European Commission President von der Leyen highlights AI-supported mammography as a model for “AI for Health”

 

 

In her 2026 State of the Union address to the European Parliament on 16 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen chose breast cancer screening as a leading example of how artificial intelligence can transform healthcare in Europe. She noted that breast cancer screening already reduces mortality by around 30-40% among women who participate and argued that AI can further improve outcomes by helping detect cancers earlier and more accurately, enabling more women to survive the disease.

At the same time, she stressed that Europe must pursue this transformation “in a European way”, with AI supporting clinicians rather than replacing them. As she put it: “AI needs to empower our doctors. Not to replace them.”

Von der Leyen identified healthcare as one of the highest-value sectors for AI deployment, highlighting both its transformative potential and Europe’s wealth of high-quality health data.

 

EIBIR coordinates Europe’s flagship AI and cancer initiatives

 

In line with this mission, the European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), established by and headquartered at the European Society of Radiology (ESR) coordinates the implementation of flagship initiatives under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the EU Apply AI Strategy. These initiatives seek to develop the infrastructure, connect high-quality datasets and establish guidance for the safe clinical deployment of AI, reflecting the “European way” of using health data responsibly while fostering innovation.

 

Cancer Image Europe (EUCAIM), the federated European infrastructure for cancer imaging data implementing the European Cancer Imaging Initiative and co-funded under the Digital Europe Programme provides a secure, GDPR- and EHDS-compliant cross-border architecture enabling datasets to be discovered, accessed and used for AI training and validation without centralising patient-identifiable data. This exemplifies the “European way” of using health data responsibly while fostering innovation. IIS La Fe holds the scientific coordination of EUCAIM, led by Dr. Martí-Bonmatí, Director of the Medical Imaging Department at La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital, while UPV, through Prof. Ignacio Blanquer, provides the technical leadership of EUCAIM’s central infrastructure hub.

EUCAIM has become the trusted infrastructure for a growing number of research and implementation projects.

 

Among them the BreastSCan project, also coordinated by EIBIR and co-funded under the EU4Health Programme, builds on EUCAIM to train and validate AI tools for image quality assessment, risk stratification, lesion detection and breast density classification. The project also promotes the AI literacy needed for clinicians to use these technologies safely and effectively. BreastSCan is assembling one of the world’s largest and most diverse breast imaging datasets, comprising more than one million mammography, ultrasound and MRI images from over 7,500 confirmed breast cancer cases. Prof. Francesco Sardanelli from La Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro i Tumori (IT), acts as scientific coordinator and Dr. Carlos Telleria from Instituto Aragnes de Ciencias de la Salud (ES) acts as technical coordinator.

 

 

Another flagship initiative driven by the radiology community is COMPASS AI, which aims to promote the responsible and effective integration of AI into clinical practice. The project is scientifically coordinated by Prof. Prof. Regina Beets-Tan, University of Maastricht (NL), and Laurens Topff, MD PhD, at the Dutch National Cancer Institute (NL) with EIBIR as project management partner. It focuses on two priority areas: cancer care and healthcare delivery in remote and underserved regions. Bringing together hospitals, professional societies and major European AI-health initiatives, COMPASS AI will establish an interactive platform to share best practices, support knowledge exchange and develop guidance on AI deployment. The project will also contribute to strengthening AI literacy among healthcare professionals, hospital managers and patients.

 

 

EIBIR in support of Europe’s AI strategy

 

EIBIR is closely engaging with the European Commission to identify and leverage synergies between the projects, and to ensure implementation and dissemination efforts align with the EU’s policy perspectives, supporting the European approach to AI: one that is safe, trustworthy, responsible, accessible and resource-conscious, while delivering tangible benefits for patients and healthcare systems and ensuring Europe’s competitiveness in the field.

 

 

 

For more information on EIBIR of if you would like to work with us to turn your project idea into reality, please reach out to us at office@eibir.org.