News

Around 30 representatives of the UNICA consortium met in Valencia to review progress and define the next steps for the project

• UNICA brings together 16 partners across Europe, from Ukraine to the Azores Islands, helping to extend the geographical reach of the European cancer imaging infrastructure EUCAIM
• The consortium is progressing with the onboarding of clinical data holders to EUCAIM and preparing the next stages of its AI pilots for breast and lung cancer

The Joint Action ‘Enhancing digital capabilities of cancer centres in Europe to improve prevention and care’ (eCAN Plus) is a flagship EU project in digital oncology and cross-border health data exchange. Its goal is to make the benefits of digital health accessible to all citizens, patients and healthcare professionals.

Researchers, clinicians, and innovators from across Europe gathered in Milan for the official launch of UNICA, an ambitious European project set to revolutionise how cancer is detected and diagnosed. Coordinated by Datrix S.p.A., Italy, UNICA unites partners from 10 countries and 12 hospitals to advance AI-powered cancer screening while keeping patients’ data secure and private.

At the heart of UNICA lies an innovative concept known as federated medical imaging, a technology that allows hospitals to train and test artificial intelligence models without transferring patient data. Instead of centralising sensitive information, AI algorithms travel to the hospitals’ data, learn from it locally, and return improved models to the shared network. This ensures full compliance with privacy regulations like the GDPR, while enabling Europe’s hospitals to collaborate as if their data were in one place.

“UNICA is about unlocking the power of data for the common good, without compromising patient privacy,” said project coordinator Dr. Michele Compare, CTO at Datrix. “Through artificial intelligence and secure data federation, we aim to make cancer screening faster, more accurate, and more accessible across Europe.