12 Examples of AI in Medicine and the Health Sector
StartupsArtificial Intelligence in Bremen: Companies and Institutes in the Healthcare Sector
Artificial Intelligence will bring massive changes to medicine and the healthcare sector. These changes will be seen in diagnostic practices, in the search for new medical materials or ingredients and even in the ways in which enormous data volumes are organised. AI has the potential to lighten the workload of healthcare sector personnel, to the benefit of us all. 12 examples of AI projects in the healthcare sector.
In Bremen, expertise in the medical and digital technology sectors have come together to focus on AI and its uses in the healthcare industry. The 12 examples described below are taken from the worlds of science and industry and illustrate how and where AI is being used in the Hanseatic City.
12 Examples of AI in Medicine and the Health Sector
Economy
1. aisencia GmbH
aisencia uses its AI system to detect and classify around 40 different skin disorders. This AI system supports doctors working in pathology by reducing their daily workload and speeding up diagnoses. Given the current shortage of doctors and ever-increasing waiting times, AI is a useful assistant that can save valuable time.
2. WearHealth UG
Founded as a start-up in Bremen, WearHealth focuses on health and safety in working environments, with the aim of preventing injuries in the workplace. To achieve this, the company uses "wearables": body-worn sensors such as fitness watches that can record working practices and identify typical errors or potential hazards and therefore protect the health of workers. This also includes the use of AI.
3. MeVis Medical Solutions AG
Computerised tomography machines create complex sectional images of the human body and are an indispensable part of modern medicine. MeVis Medical Solutions AG helps doctors around the world to analyse these images. This company's software is used to identify breast, lung, liver, prostate and bowel cancer and is increasingly using AI to support its imaging processes and improve the quality of its diagnostic procedures.
4. lector.ai GmbH / Handelskrankenkasse (hkk)
As part of Bremen's expanding JUST ADD AI group, lector.ai focusses on AI-supported document management. Its system is currently being used by the hkk health insurance company in Bremen. The system is used to automate incoming post. The AI system can recognise the content of scanned letters and business transactions, classify documents, split them into sub-documents, sort them and then forward them to the relevant person for processing. It performs all these tasks independently. This not only cuts the working hours spent processing the daily post but also reduces the potential for errors. Another start-up in the JUST ADD AI group is also working with hkk: ellamind has implemented an AI-based knowledge management system in the insurance company.
5. CAMSENS GmbH
Automated disease detection – a shining example of the use of AI in the health industry. CAMSENS (whose company headquarters are in Schleusingen) is also a spin-off of the University of Bremen and has a facility in Bremen Technology Park. The company's researchers are concentrating their efforts on detecting parasites in samples taken from domestic pets and farm animals such as cattle, sheep, horses and dogs. Using its own hardware, together with its own AI system, the company is able to analyse large numbers of samples quickly and accurately, in very short timeframes.
6. Skinuvita GmbH
Seven million people suffer from chronic skin conditions such as neurodermatitis or psoriasis. One form of treatment for these conditions is phototherapy, in which affected areas are exposed to light. Previously, patients had to attend numerous appointments for treatment at a dermatology practice, costing time and resources. Skinuvita has developed a device that patients with these conditions can use at home. An AI-based image analysis process ensures that only the relevant places on the skin are exposed to light.
Science
7. AI Center for Health Care
A wealth of Bremen's expertise in applying AI in medical research has come together in this virtual institute. Via the U Bremen Research Alliance, the Federal State of Bremen has provided 6 million Euros of funding to support this research partnership, in nine new projects. The projects include research into improving surgical care, making clinical studies more efficient and finding better tomographic imaging procedures. As part of the AI Center for Health Care, two coordination points have also been created. Among other things, they are tasked with building and maintaining networks with other people involved with AI, in Bremen, from the worlds of politics and commerce.
8. Fraunhofer-Institut für Digitale Medizin MEVIS
The Fraunhofer MEVIS Institute is developing new computer processes that use AI to model diagnosis and therapies more efficiently, to minimise risks for patients and reduce side-effects. The aim is to create precise medical procedures that offer tailored individualised solutions. It's no coincidence that the Institute's name is so similar to that of the company Mevis Medical Solutions. In fact, it was the company that emerged from the Institute in the first place.
9. German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI Bremen)
The DFKI is one of the powerhouses of Bremen's AI sector and has an international reputation. Its researchers in Bremen are active in many different fields. One of them is the health sector. They are running the Bremen Ambient Assisted Living Lab (BAALL). This is a laboratory that is set out like an apartment, in which technologies, including AI systems, can be tested in a realistic life-like environment. One of the focuses of this research is into what assistance technical systems can provide to people with disabilities or those with age-related impairments.
10. Cognitive Systems Lab (CSL)
A cognitive system is a digital system that has interfaces between the digital world and the wider environment. How positive developments for human beings can be derived from that is the research topic being investigated at the CSL in Bremen, under the guidance of Prof. Tanja Schultz. The research projects include speech recognition or the decoding of "silent speech", AI-based movement monitoring systems for older people and those suffering from dementia and the classification of heath data.
11. Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS GmbH
Chronic non-contagious diseases are the focus of research at BIPS. Its research teams are on a mission to identify disease patterns at an early stage so that illnesses can be cured or treated as effectively as possible. AI is also being used more and more frequently in this area. One of the areas under investigation in one project is how to detect useful findings more quickly amongst the plethora of health information gathered about any particular patient. BIPS is also part of the AI Center for Healthcare.
12. Leibniz Institute for Material-oriented Technologies – IWT
The IWT, as a materials institute, is involved in a multitude of different sectors. In addition to researching industrial applications, its scientists are also investigating how new materials can be used in healthcare. One project that is currently running as part of the AI Center for Healthcare involves using AI to improve 3D-printed endoprostheses such as artificial hip joints.
Transfer Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Bremen
In Bremen, the Transfer Centre provides support, networking opportunities and initial starting points when it comes to AI. It helps regional companies implement AI technologies. It is actively engaged in consolidating all aspects of the AI sector in Bremen. For more information, go to: https://transferzentrum-bremen.ai/
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