Best use of R&D winners 2023

Dublin, 16/02/2023.

The iToBoS project partner Trilateral Research won "Invest in Ireland’s award" for "Best Use of R&D" for their work on iToBoS. 

Trilateral’s work on iToBoS focuses on assessing and responding to the ethical, societal, and privacy challenges associated with the use of AI and genomic data in healthcare provision. This work involves the completion of a comprehensive Privacy Impact Assessment and engagement with ongoing debates about the limits of data sharing and responsible innovation in the nexus of technology and medicine.

Trilateral’s work on these issues has ramifications extending beyond the iToBoS project. Today, researchers around the world are testing AI tools for the diagnosis of strokes, drug discovery, and prediction of heart disease. At the same time, though, concerns about the negative impacts of medical AI abound, often in relation to the technology’s black box model, susceptibility to algorithmic bias, and use of personal data. These are difficult concerns to answer, especially as the technology evolves more rapidly than the regulations governing it. Trilateral’s work in the iToBoS project represents a contribution to this uncharted territory at the intersection of health, privacy, and AI, which can be transferred to ongoing research beyond the project.

The iToBoS project is developing an AI diagnostic tool which allows doctors to review skin lesions more quickly and with more accuracy than a traditional dermascopy, thus aiding the diagnosis of melanoma. Like similar AI tools being developed to help diagnose breast cancer and strokes, the iToBoS tool can identify the signs of disease early, when they are invisible to the naked eye, and thus has the potential to significantly and positively impact health outcomes. The tool employs a type of deep learning called Convolutional Neural Networks to learn to identify lesions, and integrates these findings with each patient’s health data to ensure holistic, accurate diagnoses. Read our blog here to learn more about how Trilateral is responding to the ethical and societal challenges associated with the development of AI tools for healthcare.

The Invest in Ireland awards recognise the positive impact of Foreign Direct Investment on the Irish economy and society at large by recognising contributions across the Tech, MedTech, Pharma, Green Economy, Financial Services, Business Services, and Engineering sectors. The Best Use of R&D award recognises Trilateral’s work to improve public health through sustainable innovation.

The award was granted on the basis of Trilateral’s contributions to iToBoS, a project which aims to develop an AI diagnostic platform for early detection of melanoma. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 965221.

Find out more about the Trilateral contribution and the Invest in Ireland Awards winners 2023.