The MIAAI Symposium in the Wachau region was a unique opportunity to celebrate this year’s launch of our MIAAI research centre at DPU. Guests from home and abroad, researchers and staff from DPU as well as several other universities made this event very special to our young group. Rarely have academics from such diverse backgrounds come together to discuss topics related to imaging and AI and to critically examine projects and results at eye level in such an inspiring atmosphere. Our symposium showed very clearly how important it is to provide a platform for international multidisciplinary exchange and that knowledge and skills can only be optimally used and promoted in interdisciplinary collaboration. Researchers from radiology, oncology, urology and dentistry met colleagues from biomedical engineering, AI, data science and physics. We heard about the complexity of ovarian cancer and how medical image analysis contributes to its understanding. We were shown how multidisciplinary data sharing and collaboration can revolutionise breast cancer therapy. We saw the importance of critical thinking about radiomics to avoid drowning in a sea of low-value data and features. We heard how decision support systems simplify and speed up decision making in uro-oncology. We were presented with the history of radiology and image analysis in a nutshell – highlighted by the use of virtual reality and robotics in this field. We learned that images can also be created from soundsand that image analysis allows to analyse sound without ever hearing it. There are few international meetings where such a wide range of topics can be discussed – with all of them finding together under the topic Medical Image Analysis and AI. These presentations and discussions have given the organisers and audience plenty of food for thought for future projects and collaborations. I would like to thank our keynote speakers, Professor Evis Sala and Professor Jean Abraham, who came all the way from Cambridge and Rome to be with us for this special day and whose work and presence enriched the meeting far beyond expectations. As the MIAAI team, we look forward to collaborating with you and your research groups at the University of Cambridge and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli in Rome and we hope to establish a close network including the DPU’s local research partners for the development of joint projects and knowledge exchange. I would like to give special thanks to Director Robert Wagner and President Prof. h.c. Marga B. Wagner-Pischel for creating such a wonderful atmosphere at the symposium, for the opportunity for this exchange and for the trust that led to the foundation of MIAAI. I wish all of MIAAI’s members and friends success in their endeavours to conquer new fields of research and am looking forward to being part of a growing community interested in the beauty of medical imaging and in investigating how AI can help us personalise medicine for the benefit of our patients. Univ.-Prof. DDr. Ramona Woitek Head of the Research Group MIAAI (Medical Image Analysis & Artificial Intelligence) Danube Private University, Krems, Austria
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