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| DIFUTURE is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. |
DIFUTURE is one of the four consortia selected by the German Ministry of Education and Research for funding during the development and networking phase in the Medical Informatics Initiative.
DIFUTURE aims at providing data of comprehensive depth and breadth to physicians and to medical researchers. We will work on an acceleration of innovation, improved health care processes and decision support, resulting in tangible benefits for the patient.
Data integration and data sharing will be essential to future medicine, but they will require a high level of data security. Privacy, security, and patient trust play a significant role in DIFUTURE; innovative approaches are pursued to ensure a very high level of security. The strengths of the informatics department of TU Munich will be an important pillar of this approach.
DIFUTURE has been established by Technical University of Munich and its University Medical Center Rechts der Isar, Ludwigs-Maximilians-University Munich and Munich University Medical Center, Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen and Tübingen University Medical Center, and Augsburg University. Ulm University and Ulm University Medical Center have become partners in 2019. Networking partners are Saarland University and Saarland University Medical Center, and Regensburg University Medical Center. In order to achieve interoperability, a balance between industrial and open source solutions is sought, the latter including i2b2, tranSMART, and openBIS.
DIFUTURE is strongly committed to international collaboration. Among its partners is the Dutch Techcenter for Life Sciences promoting the GO FAIR Initiative. DIFUTURE’s international orientation is reflected by its highly renowned Scientific Advisory Board with members from Harvard University Medical School, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Oxford University, and ETH Zurich.
MIRACUM DIFUTURE JOURNAL
In 2023, DIFUTURE has teamed up with MIRACUM to publish an annual journal. For the first time, the magazine was designed in collaboration with the cooperation partner MIRACUM; entirely under the unofficial motto „Create synergies – avoid parallel structures“. The two consortia have concluded a cooperation agreement for increased collaboration, which is described in the editorial and interview with the consortium leaders.
The journal also focuses on other key topics such as the Research Data Portal for Health (FDPG), the new Module 3 and 2b projects, the work of the junior research groups and the work of the Ethics Committee and the Use & Access Committee. Another focus is on the presentation of some MIRACUM and DIFUTURE data integration centres, which are elementary for digitisation in the health sector.
The prospects for the future of medical informatics are promising and some aspects such as the establishment of the European Health Data Space as well as education, training and continuing education are examined in more detail in the journal.
The MIRACUM DIFUTURE Journal is available for download.