The agreement mentions such joint undertakings as data sharing, joint tendering for research grants, professional consultation, joint research publications.
– The collaboration between the Information Processing Center and the Medical University of Warsaw is much more than a simple clash of IT experts with medics. This is a passionate, interdisciplinary journey to the world of rapid growth of technology. Use of AI in diagnostics and management of medical data will not only open the door to innovative solutions in diagnostics, treatment and medical data management, but also has the potential to significantly improve the quality of healthcare – says Jarosław Protasiewicz, PhD, director of the Information Processing Center - National Research Institute.
Data procurement and processing standardization
Signing the agreement is correlated with the plans to set up a Data Excellence Center at WUM Medical University of Warsaw.
– Establishment of such a Center means that acquisition and processing of high quality scientific/medical data will be standardized for research and analytic purposes, and structured data will be shared in a secure way – says Dorota Szubstarska, WUM Director of research and teaching projects.
The Center will be a part of a nationwide CDD network, operating within the framework of research organizations responsible for data aggregation and processing or coordination of processing of data used for research and commercial purposes, in accordance with the guidelines of the National Data Excellence Center supervised by NASK and the Ministry of Digital Affairs.
Compliance with the EU digital policy
WUM’s collaboration with the Information Processing Center is an aspect of compliance with the EU digital policy. The European Commission is taking action to stimulate dtaa exchange across the European market and in the international perspective. Initiatives to facilitate data opening and utilization have been undertaken in Poland for years, and this WUM/Information Processing Center collaboration initiative is one of them.
– Under the agreement, research will be carried out in the spirit of openness and transparency, which are the essential principles for science – says Dr. Protasiewicz and adds: It means that research results will be available for everyone, so that other researchers are able to verify and replicate our discoveries. This is an alliance in favor of science and technology development which is opening the world of new opportunities for us. Opportunities which seemed to be unattainable before. Joint effort in acquisition of funding further improves the chances for breakthrough results.
What is the value of open data
Open research data can be reused, modified and shared in compliance with the law. Sharing of open data is becoming a more common requirement by research financing institutions to researchers applying for funding for their research. Not all datasets qualify for opening, which is particularly true about research data containing personal details, supporting commercialization, or essential for State security. The potential of such data is very important for reuse, and therefore such data has to be more easily accessible for users. Open Data can be used for verifying other research, as an argument to support the presented claims, and as a source of knowledge for other research organizations.
Collaboration coordinators
On behalf of the Information Processing Center - National Research Institute, Marek Kozłowski, PhD, is the coordinator responsible for the collaboration. On behalf of our University, it is prof. Piotr Pruszczyk, Vice-Rector for Science and Technology Transfer.
Signatories and attendees
The WUM/Information Processing Center (OPI-PIB) agreement was signed on November 24 by Konrad Stachurski, Deputy Financial Director at OPI-PIB, and prof. Zbigniew Gaciong, Rector of WUM. Among the other attendees at the meeting on behalf of OPI-PIB, there was Marek Kozłowski, D.Eng., head of AI Lab; Piotr Sobecki, D.Eng., head of the Innovation for Digital Medicine Center; Anna Pira, head of the Communication Department; Grzegorz Wierzbicki, leader of the communication workgroup; Monika Kasprzak, leader of the project development and commercialization workgroup. WUM was represented by prof. Piotr Pruszczyk, Vice-Rector for Science and Technology Transfer; prof. Paweł Włodarski, Vice-Rector for Internationalization, Promotion and Development; Andrzej Cacko, PhD hab., head of the Medical Informatics and Telemedicine Department; Piotr Regulski, PhD hab., from the Dental and Maxillo-Facial Radiology Department; Radosław Plewiński from the IT Center; Anna Rubaj, PhD, press officer; Dorota Szubstarska, Director for Research and Teaching Projects; Alina Stasiak, Office for Communication and University Promotion
