MOOC: Data Analytics in Health – From Basics to Business

Enroll now to learn more about healthcare expertise, data analytics and entrepreneurship

Many people talk about the promise of “big data” for healthcare. But how can the application of data analytics to big data actually improve health and healthcare? The EIT Health MOOC “Data Analytics in Health” shows that novel data analytics based solutions can result in a better diagnosis, better care and better treatment. This provides fertile ground for entrepreneurship and the development of new businesses.

The “Data Analytics in Health” MOOC is one of the first Campus activities of EIT Health that was launched in 2016 and still accessible anytime on the edX platform. The aim of the MOOC is to help participants understand and gain knowledge about improving diagnostics, care and curing by effectively applying data analytics in healthcare and spot entrepreneurial opportunities simultaneously.

The MOOC is a result of a successful and fruitful collaboration between the ESAT of KU Leuven University, the Cybernetics Lab IMA & IfU of the RWTH Aachen University, imec (previously just iMinds) and Maastricht Centre for Entrepreneurship of Maastricht University. The total enrollment in the course is approximately 8000 participants.

The curriculum comprises modules on:

• Health care expertise: Medical approaches to data are discussed and an overview of challenges where big data based solutions have been developed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness in medicine is given.
• Data analytics: Basics of data mining within the context of a wide variety of healthcare settings is explained, as well as the types of data and data analysis challenges that are likely to be encountered in each. The course starts with gathering the data, moving on to classifying, analysing and finally visualising it.
• Entrepreneurship: The learners acquire knowledge on how to assess when data-sciences-based improvements in healthcare represent entrepreneurial opportunities. The development of a rigorous business plan is used to help the learners make that assessment.

Participants with prior experience in the medical field learn how novel data science applications can improve healthcare, create societal value and how to spot entrepreneurial opportunities. Participants with experience in data science or mathematics learn about medical approaches to data and why healthcare is an exciting area to apply and develop data analytics. Participants interested in launching their start-up learn how big data solutions in healthcare can provide a solid basis to build great ventures.

Whatever the motivation to enroll in this course is, the focus and the support revolve around the participants’ project and its success – that is why the instructors guide the participants through all parts of this learning journey step by step!

If you want to learn how you can engage in data-driven innovation and make an impact on improving care, outcomes and the quality of life, enroll in this course.

Here is a brief summary of the points that are taught during the course:

• How healthcare data analysis can be used to improve diagnosis, treatment and care
• How to acquire, transform, classify, mine and visualise data
• How to identify data analytics based entrepreneurial opportunities in healthcare and quantify its economic value
• How to improve entrepreneurial opportunities and to create a rigorous business plan for your start-up

You may access the course here.

For further questions contact: Anas Abdelrazeq, M.Sc.