Fundació TIC Salut Social (FTSS) is a public body of the Catalonia Government (Generalitat de Catalunya) that works to facilitate digital transformation projects in the field of healthcare and social welfare. Its vision is to promote the efficiency and sustainability of health and social services through innovative technology, promoting equity, innovation, collaboration, transparency, and knowledge transfer.

FTSS’s areas of expertise include Artificial Intelligence; mHealth and digital tools for citizens; digital skills for healthcare professionals; personalized care solutions; General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance; and more. By carrying out projects funded through competitive grants, FTSS creates synergies with organisations across different European Union member states. It helps position the Catalan Health System as a model of technological innovation and digital transformation applied to social welfare and healthcare service delivery.

Leveraging AI in Catalonia’s healthcare system

One of the priority areas in Catalonia is the promotion of AI, and for this reason, the AI department at FTSS is dedicated to coordinating and executing the actions for the deployment of the the Health/AI Programme, promoted by the Ministry of Health of the Catalan Government. The goal of this program is to create an enabling environment for the implementation of AI solutions within the Catalan Health System, ensuring that these solutions are fully trustworthy: ethical, legal, and robust. This helps reduce inequities, standardize access to innovation, align solutions with global healthcare policies, and promote the transfer of knowledge to the Public Health System.

Recently, we have made an important step in this field with the publication of the article FUTURE-AI: International Consensus Guideline for Trustworthy and Deployable Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare in The BMJ, a document that sets guidelines for the development of trustworthy and deployable AI in the healthcare sector. This article marks a significant advancement in the standardization of practices and principles that will enable the ethical and effective implementation of AI, aligned with the needs of the healthcare system.

Thanks to our extensive experience in other European projects, our team is contributing to SEARCH tasks related to the design of frameworks that assess the credibility and safety of synthetic data used for AI model development. Drawing on our expertise in explainable and trustworthy AI, we will contribute with our efforts to make synthetic datasets are suitable for use in healthcare by:

• Applying explainability techniques to evaluate how synthetic data influences model behaviour.
• Supporting the development of metrics to benchmark data quality, fairness, and robustness.
• Contributing to bias detection and re-identification risk analysis using interpretable AI methods.

Driving Communication, Dissemination, and Standardization in SEARCH

FTSS leads the Communication and Dissemination (C&D) work package in the SEARCH project. Building on our experience in similar roles across other European initiatives, we coordinate a range of activities aimed at ensuring that the project's objectives, progress, and results are clearly communicated to diverse audiences throughout the project's four-year duration.

Our C&D efforts focus on engaging the wider public through industry events, conferences, scientific publications, press releases, and digital channels. We aim to maximize visibility and foster awareness of SEARCH by leveraging the whole consortium’s extensive network and outreach capabilities to connect with relevant stakeholders and potential users.

In addition to C&D, FTSS is also responsible for guiding the project's contributions to standardization. This includes identifying relevant existing standards and exploring opportunities to align SEARCH outcomes with ongoing European and international standardization efforts.

The Impact of SEARCH on FTSS

From our perspective, SEARCH can be a key catalyst for identifying and promoting technologies that enable the safe and effective use of synthetic data within the Catalan healthcare system. As a key driver of digital transformation in health and social care, FTSS stands to benefit significantly from the solutions and knowledge developed in the project, which will enhance clinical decision support systems powered by AI models trained with synthetic data.

In summary, SEARCH represents a unique opportunity to explore and advance an emerging field through a pioneering approach. By combining our expertise in explainable and trustworthy AI with our deep understanding of the Catalan healthcare ecosystem, FTSS is well positioned to help shape a more efficient, resilient, and patient-centered public health model.