ALTEN, AIXIAL and Efrei join forces to design explainable AI for healthcare
© Efrei Picture Studio
Artificial intelligence is revolutionising the healthcare sector, optimising diagnosis, clinical research and patient care. The integration of these tools requires skills to be adapted and training dedicated to AI in healthcare to be stepped up. It is in this context that ALTEN, a leading IT engineering and services company, AIXIAL, an expert in therapeutic development and clinical research, and Efrei, Engineering School of Digital Technologies, have joined forces to meet the new challenges facing the sector.
The ALTEN Group brings its expertise in research and development, particularly in artificial intelligence and data sciences applied to healthcare. Its role is to exploit these technologies to improve the analysis of medical data and optimise decision-making processes. This partnership is part of the ALTEN Group’s “A3” programme, a strategic programme designed to infuse artificial intelligence into the heart of its projects and offerings, creating greater value for its customers. AIXIAL, a specialist subsidiary of the ALTEN Group, offers its know-how in therapeutic development, covering the fields of cosmetics and medical devices, as well as its expertise in clinical trials, from phase I to phase IV and post-marketing studies. Through its research laboratory, the Efrei Research Lab, Efrei focuses on the study of data and the development of artificial intelligence solutions applied to the life sciences, covering a variety of sectors such as health, agriculture and sport.
Concrete projects to drive innovation forward
This partnership will allow the three actors to collaborate on explainable AI research, so users and stakeholders can interpret and understand how a machine learning model makes predictions and analyses. This research aims to improve the ethics, transparency, reliability and safety of AI models. It is essential for the health sector, where several innovations will be studied and applied as part of this partnership:
- Modelling and individual dynamic prediction of the impact of environmental factors on epigenetic mechanisms in healthy and pathological populations.
- Predictive modelling of the level of commitment and retention of participants in clinical studies, to improve understanding of the information transmitted to patients (dynamic and multicultural informed consent).
- Design and development of predictive models to analyse changes in the medical regulatory framework in France and internationally (causal inference and assessment of potential strategic impacts).
CIFRE theses will also be carried out on predictive modelling in clinical research, further strengthening the expertise of the three partners in this field.
“This partnership with Efrei marks a major step forward in our commitment to innovation in AI and healthcare. By combining our expertise, we are preparing future engineers to meet the challenges of tomorrow,” says Gualtiero Bazzana, Member of the Executive Committee and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of the ALTEN Group.
“Clinical trials, which are essential for the launch of products and/or medical devices on the market, must meet certain criteria to guarantee their safety, efficacy and reliability. AI that can be explained in this context is the keystone of our partnership to meet the challenge of developing new treatments in pharmaceutical research,” explains Stéphane Thérèse, Director of AIXIAL R&P France.
“The integration of artificial intelligence into the healthcare sector is a revolution in the making. With the help of ALTEN and AIXIAL, our lecturers, PhD students and students will benefit from a practical and applied approach to this transformation, while respecting bioethics and medical ethics,” says Frédéric Meunier, Director of Efrei.
© Efrei Picture Studio
About AIXIAL
AIXIAL has expertise in the fields of therapeutic development, cosmetics and medical devices. The ALTEN Group’s CRO solution is involved in all stages of clinical research, from phase I to IV, as well as post-marketing. Its expertise covers all associated processes and businesses, particularly in regulatory affairs, vigilance, quality assurance and biostatistics. The Aixial Lab, Aixial’s research and innovation laboratory, focuses on the digitalisation, virtualisation and modelling of clinical trials in all therapeutic areas to improve understanding and monitoring of diseases, patients and healthcare professionals.
For further information, visit www.aixialgroup.com
About Efrei
Efrei has been a CTI-accredited “Grande Ecole du Numérique” since 1936, and is an independent leader recognised by the French government as being in the public interest (EESPIG). It covers all sectors of the digital economy, from engineering to management. Since January 2022, Efrei has been part of Paris Panthéon-Assas Université as a component institution. Located in Paris and Bordeaux, Efrei welcomes 5,700 students who are technophiles and committed to digital transformation – but who are also communicators, open-minded internationally and trained in teamwork and management.
Efrei offers three types of course:
- Grande École engineering programmes (5 integrated preparatory courses, 1 engineering cycle, 16 specialisation majors covering all areas of digital technology, 3 of which are sandwich courses),
- Digital Experts programmes (BTS, Bachelors, Licences, Masters combining technical, marketing, digital communication or e-business expertise),
- E³ Efrei Executive Education, continuing education programmes for individuals and businesses.
With a network of more than 15,000 active alumni in France and abroad, Efrei ranks highly in the HR directories and rankings of major companies.
For further information, visit http://www.efrei.fr