NWO is putting €25 million into the ROBUST program over the next ten years, giving a major boost to research into reliable artificial intelligence in the Netherlands. Among other things, this long-term program will allow 170 PhD students to conduct research, giving AI-talent in the Netherlands additional space.

Several scientists involved in the Medical Delta programs are participating in the ROBUST program through some of the so-called ICAI labs.

One new lab to be set up is the AI4MRI ICAI lab at LUMC. The goal of this lab is to accelerate and improve MRI scans using AI. Prof. dr. ir. Thijs van Osch, one of the Scientific Leaders of Medical Delta Cancer Diagnostics 3.0, is on the scientific board. Medical Delta Professor Prof. dr. ir. Boudewijn Lelieveldt (one of the Scientific Leaders of the Medical Delta AI for Computational Life Sciences scientific program) was closely involved in the creation of the lab, with Prof. dr. ir. Marius Staring (consortium member of Medical Delta Diagnostics 3.0: Dementia and stroke) also having an important role. The applications resulting from the lab will connect to various Medical Delta MRI themes.

Better diagnoses through AI

Another new ICAI lab to be set up is the "Trustworthy AI for Magnetic Resonance Imaging" lab at Erasmus MC. Within this, Medical Delta professor Prof. dr. Marion Smits, like Thijs van Osch Scientific Leader at Medical Delta Cancer Diagnostics 3.0, is leading the project 'Trustworthy AI for integrated diagnostics of brain tumors'. This lab focuses on improving the accuracy and reducing the cost of MRI-based diagnoses using AI methods. Prof. dr. Aad van der Lugt (consortium member at Medical Delta Diagnostics 3.0: Dementia and stroke and Medical Delta UltraHB) and Dr. Stefan Klein (also consortium member at Medical Delta Diagnostics 3.0) are the scientific directors of this lab.

Erasmus MC's ICAI Stroke lab focuses on improving the lives of people who have had a stroke. To this end, AI-based models are developed for different stages of the patient journey. These models are being evaluated for clinical practice. Data-driven AI modeling tools should improve the effectiveness of the entire patient journey, for example, with more personalized treatments. The models should also support healthcare professionals in making decisions, from the moment 112 is called to rehabilitation.

The lab was co-initiated by Medical Delta professor Prof. dr. Wiro Niessen (Scientific Leader at Medical Delta Diagnostics 3.0: Dementia and stroke); one of the scientific directors is dr. Theo van Walsum, consortium member at Medical Delta Diagnostics 3.0: Dementia and stroke. Prof. dr. Aad van der Lugt is also involved in this lab.

Sustainable growth

The 10-year research program ROBUST aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) to provide sustainable solutions to socially relevant issues, such as in healthcare, logistics, media, food and energy. By realizing the economic potential of AI, it can contribute to sustainable growth. Increasing the reliability and understanding of AI is important for this purpose. With the funds available from ROBUST, 17 new public-private partnership labs will be launched that will become part of the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence (ICAI), which now consists of 30 labs.

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More information about the new AI4MRI ICAI lab can be found on the LUMC site
More information about the ICAI labs can be found here.