Advancing a platform for collaborative research

Using health data for research and analysis is key to solving the challenges facing the health sector and to ensuring people live longer, healthier and better lives. Still, many barriers remain to efficiently collect, analyse and share data between researchers.

A new platform, developed by the Norwegian start-up company Ledidi, aims to help researchers overcome these obstacles. The platform combines study design, data capture, statistical analysis, and data visualisation capabilities, and is developed with a particular focus on fostering multi-centre collaborations between institutions nationally and internationally.

“The Covid-19 pandemic saw the need to gather high quality data quickly and translate research findings into efficient treatments. This demanded a rapid response that required a collaborative approach, with researchers committed to collect and share data,” comments Einar Martin Aandahl, CEO of Ledidi.

The challenges

The challenges to making the most of health data can be summed up in three main areas: international compliance requirements, limited usability of traditional tools and scalability issues with storage and data sharing.

“Firstly, collecting insights globally necessitates adherence to various data security and compliance frameworks, which can be complex and time-consuming,” says Aandahl.

“Secondly, traditional software is not designed for collaboration and is often not user friendly. Clinicians who prioritise patient care and have limited time for data collection are in need of new solutions,” continues Aandahl.

“And finally, the absence of cloud-based data storage solutions hinders the ability to capture data effectively at scale.”

The solution

The company Ledidi was founded in 2016 by two academic surgeons and three software engineers with expertise in system architecture and cloud computing. They saw the need for an easy-to-use platform where researchers can collaborate on health data to make new impactful discoveries in medicine.

“Adopting an all-in-one platform offers significant cost savings at the organisational level and reduces the complexity of user adoption. Moreover, it enhances data security by eliminating the need to physically transport or upload datasets across multiple systems,” explains Aandahl.

Landing monumental deals

The company has already achieved both national and international success. Last year, Ledidi was awarded a contract with the South-Eastern Regional Health Authority of Norway (Helse Sør-Øst), which will use Ledidi’s platform for research projects and clinical registries. The platform has also been chosen for the EPOS study, an large international study on colon cancer. Moreover, CMR Surgical has chosen Ledidi Core for a paediatric surgery prospective clinical trial in NHS hospitals.

Ledidi Core was also recently listed on the UK Government's Digital Marketplace and recognised for the second consecutive year by Gartner analysts in their Hype Cycle for Healthcare Data, Analytics, and AI report.

Member of health clusters

Ledidi is a member of both Oslo Cancer Cluster and Norway Health Tech.

“Being a member of the largest Norwegian health clusters gives us access to broad and complementary networks in the health, life science and oncology sector. The clusters also have extensive expertise in business development and have helped us with introductions and partnering opportunities both nationally and internationally.”