The research project “AVATAR Transfer” has been approved and was launched on January 1, 2026, with a duration running until December 31, 2028. As a follow-up to the recently successfully completed predecessor project “AVATAR,” AVATAR Transfer systematically translates key research results into concrete applications in medicine and the healthcare industry. Through the close involvement of industry partners, the project aims to develop a fully functional platform for anonymized data processing that is tailored to the needs of the economy.
Industry-oriented development: translation into practical applications
The project is jointly coordinated by Navimatix GmbH and the InfectoGnostics Research Campus Jena. A total of 16 partner institutions from science, medicine, industry, networks, and the legal sector are involved. This broad composition ensures that innovations are developed from the outset in a practical manner, are legally robust, and are socially viable. Together, the consortium addresses all relevant issues surrounding the use of anonymized and pseudonymized health data in research, development, and application.
The new initiative focuses on four areas of application: from therapy support and rehabilitation in ophthalmology, to medical technology and post-market surveillance, as well as infection research. The aim is to further develop innovative technologies for anonymization and the data protection-compliant use of sensitive health data, and to test them in real-world application scenarios. The central “orchestrator” developed within the project, which processes sensitive data in an anonymized manner, will be further expanded and could in the future also be used in fields beyond medicine.
A strong consortium for Thuringia
Dr. Jens Hellwage, project coordinator of AVATAR Transfer and Managing Director of InfectoGnostics, emphasizes:
“The close collaboration of various highly specialized partners from Thuringia creates the conditions to make health data usable in a secure, responsible, and innovation-promoting way. In this way, we aim to drive economic transformation in Thuringia by linking strengths in the fields of digitalization, medicine, and biotechnology.”
Dr. Florian Rasche, Technical Lead of AVATAR Transfer at Navimatix GmbH, adds:
“The research project enables the application and further development of innovative software technologies, such as complex anonymization procedures and automated software security audits. In doing so, we keep the requirements of our medical application partners in mind and ensure legal certainty through thorough legal analysis.”