The European Commission held the “European Cancer Imaging Initiative – Joining Forces to save lives” event in Brussels on 6 February 2025

The European Cancer Imaging Initiative is one of the Flagship Initiatives of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

The hybrid event, which marked the second anniversary of the Initiative, was organised in collaboration with the European Society of Radiology and the EUCAIM project deploying the Cancer Image Europe platform. Thomas Skordas, Deputy Director-General of DG CNECT, and Lorena Boix-Alonso, Deputy Director-General of DG SANTE, kicked off the event with keynote speeches, alongside the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health of the Czech Republic, Vlastimil Válek; the General Secretary of Digital Health, Information and Innovation at the Spanish National Health System at the Spanish Ministry of Health, Juan Fernando Muñoz Montalvo; and the Chairperson of the European Society of Radiology Board of Directors, Carlo Catalano.

Prof. Luis Martí-Bonmatí provided an overview of the progress of the European Cancer Imaging Initiative, in particular the milestones achieved in the Federated European Infrastructure for Cancer Images Data (EUCAIM) project – a DIGITAL-funded health imaging data infrastructure that is at the heart of the Initiative.

The event featured four panel discussions. The first panel discussion addressed the challenges related to the availability of high-quality data for AI research and innovation. In particular, it looked at how Cancer Image Europe can help unleash the potential of real-world imaging data for better cancer management in the context of the recently adopted European Health Data Space Regulation. The second session presented the Commission’s AI policy priorities and discussed the role and contribution that the Cancer Image Europe platform can bring to the European AI strategy. The third panel presented the recently enlarged EUCAIM consortium following an additional call for new participants, and discussed some of the Cancer Image Europe platform use cases and EUCAIM’s approach for stakeholder engagement. The final session featured the endorsed Joint Statement of the Thematic Network led by the European Society of Radiology and EUCAIM which presents stakeholder views on actions needed to advance precision medicine for cancer patients with AI-based imaging. The session included examples of practical implementations of AI-based imaging solutions in cancer care and discussion with stakeholders.

160 people attended the event in-person in the Albert Borschette Conference Centre in Brussels, and over 120 people followed the event online.

You can access the event recording, the agenda and the presentations shown during the event.