MOST AIBMRC (Ministry of Science and Technology AI Biomedical Research Center) signed an MOU with GenerationsE at NCKU (National Cheng Kung University) on January 16. Both parties will collaborate in improving accuracy of AI image diagnosis on pathological slices of liver and colorectal cancer.

 

 

GLORIA NCKU (Global Research & Industry Alliance, National Cheng Kung University) is actively expanding abroad to establish industry-academia cooperation opportunities, and promoting industry-academia cooperation between MOST AIBMRC and GenerationsE through the introduction of the CTOT (Canadian Trade Office in Taipei). MOST AIBMRC focuses on the field of smart medicine, and its research scope includes pathological imaging slices. It is committed to developing innovative AI solutions and cultivating AI talents in the biomedical industry. Besides injecting funds and driving a workforce in this industry-academia cooperation, GenerationsE will also seek talent in NCKU and implement long-term training to conduct two-way networking with Canada for smart medical care through the Mitacs program.

 

 

For the top 10 cancer death rates among local people, liver cancer and colorectal cancer rank in the top two and three. With more and more international attention on AI pathology image analysis, the team of Professor Pau-Choo Chung of the Department of Electrical Engineering, NCKU, stressed the need for relevant research into liver cancer two or three years ago in conjunction with pathologists of NCKU Hospital. To date it has developed a “cloud-based multi-magnification of AI image analysis on liver.” As GenerationsE specializes in AI image recognition, it is extending this technology to medical treatment and providing technical services for medical image diagnosis. At present, the intelligent diagnosis accuracy of colorectal cancer is as high as 95%.

 

 

The collaboration will focus on the diagnosis of AI pathological slices of colorectal cancer and liver cancer. As long as liver cancer and colorectal cancer are detected early, chances of recovery can be improved. Diagnosing pathological slices through AI will help improve the accuracy of the physician’s judgment, shorten time, and reduce the possibility of misjudgment.

 

Fong-Chin Su, Vice Principal of NCKU, who participated in the MOU signing ceremony, said that smart healthcare has always been one of NCKU’s main projects and NCKU is delighted to cooperate with GenerationsE in this fields, allowing smart technology to assist the professionals and provide better care for patients, making cancer diagnosis more accurate. The Vice Principal is also looking forward to opening up more possibilities for cooperation with Canada in the future.

 

 

Professor Pau-Choo Chung stated that NCKU’s team had achievement on AI pathological analysis. The research and analysis performed in NCKU Hospital have shown that the accuracy to diagnose cancer symptoms is as high as 96%. NCKU has the advantage of owning the technology, the information from NCKU Hospital, a team of doctors, thus attracting cooperation from GenerationsE.

 

 

Julia Buss, Deputy Director of CTOT, said that the Canadian government is very supportive of developing the AI industry. In 2016-2017, it invested more than 1.3 billion Canadian dollars (approximately NT$30 billion) in the development of AI. To date, the Canadian government has already spent billions of dollars on developing artificial intelligence, including the establishment of specialized research institutions and training of experts, forming a vibrant ecosystem that includes more than 60 laboratories, 650 startup companies, and more than 40 accelerators, allowing Canada to apply AI to medical, financial, manufacturing, and other fields.