DigiCore Connect to Win meeting 2025
Marina Ainciburu
On the 24th and 25th of November, as [new members of **DigiCore**](https://www.ehealth4cancer.ie/#/news/ldcrc-digicore-announcement), we attended the annual meeting **Connect to Win** held in Brussels.
[DigiCore]( https://digicore-cancer.eu) (Digital Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research) is a European digital research network working to advance precision oncology. It operates in 17 European countries, through more than 40 partners in the public and private sector. DigiCore promotes data digitalization in cancer centres and supports its members in the improvement of their data interoperability, quality and completeness, tools development and coordination of network projects. Through the collaborative efforts carried out by their members, DigiCore has implemented a minimal dataset that collects essential information to describe cancer (**MEDOC**) and mapped the dataset elements to the **OMOP common data model** (see the [implementation guide]( https://digicore-cancer.eu/Doc/Publications/MEDOC_Implementation_Guide_V1_06.pdf)).
These initiatives have been set in practice with the funding of DigiONE (Digital oncology network for Europe), first established as a pilot network with 6 centres, and now scaled to around 20 partners.
The meeting brought together clinicians, researchers and technologists from DigiCore members (and potential members) in academy and industry to share their work and ideas on digital oncology research.
Various **talks** discussed the topic of real-world evidence (RWE) studies in cancer from different perspectives.
- Methodological approaches to generate evidence in RWE and randomized clinical trials.
- The European regulatory framework around RWE studies, and national initiatives for the implementation of precision medicine strategies in the clinic.
- Interesting examples of RWE projects focused on lung cancer, radiotherapy, breast cancer and hematology.
- Development of tools to assist RWE, involving artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) tools.
The meeting also held a panel discussion with **journal editors** from Nature Communications, Nature Health and ESMO Real World Data and Digital Oncology, followed by presentation of selected pieces of research for live feedback from the editors. A workshop about grant writing, a session for DigiCore working groups and a poster session completed the meeting agenda.
The **eHealth Hub** had the chance to present a **poster** giving an overview of our work in the harmonization of blood cancer data in Ireland. Hematological cancers have distinct characteristics that make them different from solid tumours. Current work in DigiCore is aimed at addressing these characteristics so that blood cancer studies can be included in the network. Due to our experience in the field, we will be actively contributing to this work, joining efforts with a well-established European research network.
