On 9 to 10 April, the H2020-funded LETHE consortium gathered for their fifth annual General Assembly meeting in Helsinki, Finland hosted by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. The meeting focussed on sharing updates about the latest activities from the project, which aims to develop a personalised prediction and intervention model for early detection and reduction of risk factors causing dementia. The models are based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and distributed Machine Learning. Next, Vasileios Loukas from Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) and Helena Untersteiner from Medical University of Vienna, presented on the logistics and timing for the project substudies (these include the use of smart glasses as well as Temi robots). The substudies are aimed to explore the added benefit of using novel technology to improve user adherence as well as engagement with the LETHE app. This was followed by a recap and discussion on open tasks that are tied to the clinical sites where the LETHE study is being conducted, shared by Elisabeth Stögmann from Medical University of Vienna and team.
The ensuing presentation focussed on how personalised messages can motivate participants in using the application, led by Jeroen Bruinsma from Maastricht University. The afternoon sessions started with an introduction to the applications of the smart glasses that will be used in the project substudies, by Mattia Pirani from i2Grow. This was a great opportunity for the partners from the clinical sites to test and explore the technology in an interactive way. After that, the technical setup was discussed, including a recap as well as open tasks. Hannes Hilberger (FH Joanneum) explained the data flow and processing from collection to the study coordinators works, and Ignacio Lamata Martinez (EGI Foundation) provided an overview of current resources planned for the data processing. This was followed by sharing communication and dissemination efforts. Jon Switters from the Lisbon Council gave an overview on the current Key Performance Indicators & Chris Bintener from Alzheimer Europe updated the consortium on the communication towards the Alzheimer’s community, including participation at the Alzheimer Europe conference.
The second day of meeting opened with the Artificial Intelligence and data analytics plans discussed by Markus Bödenler from FH Joanneum & Thomas Kassiotis from Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas. After that, Matteo Colombo from i2Grow & Sten Hanke from FH Joanneum led the discussion on exploitation and data ownership. Next up was Lelia Ataliani from Infotrend Innovations, who spoke about an update on the Data Management Plan, which ensures that our data is findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable. Nico Kaartinen from Kaasa solution GmbH then showcased the robot setup for LETHE substudies. Last but not least, Ana Diaz from Alzheimer Europe discussed next plans for the public involvement activities to ensure the project will have a meaningful impact for end users. The meeting concluded after a recap of the publication plans with many scientific papers being planned.