iManageCancer · Project

Cancer Patient Self-Management Platform with Decision Support and Digital Health Tools

healthPilotedTRL 6

Imagine a cancer patient juggling dozens of medications, dealing with brutal side effects, and trying to figure out when to call their doctor versus when something is normal. This project built a smartphone-connected health platform that acts like a personal assistant for cancer patients — tracking their medications, flagging drug interactions, monitoring how they're feeling emotionally, and even using games to help kids cope with treatment. It gives doctors a clear dashboard of what's happening between appointments, so nothing slips through the cracks. The system was tested with real adult and pediatric cancer patients in clinical settings.

By the numbers

EUR 4,856,174

EU funding invested in platform development

consortium partners involved

countries in the consortium

demonstrated platform components delivered

total project deliverables

industry partners in the consortium

The business problem

What needed solving

Cancer patients undergoing chronic treatment face an overwhelming burden of self-management — tracking medications, managing side effects, monitoring emotional wellbeing, and communicating effectively with their care teams between appointments. Hospitals and oncology centers lack digital tools that give patients structured support while giving clinicians visibility into what happens outside the clinic. This gap leads to poor therapy adherence, missed adverse events, and preventable hospital readmissions.

The solution

What was built

The project built an integrated cancer self-management platform centered on a Personal Health Record (Health Avatar) with 8 demonstrated components: data mining services, predictive therapy monitoring models, a drug self-management tool, adverse event detection for patients and clinicians, a decision aid, serious games for adult and pediatric cancer patients, data visualization tools, and the core PHR services. All components were integrated into a single platform and tested in clinical pilots.

Audience

Who needs this

Digital health companies building oncology patient engagement toolsPharmaceutical companies needing patient-reported outcomes platforms for cancer drugsHospital systems and cancer centers seeking digital patient self-management solutionsHealth insurance companies looking to reduce oncology readmission costsSerious games developers targeting therapeutic health applications

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Digital Health / Health IT

SME

Target: eHealth platform providers or patient engagement software companies

If you are a digital health company building patient-facing tools and struggling with low therapy adherence rates — this project developed a full cancer self-management platform with predictive models for therapy monitoring, adverse event detection, and drug self-management tools. The platform was piloted with real cancer patients and refined based on clinical feedback from a 10-partner consortium across 5 countries.

Pharmaceutical / Oncology

enterprise

Target: Pharma companies with oncology drug portfolios

If you are a pharmaceutical company needing better patient-reported outcomes and real-world evidence for your cancer therapies — this project built drug interaction checking, adverse event management, and therapy adherence monitoring into a single Personal Health Record system. The decision support component includes predictive knowledge models for therapy monitoring, tested in clinical pilots with adult and pediatric patients.

Healthcare / Hospital Systems

enterprise

Target: Hospitals or cancer centers seeking digital patient support

If you are a hospital or cancer center dealing with overwhelmed oncology staff and patients who struggle between appointments — this project created an integrated platform that monitors patient psycho-emotional status, tracks therapy side effects through daily diaries, and provides clinicians with actionable data. The system includes serious games for both adult and pediatric cancer patients to support mental wellbeing during treatment.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or adopt this platform?

The project received EUR 4,856,174 in EU funding for development across 10 partners over 3.5 years. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated directly with Fraunhofer and the consortium. Given the platform includes multiple integrated components (PHR, decision support, games, data mining), modular licensing may be possible.

Can this scale to large hospital networks or national health systems?

The platform was designed as an integrated system with modular components — Personal Health Record, decision support, serious games, and data mining services. It was tested in clinical pilots, but scaling to national systems would require additional integration work with existing hospital IT infrastructure. The 5-country consortium suggests cross-border applicability was considered.

Who owns the IP and how is it licensed?

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft coordinated the project with 10 partners across 5 countries. IP ownership is typically shared among consortium members under the EU grant agreement. Interested companies should contact the coordinator for licensing discussions. Based on available project data, no commercial licensing model has been publicly announced.

Has this been tested with real patients?

Yes. The project explicitly conducted clinical pilots with both adult and pediatric cancer patients. Decision support and patient guidance services were updated and refined based on evaluation results from these pilots with clinicians and patients.

What specific tools does the platform include?

Based on deliverable data, the platform includes: data analysis and mining services, predictive knowledge models for therapy monitoring, a drug self-management tool, adverse event detection for patients and clinicians, decision aids, serious games for adults and pediatric patients separately, visualization tools, and a Health Avatar Personal Health Record. That is 8 demonstrated components across 14 total deliverables.

Does this work with existing hospital systems?

The platform centers on a Personal Health Record (Health Avatar) that connects mHealth applications. Based on available project data, integration with existing Electronic Health Records or hospital information systems would likely require custom development. The modular architecture suggests individual components could be adopted independently.

Is this compliant with healthcare regulations like GDPR and medical device standards?

The project ran from 2015 to 2018, overlapping with GDPR implementation. Based on available project data, specific regulatory certifications are not documented in the deliverable descriptions. Any commercial deployment would need to address medical device certification (MDR) and data protection requirements current at time of adoption.

Consortium

Who built it

The iManageCancer consortium brings together 10 partners from 5 countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, UK), coordinated by Fraunhofer — one of Europe's largest applied research organizations. The team has a strong industry presence with 5 industrial partners (50% of the consortium), including 1 SME, alongside 3 universities and 2 research organizations. This balanced mix of technical research and industry participation suggests the platform was built with real-world deployment in mind, not just academic publication. Fraunhofer's involvement as coordinator adds credibility for technology transfer, as they have established processes for licensing research outputs to industry.

ISTITUTO EUROPEO DI ONCOLOGIA SRLparticipant · IT
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS UK LIMITEDparticipant · UK
IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNASparticipant · EL
PROMOTION SOFTWARE GMBHparticipant · DE
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NEDERLAND BVparticipant · NL
UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIREparticipant · UK
KING'S COLLEGE LONDONparticipant · UK
UNIVERSITAT DES SAARLANDESparticipant · DE

How to reach the team

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (Germany) coordinated this project. SciTransfer can facilitate an introduction to the right team within the organization.

Order a report on this consortium

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore licensing the iManageCancer platform or specific components for your digital health product? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the development team and help structure a technology transfer discussion.

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