RAIQC Ltd to lead a Nine-partner Consortium in Trustworthy AI Evaluation

20 June 2024, Oxford, UK

RAIQC is pleased to announce our success in winning an award from UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) to help accelerate both the deployment and evaluation of medical imaging AI tools to healthcare providers including the NHS. RAIQC, and its eight NHS, industry and academic consortium partners, are one of 21 successful organisations, announced in February by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan [https://www.ukri.org/news/19-million-to-accelerate-trustworthy-and-responsible-ai], to share a total of £19m funding to accelerate the adoption of trustworthy and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies. This project builds on RAIQC’s successful delivery of an initial scoping study in 2023. [https://www.raiqc.com/news/raiqc-wins-ukri-funding-to-help-deploy-ai-into-the-nhs/]

Over recent years, several artificial intelligence (AI) systems have been developed to aid with medical image interpretation. However, despite a number of systems being commercially available, their uptake and adoption into clinical practice has been slow. One reason for this is that development and validation of AI algorithms is a time-consuming process. Furthermore, pre-purchase evaluation and subsequent on-going quality assurance of these algorithms within the NHS is difficult to achieve.

RAIQC Ltd has already developed a web-based clinical simulation platform with combines DICOM viewing capability with structured reporting and annotation tools. The platform has been used to perform validation studies on several AI algorithms, both for commercial and academic partners. Through this project, RAIQC aims to further develop this platform into a solution that can address all the above market needs and will both accelerate the adoption of AI algorithms into clinical practice and allow ongoing performance assessment. These capabilities will be a game changer for medical imaging AI and allow RAIQC to position itself as the leading provider of activities in this field.

RAIQC have assembled a consortium of nine partners representing the NHS, academia and the medical imaging AI industry including Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, GE Healthcare, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, Jiva.ai Ltd, Lunit Inc, NDORMS University of Oxford, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Qure.ai Technologies Ltd.

This project will utilise the recent deployment of the Thames Valley and Surrey Secure Data Environments (TVS SDE; https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/research/tvssde/ ), operated by Oxford University Hospitals, to access and evaluate the required AI performance statistics.

Dr Sarim Ather, CEO of RAIQC, said “We are delighted to receive this project award from Innovate UK. RAIQC has developed a great platform with the ability to share and annotate medical images. This award builds on the success of both our team and our partners to deliver the Innovate UK-funded pilot project over last summer. Through this award we aim to support UK companies in securing their adoption and acceptance within healthcare providers internationally and also, for the first time, to provide a means of evaluating long-term performance of AI tools.”

Kerrie Woods, TVS SDE Programme Director at OUH, said “OUH will provide researchers with access to data within the Thames Valley and Surrey Secure Data Environment. This innovative approach will facilitate access to anonymised NHS data for approved research projects within an NHS-controlled environment. This programme will enable evaluation of the required AI performance statistics, valuable research and innovation, delivering benefits to the Health Service, patients and the regional economy, whilst rigorously upholding the confidentiality and privacy of patients.”

Dr Manish Patel, CEO of Jiva.ai, said “RAIQC’s product is perfectly aligned with Jiva.ai’s platform and its ambition to deliver a commoditised approach to AI development and deployment. We’re thrilled to be part of this award, which will pave the way for both Jiva.ai and RAIQC to deliver AI products in the medtech setting right to the people who need to be trained on its use. We are extremely grateful to partners RAIQC and others for putting this great initiative together, and look forward to working together.”

Surabhi Srivastava, VP Commercial, UK at Qure.ai states, “Increasing trust and confidence in medical imaging AI is key to accelerating the activation and evidence generation in clinical practice. We are thrilled to be collaborating with RAIQC as an innovation partner and look forward to contributing to advancing developments in pre-market evaluation and post-market surveillance.”

For more information about RAIQC see: www.raiqc.com 

For more information about Innovate UK see: www.ukri.org/councils/innovate-uk/

For more information about Frimley Health see: www.fhft.nhs.uk/

For more information about GE Healthcare see: www.gehealthcare.co.uk/

For more information about GOSH see: www.gosh.nhs.uk/

For more information about Jiva.ai see: https://jiva.ai/

For more information about Lunit see: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lunit/

For more information about NDORMS, University of Oxford see: www.ndorms.ox.ac.uk

For more information about Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust see: www.ouh.nhs.uk/

For more information about Qure.ai Technologies see: www.qure.ai/uk

For more information about UKRI see: www.ukri.org

About RAIQC

RAIQC is a web-based platform that simulates day-to-day practice, allowing healthcare professionals, students and educators to review and report on diagnostic quality medical images in a secure online environment. Using over 6000 real-world clinical cases, RAIQC offers structured reporting study lists for training and assessment for individuals and healthcare providers across a range of imaging modalities and disease areas. The platform also provides hosting for clinical research and AI validation studies that require review of medical imaging.

For more information visit www.raiqc.com or email info@raiqc.com.

RAIQC Ltd is registered in England and Wales with company number 09863569 and its registered address at 1 & 3 Kings Meadow, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0DP.