AI&ML based technologies take the stage in digital healthcare

Artificial Intelligence solutions for eHealth sector has exponentially grown in the last decade. And still, tech experts and researchers agree that the potential of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is immense: applications in hardware, software, and service solutions is still one of the most important research and development directions in the field.

The University of the West of Scotland hosted an online workshop, powered by the European Commission-funded project ATHIKA, highlighting recent advances of AI&ML-based technologies in digital healthcare. As expected, this workshop has attracted huge public attention thanks to the relevance of the topic and workshop interactivity: a practical hands-on experience on the AI&ML algorithms were illustrated.

Real-life examples and shared case studies sparks the curiosity, believes Professor Naeem Ramzan (Leading Keynote Speaker) from the University of the West of Scotland, UK. Prof. Ramzan presented applications of AI&ML in eHealth, showcasing real examples: medical imaging, natural languages processing and ML for electronic health records, emotion recognition (brain signals), emotional gym and fall detection system, explaining the audience about the technology behind and practical applicability.

“The main benefits of innovative solutions are the ability to get information for many patients, real-time interference option, early diagnosis, and assisting course of illness prediction. As the main challenges, it is reasonable to highlight the reluctance of medical practitioners to adopt AI, lack of curated healthcare data, and lack of interoperability between AI solutions”, says Prof. Ramzan.

The Prof. Ramzan speech was followed by Dr. Qammer Abbasi, senior lecturer (associate professor) from the University of Glasgow, UK. Dr. Abbasi gave a presentation about contactless, and nanoscale enabled Future Healthcare. “I would like to raise another concern that in long-term healthcare expenditures are expected to increase significantly, and that is why healthcare system sustainability model will be challenged”, explains Dr. Abbasi. In spite of challenges already mentioned, the lecturer assured that one of the most exciting future directions of nano-scale communication is non-invasive, proactive and very fast healthcare provision.

The final event talk was delivered by Felix Agakov, Executive Director of Pharmatics, UK. He started by overviewing the history of telemedicine from an industry perspective: machine learning challenges and emerging eHealth trends. According to F. Agakov, the main purpose of AL&ML in Healthcare is to increase remote monitoring of patients by using advanced technologies. “However, the main issue is the medical AI inventions path to clinical practice – R&D, regulation, demonstration of efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and reimbursement. All these aspects take a lot of time and have their challenges tech developers should consider”, notes Mr. Agakov.

All the lecturers unanimously agreed that active development of AI&ML based technologies in digital healthcare is one the most important condition for the industry to adapt to the new digital challenges. Notwithstanding, during this unavoidable and challenging technological evolution, it is crucial that the priority for all new emerging solutions would be a humanistic approach and moral standards assurance.

Find out more insights