European Commission supports DigiTwins
Today, 18th
of May, DigiTwins received an invitation from the European Commission to enter
the next stage of the competition to become an EU Flagship for Future and
Emerging Technologies. DigiTwins, a large research initiative in Europe and
beyond aims at revolutionizing healthcare and biomedical research for the
benefit of citizens and society and at contributing to Europe’s Digital Single
Market strategy through the creation of Digital Twins.
“Today we’re a significant step closer to the establishment
of a system of truly personalized healthcare and health maintenance throughout Europe,
which will save millions of lives and billions of healthcare costs in the
future.”, rejoices Prof. Hans Lehrach, who leads the initiative, after the
announcement of the news. The DigiTwins Coordination Team has gathered to
celebrate and to plan the next steps leading up to the submission of the full
proposal to the EC in September this year. “We’re well prepared for the next
stage of the competition, but the next three months will be marked by intensive
efforts together with all partners and stakeholders, to create a convincing
application.”, predicts Dr. Nora Benhabiles, Co-Coordinator of the initiative.
Since its foundation, DigiTwins has grown from an innovative
idea to an initiative with more than 200 partners in 32 countries and first
applications of its concept in real-life trials. In February, the DigiTwins
initiative submitted a first proposal to the EC and thus took the first step, of
a three stage process, towards becoming an EU Flagship for Future and Emerging
Technologies (FET). Stage two, in which a full proposal for a candidate
FET-Flagship is submitted, will kick-start with a DigiTwins partner meeting in
Berlin at the end of this month. If successful, DigiTwins would be financially
supported by the EC over a one-year period to prepare for stage three: the
final selection of the FET-Flagships. FET-Flagships are science- and
technology-driven, large-scale, multidisciplinary research initiatives built
around a visionary unifying goal that are promoted and financed by the European
Commission under its Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020 with one
billion euros over ten years.
The International
Laboratory “Hybrid nanostructures for biomedicine” led by Prof. Anna Orlova,
ITMO University, Russia
supports DigiTwins, because we believe in DigiTwins’ promise to create a
personal Digital Twin for every European citizen and their revolutionary
potential for our digital health society. Digital Twins, accurate computer
models of the key biological processes within every individual that keep us
healthy or lead to disease, will be used to identify individually optimal
therapies as well as preventive and lifestyle measures, without exposing
individuals to unnecessary risks and healthcare systems to unnecessary costs.
Are you excited about the idea of revolutionizing healthcare? Interested parties are invited to join the DigiTwins community to contribute actively or simply stay up-to-date on the initiative’s activities via the DigiTwins website (www.digitwins.org).
About DigiTwins:
DigiTwins is a large research initiative that aims at establishing a personal Digital Twin for every European citizen. The community consists of more than 200 partners from industry, academic and clinical research institutions in 32 different countries. DigiTwins combines a transdisciplinary team of visionary scientists, clinicians, public health experts, policy makers, medical informatics experts, experts in Artificial Intelligence, experienced science management professionals, serial entrepreneurs, industry researchers and patient group representatives as well as experts from cross-cutting fields, such as economics, regulation, ethics, health insurance, data security and privacy. The initiative is led by Prof. Hans Lehrach (Charite – Universitatsmedizin Berlin), Dr. Nora Benhabiles (CEA - French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) and Dr. Rolf Zettl (BIH - Berlin Institute of Health).
About The International Laboratory “Hybrid nanostructures for biomedicine”: the lab is a part of the “International Research and Education Centre forPhysics of Nanostructures” led by Prof. Anatoly Fedorov, ITMO University.
Contact:
The International Laboratory “Hybrid nanostructuresfor biomedicine”
a.o.orlova@gmail.com, a.o.orlova@corp.ifmo.ru
Anna Orlova, Dr. Sc., Ph.D,
Head of the International laboratory "Hybrid nanostructures for biomedicine",
Professor of Optical Physics and Modern Natural Science Chair of ITMO University
14, Birzhevaya linya V.O., 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia
Phone: +7(921) 397-6456
Email: digitwins@bihealth.de