Ingo Werren from consortium partner IBM iX presented VALIDATE’s approach and preliminary results at the Tech Talk series at the MEDICA Trade Fair in Düsseldorf Germany, 17 November 2025.

Werren outlined how VALIDATE addresses the high stroke incidence and costs with an AI‑based prognostic tool that supports doctors in predicting patient outcomes and selecting the best treatment pathway for each individual stroke patient. He highlighted the projects key goals to:
–           Evaluate the algorithm to TRL7
–           An approval roadmap for clinical use
–           Cost‑effectiveness evaluation

Werren put special emphasis on how the development journey employed design- thinking processes. He outlined how various operations of workshops and usability testing helped the consortium identify pain points and requirements. This helped create an early-stage prototype, with good user experience. He also highlighted the implementation challenges in clinical setting and the solutions VALIDATE found.

Werren closed with lessons learnt from the project, including the need for:
–           Early definition of intended purpose,
–           Choice of clear guidelines and work on their implementation,
–           Early involvement of experts, to get other views,
–           Continuous updates to the algorithm

In a subsequent panel discussion with Jan Kuschan (Fraunhofer IPK) and the MEDICA moderator, Werren discussed other AI use cases – like imaging, diagnostics and robotics. The session concluded by emphasising that AI interventions should be allocated where they add most value, as opposed to humans.