Over the past ten years, the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) has built up a nationwide infrastructure that makes clinical care data usable for research on a large scale. At the MII Symposium on 24 and 25 March 2026 in Leipzig, the participants drew a positive balance and discussed perspectives for data-driven medicine of the future.

The Research Data Portal for Health (FDPG) already provides researchers with more than two billion laboratory values, basic data from over 21 million patients from all university hospitals and over 200 million vital signs from intensive care. The data integration centers at the university hospitals prepare the information in compliance with data protection regulations and make it accessible across locations.

Concrete research projects are already showing the practical benefits: For example, gender-specific differences in sepsis detection and therapy are being analyzed. In pediatrics, a study uses routine data to develop more precise reference intervals for laboratory values.

In the next stage of development, the MII and the University Medicine Network (NUM) are to grow closer together. The Digital Progress Hubs (DigiHubs) are intended to expand the data infrastructure transsectorally into standard care, thus paving the way for AI-supported analyses and personalized medicine.

Since 2016, the MII has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space with a total of over 480 million euros. It is coordinated by TMF e.V. and works closely with the Association of University Hospitals in Germany (VUD) and the Association of Medical Faculties.

The MII has thus created a solid foundation for data-driven medicine in Germany and significantly increased the potential for artificial intelligence and precision medicine. It strengthens the competitiveness of German university medicine and enables new findings for better diagnostics and therapy. However, challenges remain in terms of nationwide implementation in standard care, acceptance by doctors and patients, and ensuring a high level of data protection. In the long term, the initiative could contribute to much more personalized and efficient healthcare.

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

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