SYNTHEMA at EBDVF 2024: Advancing Synthetic Data Generation in Health with HealthData4EU Cluster
At the 2024 European Big Data Value Forum (EBDVF), SYNTHEMA made a prominent impact through its participation in a joint session under the HealthData4EU cluster, alongside project partners SECURED EU and AISym4MED. Held in Budapest from October 2-4, the event brought together researchers, industry leaders, and policymakers from across Europe and beyond. The session, titled “Showcasing Innovative Research for Synthetic Data Generation from the HealthData4EU Cluster Projects”, took place on October 2 and spotlighted cutting-edge developments in synthetic data technologies for healthcare.
SYNTHEMA’s involvement extended further with a significant presence in the “Synthetic Data in Healthcare” panel discussion, led by the BDVA Health Task Force. In this session, SYNTHEMA researchers joined a multidisciplinary panel to explore how synthetic data is reshaping patient care, driving research, and ensuring data privacy.
In addition to these key presentations, SYNTHEMA, together with SECURED and AISym4MED, co-hosted a joint booth at the event. This booth provided a valuable platform for one-on-one discussions with stakeholders from the healthcare, AI, and data sectors, facilitating direct engagement with industry experts and policymakers. These interactions allowed the SYNTHEMA team to exchange insights, build connections, and discuss the transformative potential of their work with key decision-makers.
Collaboration with AISym4MED and SECURED
The session, “Showcasing Innovative Research for Synthetic Data Generation from the HealthData4EU Cluster Projects“, moderated by Serena Battaglia, Project Adviser at the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), included contributions from the SYNTHEMA, AISym4MED and SECURED projects.
- SYNTHEMA‘s presentation, led by Dr. Sofia Tsekeridou of Netcompany-Intrasoft, focused on addressing the critical issue of data scarcity in rare diseases. Through federated learning, SYNTHEMA’s innovative platform securely accesses scarce health data from dispersed clinical sites, enabling the generation of synthetic data in a privacy-preserving manner.Dr. Tsekeridou emphasized SYNTHEMA’s approach to federated training across unconnected clinical sites, which reduces biases and improves the quality of synthetic data, particularly for rare hematological diseases. This solution paves the way for the creation of virtual patients to enhance diagnostics, treatment assessments, and health outcome predictions.
- AISym4MED, presented by Dr. Luis Rosado of Fraunhofer AICOS, focused on evaluating the quality of synthetic medical data through a new open-source library for data auditing. This tool aims to ensure the realism and usefulness of synthetic data in healthcare.
- SECURED, led by Dr. Francesco Regazzoni from the University of Amsterdam, explored privacy-preserving technologies in healthcare. Dr. Regazzoni discussed the strengths and limitations of various privacy techniques and their relevance to health applications.
Together, these projects demonstrated the collective strength of the HealthData4EU cluster in advancing secure, privacy-preserving technologies for healthcare data.
Joint Booth and Stakeholder Engagement
SYNTHEMA, SECURED, and AISym4MED further strengthened their presence at the event with a joint booth. This interactive platform allowed project representatives to engage with a wide array of relevant individuals from the sector. These one-on-one discussions provided an opportunity to dive deeper into the challenges and innovations of synthetic data generation, federated learning, and privacy technologies, fostering valuable connections with experts and decision-makers in healthcare and AI.
Additional Participation: Panel on Synthetic Data in Healthcare
Further highlighting SYNTHEMA’s prominence at the event, project partners Sofia Tsekeridou and Mattia Dellean also participated in the session “Synthetic Data in Healthcare” later that day. This panel discussion, held from 11:30 to 13:00, featured experts from various disciplines discussing how synthetic data is revolutionizing patient care, research, and data privacy. Moderated by a co-lead of the BDVA Health Track, the session covered both the potential and the ethical challenges of using synthetic data in healthcare.
The second part of the session showcased Hungarian healthcare data projects, examining the growing value of healthcare data, the impact of AI on healthcare, and cybersecurity concerns. The panel provided a comprehensive look at how synthetic data is shaping the future of healthcare, with insights from diverse perspectives across the industry.
