for Saarland as a centre of research and healthcare,’ said Minister for Economic Affairs and Innovation Jürgen Barke. ‘The Health.AI network impressively demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology can push the boundaries of medicine. The fact that Saarland is succeeding in this future-oriented field is also the result of the high level of investment that we, as the state government, are making in our universities and research institutions. The federal government's decision not only confirms the innovative strength of our region, but also strengthens the healthcare industry as one of our most important economic sectors.’
‘The commitment to further funding is a strong signal for the innovative strength of our region. It confirms the path taken by Health.AI Saar to drive forward digital health innovations from the Saarland together with our partners from research, industry and society,’ says Julia Hartnik, spokesperson for Health.AI Saar and managing director of the K8 Institute for Strategic Aesthetics. ‘The funds that the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is now making available to our alliance will enable the continuation and scaling of existing projects in the Health.AI Saar network and the promotion of new transdisciplinary projects for the development of AI-based solutions for the healthcare of the future,’ explains Dr. Ralph Nonninger, alliance coordinator at Health.AI Saar and managing director of the cc-NanoBioNet association.
‘The Health.AI network and its research projects demonstrate how research, knowledge transfer and innovation, including at Saarland University, can contribute to the development of the state – both in terms of economic transformation and the competitiveness of companies, and directly for local people and their healthcare,’ says University President Ludger Santen.
Research projects under the umbrella of the network – AI meets healthcare practice
Two projects already underway illustrate the diverse fields of application of the Health.AI network and the social relevance of the developments already unfolding today:
As part of the Skills4Kids project, a research team is developing a low-threshold app to promote healthy emotional regulation in children and young people. With the help of an AI-based avatar, psychological stress is to be identified at an early stage and counteracted early on, regardless of social background.
The DEMKAPPS1 project aims to enable early dementia diagnosis in general practice. AI-supported speech analysis will help identify cognitive impairments at an early stage so that preventive action can be taken. "There is an enormous need for innovative, everyday solutions, especially in the field of dementia. With DEMKAPPS1, Health.AI Saar is supporting the leap from research to care – which is exactly what we need," emphasises Professor Tobias Hartmann from the German Institute for Dementia Prevention at Saarland University.
Based on the successful interim evaluation, further projects can now apply for federal funding. HyAIDD and Clusterboard are prime examples of the network's technological innovation:
The HyAIDD project combines AI methods with expert knowledge for hybrid drug development – especially for new antibiotics and drugs in the field of ophthalmology. The aim is to find active substances more quickly and effectively. Ursapharm is a major regional partner in this project and also offers prospects for rapid further development into marketable products.
Clusterboard is an AI-supported decision-making tool for personalised cancer therapy. Intelligent pattern recognition in national cancer registries gives doctors access to sound comparative data, particularly for rare tumours. A special feature here is the cross-state cooperation between the cancer registries of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
‘Our research projects clearly show that we can use artificial intelligence not only to tackle technical problems, but also social issues – from child psychology to personalised cancer therapy. With Health.AI, we bring people, methods and markets together,’ explains Dr Ralph Nonninger.
About Health.AI Saar
The Saarland network Health.AI is one of 23 alliances across Germany that were selected in 2021 as part of the ‘WIR! – Change through Innovation in the Region’ programme. The Health.AI Saar alliance aims to develop Saarland into a leading location for AI-supported health applications. As part of the ‘WIR! – Change through Innovation in the Region’ programme, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding interdisciplinary innovation projects between science, industry and civil society in order to create sustainable momentum for structurally weak regions.
The list of Health.AI Saar projects can be found at
Questions answered by:
Julia Hartnik (alliance spokesperson)
Tel.: +49 (0) 1522 179 00 98, E-Mail: jh@k8.design
Dr. Ralph Nonninger (alliance coordinator)
Tel.: +49 (0) 681 6857-943, E-Mail: nonninger@nanobionet.de
Prof. Dr. Tobias Hartmann:
Tel.: +49 (0) 681 30275022; E-Mail: tobias.hartmann(at)uks.eu
Press photos for download:
The press photos may be used free of charge in connection with this press release and reporting on Health.AI, provided that they are credited as ‘Photo: Health.AI’.
Photo caption: ‘The Health.AI Saar network brings together numerous players in the fields of medicine and artificial intelligence to exchange ideas and create synergies – as seen here at one of its many events.’
