Two Cypriot SMEs are collaborating to develop methods for generating medical “synthetic” (or generative) data that can help accelerate innovation and patient therapies. The two SMEs are EUNDO LIMITED, a company with expertise in data analytics and the German Oncology Center, one of the most innovative hospitals in Cyprus with cutting edge oncology therapy. The collaboration is through the proof of concept project CONCEPT/0722/0019 from the Research Innovation Foundation (RIF), “Accelerating Innovation through data sharing data with no privacy concerns” (AVATAR). AVATAR is a fast paced nine (9) month project starting on 1/5/2023 and ending on 31/1/2024.

Access to reliable data is critical for healthcare as it drives therapy choice and innovation. This is especially true with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) methods that need as much data as for the training of the algorithms. However, privacy concerns put an enormous burden on accessing such data. This constraint can slow and even prevent the development of novel solutions and technologies. A promising solution to this problem is the generation and use of synthetic data. Synthetic data are non-reversible artificially manufactured data that replicate the statistical characteristics and correlations of real raw data. Synthetic data analysis yields similar conclusions as if done with the real data. In healthcare  the synthetic data are created using different algorithms that mirror the statistical properties of the original patient data, without revealing information regarding the real patients. The data are synthesized according to specific requirements and data usage purposes. During the project, real data from patients with prostate cancer will be used and fed into an AI-driven model to generate synthetic data. The data will be evaluated with different utility assessment methods in order to ensure the statistical properties of the real data are captured by the synthetic data sets without revealing or compromising privacy. Towards the end of the project there will be a public event to announce the results and the next steps. Please stay tuned.

For more information, you may contact the Project Coordinator, Dr. Charalambos Anastassiou (email: eundoltd@gmail.com)

​

Acknowledgement

The project AVATAR is implemented under the programme of social cohesion “THALIA 2021-2027” co-funded by the European Union, through the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus