Positive feedback on Bigpicture consortium mid-term review

During the mid-term review, the project showcased the progress it made in its ambitious six-year initiative to advance artificial intelligence in digital pathology. The review ended with a closed session for the independent reviewers and a moment for feedback. 

After their deliberation, Manuel de la Guia Solaz, IHI officer, praised the Bigpicture project, calling it "a very ambitious initiative in the field of digital pathology." He emphasized its potential to revolutionize pathology through the creation of a reliable repository of digital slides and AI tools. Manuel: "Bigpicture could lead to more accurate diagnoses, better understanding of diseases, and ultimately, improved patient outcomes.” He also highlighted the project’s role as a model for future initiatives, guiding the large-scale adoption of AI in healthcare.

Manuel identified several key achievements from the review meeting: "The consortium put together a solid update of the project progress, showing impressive technical progress in several areas, including a method to perform end-to-end training with whole-slide images, a first metadata standard, and tools for hospital data extraction and handling. Efforts in the regulatory, ethics and legal frameworks are commendable and expected to build a solid foundation for an exponential increase in the amount of shared data, which will fuel further work in AI development and deployment."

Despite the project's large size and complexity, Manuel observed that the consortium works well together, balancing complementary expertise to implement all tasks effectively. "Progress up to now is overall satisfactory indicating the proposed vision is on track to be reached at the end of the project," he added.

Agenda highlights

The mid-term review agenda was packed with presentations offering updates from all work packages. Agenda highlights were:

• Opening remarks and IMI introduction, followed by an overview of project vision, status, objectives, and challenges presented by Jeroen van der Laak (WP1).
• Joel Hedlund (WP2) showcased the infrastructure and database hosting with an end-to-end user journey demo.
• Jan-Willen Boiten (WP5) discussed the regulatory framework for digital slides and AI-based methods.
• Renate Kain (WP3) presented data collection and management strategies.
• Pierre Moulin (WP6) presented the plans on the project’s sustainability.
• Geert Litjens (WP4) demonstrated tools for accessing, annotating, and mining digital slides.
• Innovation Radar. Jeroen van der Laak (WP1) highlighted  the innovations developed within the consortium.
• Katrien Grunberg (WP1) led the wrap-up and future planning session.

Prof. Jeroen van der Laak, Bigpicture Coordinator, expressed his pride in the consortium’s achievements. Jeroen: "With the summer on our doorstep, we can look back at another fruitful year for our project. This was very well reflected in the midterm review meeting." He continues: "I am very proud to see such progress, with all the dots gradually getting connected. This is only possible by the dedication and great collaborative spirit of the entire Bigpicture team.”

The consortium eagerly awaits the reviewers' report, which will provide valuable recommendations for the years to come.