In 2019, the strategic contract of the health industries and technologies sector was signed by several ministries: Health, Higher Education, Economy & Finance, as well as by several actors of the health industries and technologies sector: CFDT, FO and the strategic committee of sector (CSF) ITS. On June 8, 2021, an amendment was signed by the same actors to update some of the points mentioned in the contract. The AI & Health project is one of them.

A rider to update the strategic contract of the health industries and technologies

This amendment is part of the objectives of the France Recovery Plan, which provides financial support for several structuring projects of the CSF, whether it is support for innovation, development of employment, training and SMEs. Several projects have been restructured, while others have been added to the contract.

The new structuring projects include:

• The Relocation of active ingredients, intermediates or essential medicines project
• The Medical Imaging Project, which is based on several technological use cases: Echopen’s Echostethoscope, GE Healthcare’s AI DReaM, Thales’ Nemoxis and Thales’ and Institut Curie’s FLASH radiotherapy
• The In Vitro Diagnostics Project
• The Digital Transformation Project, which aims to promote the competitiveness of companies in the industry and health technology sector while accelerating their digital transition. A self-assessment tool for the digital maturity of companies is going to be designed to value the best use cases and encourage transformation.

Continuation of the AI & Health project and addition of new missions.

With the signing of this amendment, three projects already included in the contract signed in 2019 will be continued: this is the case of the projects Fight against antibiotic resistance, Support for the development of SMEs, Training and development of skills and finally International deployment will continue the work undertaken. Two other projects will benefit from new missions: for example, the missions of the Bioproduction project will be extended around five new strategic axes.

The AI & Health Project will also continue to pursue its initial objectives: AI & Cancer use cases, valorisation/economic model of the Health Data Hub’s shared data and deployment of recommendations on the use of real-life data in decision making. Thanks to the rider, the “Health care pathway” mission will be set up. The objective will be to optimize the service provided to the patient through an efficient and coordinated pathway involving new actors. A new AI & Rare Diseases use case has also been introduced with the aim of reducing diagnostic errancy and therapeutic impasse through easier access to data, deployment of algorithms and identification of new therapeutic targets.

The Minister of Solidarity and Health, Olivier Véran, spoke around the signing of this rider:

“I welcome the progress made by this strategic committee, which allows the concerns of our health industry to be taken into account. The crisis has shown us how crucial this subject was. This amendment allows us to strengthen access to essential and intermediate active ingredients for the French. It provides considerable support for the initial projects, in particular by continuing the project to combat antibiotic resistance and prepare the antibiotics of tomorrow.”

Translated from Le ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé poursuit ses actions dans le cadre du projet IA & Santé