Île-de-France; The European capital of artificial intelligence
- Comité Intelligence Artificielle
- Apr 13, 2021
- 6 min read
Summary
With its "AI 2021" regional plan launched in 2018, the Île-de-France Region aimed to transform the territory into an undisputed leader in artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe. Thanks to the developments carried out involving various industrial and academic players, the Region has transformed itself into an ecosystem based on open innovation, which is captivating the curiosity of international investors in this field. Relying on its youth and growing talents, the Region continues to multiply the challenges and regional infrastructures with the aim of making international leaders in AI emerge and to solve the major industrial challenges of tomorrow in terms of health, security, mobility or employment.
AI For health challenge 2020
From March 22 to May 21, 2021, 10 players with an artificial intelligence platform will enter the final phase of the AI For health challenge 2020 organized by the Île-de-France Region and its partners: the AP-HP and the Institut Curie. This competition, also supported by Medicen Paris Region, Startup Inside and OVH Cloud, aims to reward companies and academic research laboratories affiliated with a company with the most relevant proposals to meet the challenges posed by health institutes in the field of oncology. This year, the challenge open to companies is twofold:
The challenge launched by the AP-HP consists of using an algorithm to improve the management of patients with liver cancer whose long-term survival rate does not exceed 10% with current treatment methods.
The challenge launched by the Institut Curie is to develop an algorithm to predict the response to treatment for lung cancer, knowing that the survival rate of patients with this pathology varies considerably depending on the type of treatment chosen (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapies).
At the beginning of 2021, a shortlist of 10 companies has been made. These companies will start processing the clinical data provided by each research institute and developing their algorithm on March 22, for a period of 2 months. The winners of each challenge will be announced in June and a sum of €500,000 will be awarded to each winner (1).
This competition supports the emergence of innovative solutions for the healthcare sector, and the development of new international leaders in the field of AI in healthcare. As a young company, winning a competition of this magnitude can be fundamental for your company in terms of funding, influence and national or international collaborations.
As an example, following their victory in the first AI For health challenge, the start-up Owkin has implemented an algorithm to predict the health status of patients with COVID-19 upon their arrival at the hospital with a severity score ranging from 1 to 5 (2). This collaboration established with various medical and research centers has not only improved the management of patients thanks to this prediction tool but also validated its technological approach in the prestigious journal Nature Communications (3).
The AI Challenge Paris Region hat-trick
The AI For Health challenge stems from the first international competition organized by Ile-de-France in 2018. The creation of such a competition has reinforced the strategy of the Paris Region in its conversion into a true "start-up region" with AI at the heart of innovation (3).
During this innovative competition, the ten participating start-ups benefited from three months of in-depth coaching, divided into two parts. The first part consisted of two months of coaching by numerous industrial partners such as Atos, Dassault Systèmes, EY, Empruntis, Cabinet Dechert in order to solve problems around the technical aspects of the products deployed by the candidates, and then, during the last month, the candidates used the knowledge acquired in order to realize their product and the development of their company (5).
The first prize of €700,000 was awarded to TheraPanacea for its AI project applied to cancer research.
The second prize of €350,000 was won by LightOn, for the development of optical processors that consume much less energy than standard graphics processors.
Distinguished by a third prize worth €150,000, the start-up PandaGuide completes the podium with its AI helmet-guide for visually impaired people. It allows to guide a person by using the same technologies as those deployed for an autonomous vehicle.
Finally, the jury awarded a "coup de coeur" prize worth €150,000 to the British start-up, Smartify, which has developed a mobile application that scans works of art and quickly transmits information about their history in the form of audio, video or even augmented reality.
After the success of the first edition, the competition was segmented into 3 distinct areas with the goal of solving scientific and technological obstacles through the use of AI:
"AI For health", "AI For industry" and "AI For citizens".
Unlike the "AI For health" challenges, which are carried out in partnership with research institutes in order to design tomorrow's precision medicine, the "AI For industry" challenges aim to make AI a lever for the reindustrialization of the territory. The latter is more interested, for example, in solving industrial problems related to the creation of customer value, the optimization of construction sites or the predictive analysis of public transport delay times. The "AI For citizens" challenges are designed to address major societal issues such as job creation and the protection of private data. This project will be defined in 2021.
Through these challenges, the Region is bringing together the various players in the Paris Region who are active in the AI ecosystem. In this way, it is encouraging structuring collaborative projects that are key to the emergence of European leaders in AI and the assurance of future sovereignty.
The Île-de-France Region AI plan 2021
Region One has a rich scientific history and the highest concentration of qualified students in Europe. It has more than one million companies, including 8,000 start-ups. This dynamic and innovative region concentrates 40% of French spending on AI as its application ranges from public research labs, to private research labs such as Facebook AI research or Microsoft to public-private structures such as PRAIRIE, DATAI and Hi!Paris. Paris Region is also home to some 20 incubators and gas pedals, which, through links with prestigious universities or major healthcare institutions, help start-ups with their R&D and marketing strategies. These incubators also facilitate contact with research institutes and/or industrial players.
n the healthcare sector, Paris Region is the region with the largest number of pharmaceutical companies in Europe and ranks second in terms of the number of medical device companies. The region is home to nearly 12,000 life sciences researchers and ranks at the top of the podium of regions benefiting from foreign investment in R&D. This ecosystem is further strengthened by Europe's largest hospital network (AP-HP) and by several clusters in innovative health and biotechnology technologies such as Medicen, Genopole, Cancer Campus, Silver Valley and even PolePharma.
To establish its reputation as the European capital of artificial intelligence and federate the AI leaders of tomorrow, the Ile-de-France region has launched its AI 2021 plan. It consists of placing AI at the service of the Ile-de-France economy, particularly in the industrial sector, and thus enabling the lifting of technological barriers in the medical field. This AI plan is based on several major axes, including the implementation of an AI Pack for SMEs and ETIs, the support and perpetuation of innovative projects such as the AI challenge, the opening of a platform specifically dedicated to the sharing of industrial data, the creation of training bac +2 AI accessible to job seekers and the establishment of the first high school AI in France (6).
Finally, the Ile-de-France region is planning to launch a series of hackathons focused on AI for health, industry and also employment. It wants to set up the Campus biotech digital, a unique platform in the world for training in biomanufacturing using digital solutions, and the Campus PariSanté - a private-public center for digital health in the heart of Paris.
The Île-de-France Region's commitment to promoting and learning this technology marks a first step in favor of access to these technologies. Educating Europe's youth in artificial intelligence means enabling them to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Auteur: Khalid Deojee (Responsable du Comité Intelligence Artificielle)
Bibliographie
1. Challenge AI for Health 2020. Région Île-de-France https://www.iledefrance.fr/challenge-ai-health-2020.
2. Owkin remporte le AI for Health challenge et se voit attribuer 1,5 M€ par la Région Île-de-France. https://www.healthandtech.eu/fr/tour/news/9374/owkin-remporte-for-health-challenge-voit-attribuer-1-5-region-ile-france.html.
3. Lassau, N. et al. Integrating deep learning CT-scan model, biological and clinical variables to predict severity of COVID-19 patients. Nat. Commun. 12, 634 (2021).
4. Les lauréats du Challenge AI Paris Region 2018 dévoilés - Le Monde Informatique. LeMondeInformatique https://www.lemondeinformatique.fr/actualites/lire-les-laureats-du-challenge-ai-paris-region-2018-devoiles-73168.html.
5. « AI Challenge Paris Region 2018 » : Sélection des 10 startups françaises et étrangères. Région Île-de-France https://www.iledefrance.fr/ai-challenge-paris-region-2018-selection-des-10-startups-francaises-et-etrangeres.
6. Numérique & intelligence artificielle | Choose Paris Region. https://www.chooseparisregion.org/fr/industries/numerique-intelligence-artificielle.
Comments