The ball started rolling through discussions with MindLabs partners Thebe and De Wever. The Medido medicine dispenser came up for discussion; a device for people living at home that registers the amount of time that elapses between the moment the client receives a notification to take medication and the moment the medication is actually taken from the dispenser. Wim says: "Thebe and De Wever indicated that they wanted to do something with this data. Because then you can see whether people suddenly wait longer to take their medication. Or if they forget. With the right data, it will therefore be possible to intervene early, before things really go wrong." Through MindLabs, plenty of research is currently being conducted into this. Petra adds: "Medido is just one data source. For example, we are also curious about the data that patient records can provide. Via the grant, we want to take a much broader approach."

Discovering patterns on the basis of data
The first round of research into the possibilities with the Medido is now behind us. A group of students from the Fontys minor in applied data science examined data from 300 dispensers over a short period of time. Wim: "We can already identify trends. Outliers, for example." And so the next step was taken. "There are now two other student groups from Fontys working on building a bridge to healthcare staff. Because we're not just interested in the data. We are also researching how an employee at Thebe or De Wever should be presented with the data, so that they can actually use it in caring for a client. Only then can the care be adapted to it; better tailored and with possibilities to intervene earlier. By receiving these kinds of signals automatically via an app, for example."

For the Health project, however, MindLabs is going a step further, Petra explains. "In addition to Thebe and De Wever, we have gathered five other parties around us who are interested in healthcare data. Care institutions Mijzo, Tante Louise and Groenhuysen, Sara Robotics (deploys robots in nursing situations) and Medido supplier Vitavanti. And of course we also involve lawyers from our knowledge institutions. What we are doing is pioneering; we are bringing together a lot of data and trying to improve the care on that basis. But if we do this well, and we are allowed to receive that data permanently, then you get a kind of continuous source. Then technology companies can run their applications on it." Above all, the two program managers hope that this will give healthcare parties a lot of new knowledge. "About how you can use the data, how you transport data digitally and which substantively meaningful patterns can be derived from it, for example. The more and the more qualitative the data, the better and more innovative the solutions can be. That is why we are so happy with all our partners in this project."

Starting small, expanding slowly
If MindLabs receives the grant, the Brabant Connected Health project will take two years to complete. "We expect many more parties to join, but we want to start with a manageable group first. After all, EU subsidies involve quite a bit of work." Even without the subsidy, however, the project will get off the ground, Wim says. "Then we just need to find another form of financing. The fact that the developments coincided with the possibility of a subsidy was just right in terms of timing. But the project really doesn't depend on it."

And until there is a definitive answer, Petra and Wim are anything but idle, as it turns out. Wim: "We are building a Brabant-wide network to share knowledge about AI and its applications in healthcare. In Brabant there were already two network organizations for care and technology: Care Innovation Center (CIC) in West Brabant and Coöperatie Slimmer Leven in Southeast Brabant. All kinds of healthcare organizations and companies are affiliated with these. By working with them from Central Brabant, we are growing towards Brabant coverage." This collaboration will be followed up this year under the provisional working name 'Health Innovation Brabant'. "We already organized a seminar together last May on the opportunities of AI in healthcare, where we had invited our joint networks and brought out all kinds of knowledge. That was a nice first activity. And another joint webinar on data sharing in healthcare is planned for June this year.