Europe for Lower Saxony

Digitalization in the health industry is marching on. The term Hospital 4.0 is derived from Industry 4.0 and its vision of digitalized production. Hospital 4.0 refers to the digitalization and networking of treatment and care processes in hospitals with the help of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, and services as support systems.

Of central importance is the development of intelligent medical technology with a link to the IT world [1-4]. This is particularly the case for highly technical radiotherapy to treat tumors. Cancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide, and was responsible for 9.6 million deaths in 2018 [5].

Research has shown that radiotherapy is appropriate for more than 50 percent of cancer patients [6]. This makes radiotherapy an indispensable tool in modern oncology [7]. It helps heal cancer and so addresses the objectives of the national Decade Against Cancer [8].

The goal of the project is the development of an innovative medical product that aids in reproducible patient positioning for radiotherapy, with the highest possible interoperability and safety in imaging and patient marking. It should have a modern operating concept that provides utility in daily medical practice, and an assistance system that can learn and that helps with radiotherapy processes.

Special challenges are expected in the standardization of interfaces to network the diverse range of medical technology products, as well as in the areas of cybersecurity and intuitive man-machine interfaces. Overall, this innovation project should achieve significant improvements for the affected cancer patients, medical specialists, and processes in medical centers.

The project dovetails with the term Medical Technology 4.0, which refers to digital information and data processing in hospitals using digital services and functions. It is based on an infrastructure of networked clinical systems, into which the innovation can be integrated in the future.

The project is a collaborative project by LAP GmbH Laser Applikationen (https://www.lap-laser.com/industry/radiation-therapy) and Leuphana University of Lüneburg. The responsible project contact at Leuphana University is Dr. Anthimos Georgiadis, Institute for Product and Process Innovation (PPI). 

The project is slated to run until June 2022. Funding is provided by the State of Lower Saxony and the European Regional Development Fund. The project supports the Health and Social Economy specialization field, a focus topic of the Lower Saxony Regional Innovation Strategy for Intelligent Specialization (RIS3).