Wild Card Challenges for 2018: AI for patient data and antibiotic resistance

Applications will be open between 10 January and 9 March 2018

Developing artificial intelligence that makes better use of patient data and finding new approaches to overcome antibiotic resistance are the two challenges that EIT Health’s new Wild Card Projects should address in 2018, EIT Health COO Jan-Philipp Beck announced on 5 December. The announcement came at the EIT Health Summit in London, where a special session was held to explain the Wild Card Projects, a new type of EIT Health Innovation Project.

EIT Health Wild Card Projects are high-risk, innovative projects with transformative potential. The projects are targeted at challenges provided by EIT Health Partners, where the “solution” of the challenge would be a major breakthrough. Each Wild Card Project consists of three distinct steps:

1. Challenges are set through discussions of the EIT Health partnership.
2. Shortlisted candidates who want to participate in Wild Card Projects will be invited to a one week tournament, where winning teams will be formed. The tournament is scheduled for 16-20 April 2018 and the deadline for applying to attend is 9 March 2018.
3. Incubators participating in the programme provide top expertise, facilities and services, to support the winning teams in addressing the challenges.

While the chance that teams will succeed is smaller than in typical Innovation Projects, if they do succeed, the results are expected to have a major impact on healthcare.

Following a process in which EIT Health Partners were solicited for their input, the two challenges for 2018 were chosen. In more detail the challenges are as follows:

Smart Health: Personalised patient data can revolutionise diagnosis and treatment – but the real problem is capturing, storing and making sense of it. The Smart Health challenge sets entrepreneurs the task of building new solutions that use Artificial Intelligence to quickly interpret large, unstructured data sets within existing regulatory frame works, allowing healthcare professionals across the EU to improve patient care.

Fight Back: Left unchecked, antibiotic resistance could become Europe’s biggest health crisis. Simple hospital procedures will carry risk again, while old, dangerous diseases could become widespread. The Fight Back challenge tasks entrepreneurs with building innovative solutions to take on antibiotic resistance. The most effective solution must raise awareness of the problem, while also enabling new processes and methodologies to manage it across the EU healthcare landscape.

Applications from those who want to take up these challenges open 10 January 2018, so now is a good time to find out more.

Please get further information at the new Wild Card Activity page here.