List of Partners

Data In Motion Consulting GmbH is an IT development and consulting company based in Jena. It is active in a large number of research and model projects, as a service provider for the public sector and in the classic B2B sector. Its core competencies include model-driven software development, modular and distributed software and system architectures as well as consulting in the field of digitalization and change management.

In the AVATAR project, Data In Motion is responsible for the technical implementation of the core system. DIM works on the overall architecture, program interfaces to data rooms, implements functionalities and develops the generation of data avatars for end users.

Website: www.datainmotion.de

The Institute of Data Science at DLR focuses on finding solutions for the new challenges of the digitalization era. Research focuses on the fields of data management, data analysis and data collection.

In AVATAR, DLR focuses on the collection and use of health data in order to investigate the influence of data usage context and data characteristics on the willingness to donate data. DLR is also working on semantic descriptions of data sets, algorithms and queries to provide users with data that is precisely tailored to their research questions.

Website: www.dlr.de/de

The University of Applied Sciences in Jena primarily contributes to applied research and development. Its research focuses on precision systems, technologies and materials, health and sustainability as well as digitalization as an overarching topic.

In AVATAR, EAH researchers focus on the social science and engineering perspective. Here, the acceptance of and willingness to donate data is being investigated on the basis of socio-structural and cultural-normative influencing factors. Furthermore, researchers focus on data management and the creation of a data governance model that forms a controlling framework and takes into account the specific requirements for anonymization and the empirical findings on the willingness to donate data.

Website: www.eah-jena.de

"Where AI means audio intelligence." At the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Ilmenau, everything revolves around the secure and efficient AI-based recognition and classification of audio and video data. This includes solutions for monitoring industrial production processes, environmental monitoring and identifying manipulations in audio data. The institute also researches and develops processes for data security and technical data protection, such as the anonymization of audio data. Another focus is the development of 3D audio technologies for use in the live and event sector.

In the AVATAR project, the Fraunhofer IDMT designs and develops solutions for technical data protection based on so-called Privacy Enhancement Technologies (PET) for the application-specific processing of medical data.

Website: www.idmt.fraunhofer.de

The Applied Systems Technology (AST) branch of Fraunhofer IOSB develops systems engineering solutions for complex, dynamic and time-variant processes that are used in a wide range of application areas such as energy and water supply, cyber security, land and underwater robotics and data rooms.

In AVATAR, Fraunhofer IOSB-AST is developing standardized interfaces that enable secure data exchange and thus efficient data acquisition and processing by various stakeholders. The aim is for the anonymization routines to be executed directly in the connector to ensure that the data is correctly anonymized before it leaves the source system. To this end, the current developments of GAIA-X will be built upon and a demonstrator will be put into operation as a proof-of-concept in the real laboratory.

Website: www.iosb-ast.fraunhofer.de

Friedrich Schiller University Jena is a university in Thuringia that is rich in tradition and strong in research. With around 18,000 students, it offers a wide range of courses in the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.

In AVATAR, scientists from the Program Analysis and Optimization working group (Institute of Computer Science at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science) are investigating description languages for system and software architectures for federated systems such as the AVATAR system. The aim is to compare quality requirements and system architecture and to generate statements about the achievability of the requirements. The basis for this is a formal specification of the system components and interfaces as well as the quality requirements. Based on the primarily architecturally and structurally created system design, the behavior of the federated system is to be examined and simulated in more detail. These investigations provide the identification of neuralgic system components and interfaces for the flow paths in typical system use.

Website: www.uni-jena.de

The InfectoGnostics Research Campus is a Thuringian network for innovative diagnostics and infection research organized as a public-private partnership. At the research campus, more than 30 partners from science, medicine and industry are developing novel molecular biological and photonic methods for the detection of pathogens and antibiotic resistance.

InfectoGnostics contributes its expertise in project management and science communication to AVATAR. The network develops concepts for setting up the test laboratory and Open Science Lab and coordinates the use case "Anonymization of DNA sequence data", which is being developed together with its campus partners Nanozoo, the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology and Jena University Hospital.

Website: www.infectognostics.de

The ‘terzo-Institut für angewandte Gehörforschung’ (terzo institute for applied hearing research) is part of ISMA AG, which was founded in 2001. Its interdisciplinary team combines various specialist skills in the field of hearing health. Terzo has developed the terzo hearing therapy, which has been in use since 2006, helping people with hearing loss and tinnitus to quickly regain their best possible hearing health.

Together with other partners, terzo is developing a data room in AVATAR in which medical professionals can network for holistic, patient-centered care. This enables optimal information on prevention, hearing care and rehabilitation of patients. The aim is to provide comprehensive (hearing) healthcare and the secure exchange of necessary data in the interests of patients.

Website: terzo-institut.de

ITnet Thüringen e.V. is a cooperation network of more than 38 Thuringian IT companies and has been promoting the industry through intelligent networking and joint growth since 2016. The network of Thuringian IT companies strengthens visibility in politics, business and administration and promotes cooperation between members.

In the AVATAR project, the network is focusing on the physical and virtual construction of a test laboratory ('Reallabor') as a test and development environment. ITnet is developing a virtualization concept for a data-secure test laboratory environment and provides the necessary technology and equipment required for the technical mapping of the project results and their visualization in the context of science communication.

Website: www.itnet-th.de

Jen-Ophthalmo has more than 30 years of experience with medical technology in the field of ophthalmology. Founded in 1991 by Frank Sittig and taken over by businessman Thomas Köhler in 2017, the company stands for expertise in the planning, equipping and organization of new ophthalmology practices and opticians' stores. Jen-Ophthalmo is also a long-standing member of the industry association medways.

The company is one of the few authorized specialist dealers in Germany that is permitted to sell and service the products of all well-known manufacturers in the industry. This results in a high level of expertise. Jen-Ophthalmo is involved in the AVATAR project as a practice partner and can contribute its experience in the field of Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and data protection.

Website: www.jen-ophthalmo.de

Königsee Implantate is one of the leading German medical technology companies in the field of osteosynthesis. The company has been developing, producing and distributing implants and instruments for traumatology and orthopaedics for over 30 years. The innovative products for almost all bone sections - from the collarbone to the toes - actively shorten the healing process of fractures compared to conventional treatment methods, which ideally reduces both the costs for the clinic and the burden on the patient.

Königsee Implantate is involved in the AVATAR project as a practical partner in the generation of avatars, in the test laboratory (‘Reallabor’) and in the Open Science Lab. 

Website: www.koenigsee-implantate.de

Liebenstein Law is a law firm specializing in digitalization and data protection law, which advises its clients in the field of intellectual property such as licensing and IT law, trademark law and competition law. The chancery also specializes in data protection law and data protection management. In data protection, the Liebenstein Law's lawyers advise, for example, on cloud applications and platform designs in the healthcare sector as well as the transfer of healthcare data to third countries.

Liebenstein Law accompanies the AVATAR consortium throughout the entire project period on the legally compliant handling of health data and develops the concepts for legally compliant consent for data donation.

Website: www.liebenstein-law.de

As an industry association for medical technology/biotechnology and an experienced coordinator of large publicly funded projects, medways e.V. represents interests of the industry in Thuringia. Medways has extensive expertise in the regulatory area and in quality management, with which it advises companies in the field of clinical trials and post-market surveillance. The association currently has 91 members.

As the central coordinator, medways ensures the creation and further development of basic project concepts in AVATAR. In addition, the extensive existing knowledge of needs, requirements, solutions already pursued and their viability in practice is incorporated into the development of the concepts. Thanks to its excellent network, medways ensures that new project partners and additional specialist expertise from associations, companies, clinics, etc. are integrated into the competence cluster.

Website: www.medways.eu

Navimatix stands for innovative software development. For over 15 years, the company has been characterized by its particular strength in the development, maintenance and support of distributed, scalable and highly available software solutions. The entire software life cycle is covered - from conception and architecture to implementation, operation & maintenance and further development of the software solutions. The sectors in which Navimatix is active include the automotive industry, transportation & logistics, medical technology and optics.

In the AVATAR project, Navimatix is developing the orchestrator, i.e. the component that coordinates the processes in the federated AVATAR system. Furthermore, the possibilities of how confidential data can be handled in a federated system are being investigated. To this end, confidential channels must be created between the individual services.

Website: www.navimatix.de

Rooom AG offers a platform for digital experiences such as virtual showrooms and metaverse environments. Users can create interactive 3D content that runs on all devices, including smartphones and VR/AR headsets, without any programming knowledge. Over 100 creative minds are developing solutions for the next generation Internet. Large companies such as BMW and Deutsche Telekom are already using this GDPR-compliant platform.

In the AVATAR project, rooom AG contributes its specialized knowledge and technologies in the areas of metaverse and 3D visualization for the Open Science Lab. With advanced digital platforms, rooom shows how health data can be presented and used in a visually appealing way in a virtual 3D world.

Website: www.rooom.com

The Wald-Klinikum Gera is part of SRH - a leading provider of education and healthcare services with 17,000 employees. SRH operates private universities, educational centers, schools and hospitals. The SRH Wald-Klinikum Gera is a modern maximum care hospital with 1,000 patient beds and an academic teaching hospital of the University Hospital Jena. The 26 specialist departments, institutes and 23 certified centers cover almost the entire spectrum of medical services. A network of medical care centers, a hospice, a rehabilitation center and a center for clinical studies complete the range of services.

The Wald-Klinikum Gera contributes to medical research at its Center for Clinical Studies. At the same time, it provides its patients with early access to new medicines and innovative treatment methods.
In particular, the Center for Clinical Studies contributes its medical and scientific expertise to the BMBF joint project AVATAR for the collection, evaluation and safety of clinical data in order to continuously improve the medical care and treatment of patients.

Website: www.waldklinikumgera.de

The Ilmenau University of Technology is a university of the Free State of Thuringia in Ilmenau. Research and teaching at the university have a strong engineering focus and are closely linked to economics and natural sciences, mathematics and the media.

The Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics at the TU Ilmenau is involved in the research and development of technology-oriented methods and systems for early detection, diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation. In the AVATAR project, researchers at the institute are working on the use case "Anonymization of electroencephalography (EEG) data": EEGs contain large amounts of data with signals of human brain activity. Presumably, the complex signal curves still contain a lot of hidden information. Using artificial intelligence, research is being carried out into the extent to which the EEG represents a recognizable fingerprint and how the data can be anonymized without destroying the relevant medical information.

Website: www.tu-ilmenau.de

With 27 clinics and 25 institutes, Jena University Hospital is the largest employer in the region. It treats 300,000 in-house and ambulatory patients every year and teaches 2,600 students of medicine, dentistry and biosciences. The UKJ combines its clinical and biomedical basic research with partners such as the Leibniz Center for Photonics in Infection Research, the German Center for Mental Health and the DLR Institute for Data Science in numerous collaborations.

For AVATAR, the Medical Informatics working group at the Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Data Science renders publicly accessible medical data sets available that also need to be integrated. Researchers contribute to the architecture of the AVATAR data pool with components for federated data use. As part of various use cases, anonymization is being researched by generating synthetic data using AI models. In order to promote the willingness to donate data and use AVATAR methods in data utilization projects, the working group is developing information and training offers.

Website: www.uniklinikum-jena.de