In rescue services, quick decisions are crucial, and it is not uncommon for life and death to be at stake. Artificial intelligence is now being used to make rescue services in Germany fit for the future. The aim is to use intelligent technologies to provide emergency and rescue services with more digital support for emergency medical care in the future.

In the new AI Rescue research project, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is currently preparing a feasibility study using the example of the "Model Region Health Lausitz". The project has been funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV).

The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) contributes to the overall project with its expertise in the areas of "Digital Health - Connected Healthcare" and "Design Thinking" in order to produce promising application scenarios later on with the help of a study support group (Subject Matter Experts). "In the new AI Rescue research project, we are investigating how AI-based data analysis can be used to make rescue work more effective and efficient," says Professor Bert Arnrich, head of the "Digital Health - Connected Healthcare" department.

At HPI, we dealt with the collection and analysis of health-related data from daily life and its linkage with clinical data. In the "AI Rescue" project, we are exploring how mobile sensor technology can be used in emergency situations to monitor critical health conditions and collect important data for further treatment in the hospital.

Design Thinking for AI Rescue

Design Thinking is an innovation approach that brings together technical feasibility, economic viability, and human desirability to collaboratively develop innovations. It has already been successfully applied in the context of technological innovations.

In order to bring together experts along the rescue chain, the HPI D-School is conducting several Design Thinking workshops as part of the project. The first interactive workshop aims to find out how artificial intelligence could be used in the rescue sector.

The use of Design Thinking for the AI Rescue project has the following advantages:

1. focus on end-users and on their challenges "on the ground".

2. bringing together and harnessing different experts and perspectives

3. developing and testing first prototypes and deriving possible potentials.

The research partners

In addition to the Hasso Plattner Institute, the project partners are the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), the Björn Steiger Foundation and the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security (BIGS). The project has been supported by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport.