The digital future of medicine has long since begun. For example, wearable sensors can record the vital data on the heart health of patients with cardiac insufficiency in the home environment and transmit it directly to the hospital – harbingers of critical developments can thus be detected early and those affected can be treated in a targeted manner. And intelligent smartphone apps can help doctors to quickly make the best possible treatment decisions in emergency situations. The central pioneer of such innovations in Germany is the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) of the BMBF.

At the DLR Projektträger, an interdisciplinary team of scientists has helped shape this high-level policy-driven funding scheme: colleagues with expertise in the divisions of bioinformatics, healthcare research, clinical trials and structural funding have facilitated discussions with stakeholders and conducted peer review sessions with leading international experts, as well as providing advice on grant applications. Drawing on its technical and administrative expertise, the DLR Projektträger has been supporting the BMFTR in implementing the funding concept since the initiative began in 2016. In addition, our Communication team for Health regularly develops or designs content on the MII for the interested public – ranging from the latest news to explanatory videos – in close consultation with the client. We also support the BMFTR in the design and organisation of exhibition stands and MII sessions for presentations to specialist audiences – for example, at Medica or the Capital City Congress.

Data integration centres for better care

The MII brings together numerous stakeholders from the fields of medical research and healthcare. All university hospitals in Germany are collaborating with research institutions and companies within consortia that were selected for funding by the BMFTR in 2017 – with technical support from the DLR Projektträger – and are receiving approximately 500 million euros in funding.

Since 2018, the consortia have been establishing Data Integration Centres (DIZ) at the university hospitals in close collaboration with other stakeholders – health insurance funds, patient organisations and medical associations. These centres ensure the protection and security of the data and are designed to enable researchers and doctors to access it. In this way, the DIZs transform data into a valuable resource that can be used to gain new insights and further improve healthcare provision. To ensure sustainability, these DIZ structures have now been transferred to the University Medicine Network, which is also supported by the DLR Projektträger.
 

Interactive map shows concrete examples

The second key element of the MII funding framework is IT solutions for specific use cases that utilise or facilitate the cross-site exchange of research and clinical data. Examples of such applications include IT-based support for personalised cancer medicine or an app that recognises early warning signs of acute respiratory failure and alerts medical staff at an early stage. To enable members of the public to find out which MII sites are working on which use cases, the Communication Unit for Health at the DLR Projektträger has developed an interactive map in close consultation with the BMFTR. This information resource, which we maintain as subject editors, maps the research landscape of medical informatics in Germany and uses concrete examples – presented in a way that is accessible to the general public – to illustrate the added value of the cross-site use of medical data.

Digital Hub: Advances in Research and Health Care funding initiative

In mid-2021, the Digital Progress Hubs for Health began their work. The BMFTR is providing around 80 million euros for this flagship initiative of its digital strategy up to 2029. The hubs’ task is to integrate the pioneering work of the Medical Informatics Initiative on digitilisation in medicine at university hospitals – initially in pilot projects – into many divisions of the healthcare system: from outpatient care in GPs’ practices, through inpatient stays at local hospitals, to care in rehabilitation and care homes. The first funding phase (2021–2025) focused on the secure and cross-sectoral use of health data. In the second funding phase (2025/26–2029), the DigiHubs will continue this work and strengthen their mutual networking, including through cross-hub use cases. They will further develop existing solutions, link them in an interoperable manner and create the conditions for sustainable integration into healthcare provision.

Research staff from the DLR Projektträger have also contributed their expertise to the development of this forward-looking funding guideline from the BMFTR and are now providing technical and administrative support for its implementation. We are also supporting the BMFTR in the Division of Specialist Communication, for example by producing a video featuring statements from the Federal Minister for Research and all project leaders, or through online profiles of the six funded hubs and their objectives.
 

Networking data, improving healthcare – this is what the MII and the Digital Progress Hubs Health of the Federal Government stand for. The BMFTR is providing around 230 million euros for this purpose from 2018 to 2025.