The big data center at Asan Medical Center(Seoul Asan Hospital) and Microsoft Korea said that on the 5th they will hold a medical big data analysis contest to develop the algorithm program such as disease prediction and diagnosis by a providing cooperative platform to analyze and make use of medical big data.

AMC explained that the contest is aimed at developing high quality medical services by removing institutional and cost barriers to make use of big data in the existing medical field and providing chances to make use of it for industrial circles and research communities.

Everyone interested in making use of medical big data including companies, university students can use the free cooperative platform. Based on the results from the contest, big data providers and researchers will push for the commercialization of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) program through mutual cooperation.

The big data cooperative platform is operated by Microsoft cloud platform Azure where millions of data are uploaded. People can open and analyze data only in cloud and can’t take them out of cloud.

The opened medical big data will plan to include digital images (CT, MRI, and ultrasound) of serious diseases such as lung cancer, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, epilepsy, dementia, biological signal time series data such as blood pressure of patients in serious conditions, and clinical information about diagnosis, examination, and treatment of special diseases.

To comply with related regulations such as Privacy Protection Act and Bioethics and Safety Act, all information go through the de-identification process that deletes personal information or replaces other values. This is designed not to identify specific individuals.

Manager Kim Young-Hak at the Big Data Center of AMC said, “To make use of the huge amount of data, some hospitals needed analysis technology done by outside organizations. Outside organizations face difficulties in collecting big data to develop. Building up the cooperative platform will be a good chance to solve the two problems. And I am sure it will be contributed to enhance competitive edge of domestic medical field in terms of big data usage and make Korea join advanced countries.”

Everyone including companies and university students can apply for the contest. People who want to participate in can apply for on the internet (email) or visit until 23rd (http://amc-conetest.azurewebsites.net/ASAN-MS)

It will last for a month and the first result will be available on 2nd March.

The panel of judges from experts in each field will evaluate the accuracy of the suggest model and suitability for a business model. Winners will get prize money, technology cooperation, and chance to get investment from sponsors in accordance with the results.