The 1st Plenary Meeting of PATH took place on 29-30 September 2026 in Ischia, Italy, hosted by CeRICT. Representatives from the 23 partners gathered together for the first time after the first months of the project implementation, to review the progress achieved so far, to strengthen the collaboration across the consortium and to align on the next steps toward AI-driven, data-informed approaches to cancer treatment.
Day 1
The first day was dedicated to the progress on key activities across the project’s technical work packages. The session started with the Project Coordinator setting the priorities for the coming months, after having underlined important coordination and implementation issues.
A key focus was the progress of the PATH AI tools, designed to support different stages of the cancer treatment pathway — from screening and diagnosis through treatment and aftercare — and across different cancer types. Work is being advanced by FORTH, AINIGMA, CERTH, AUTH, FTN Novi Sad and Wellics, who had the opportunity to demonstrate their tools and platforms and discuss their next steps. An important part of this work is also to understand the needs and expectations of those who will ultimately use and benefit from these technologies. Feedback questionnaires for clinicians and patients will contribute valuable end-user perspectives to the development process.
Ensuring that the data used by PATH are high-quality, consistent and secure is another important aspect of the technical work. CERTH and AUTH are working on data quality checks, data cleaning, data consistency and privacy. During the technical sessions, they demonstrated their tools and platforms, which will help prepare the data for effective and trustworthy use within the PATH data spaces. In parallel, UOA and FORTH are working on the trustworthiness of AI tools, addressing key aspects needed to support their responsible use in clinical settings. FORTH is also contributing to a step towards interoperability through work on data harmonisation.
The day also included a technical workshop led by CUT, focused on the definition and refinement of the project’s use cases, with the aim of ensuring their relevance to real clinical needs. In the dedicated use-case workshop, participants worked in small, mixed groups bringing together partners from different areas of the consortium. This collaborative format enabled partners to exchange perspectives, challenge assumptions and further refine the use cases that will guide the development and validation of PATH.
The first day concluded with an interactive session led by Wellics, opening an important discussion around the PATH platform and dashboard and the roles of its different users. With doctors, patients and other stakeholders potentially interacting with different parts of the PATH ecosystem, the discussion addressed key questions around who will use the platform, who will evaluate its outputs, who will benefit from them, and who should have access to which information and where. These considerations will contribute to the preparation of the PATH technical architecture and integration roadmap.
Day 2
The second day began with a recap of the technical sessions and key discussions from Day 1, presented by the Project Coordinator, providing a common starting point for the day’s activities.
The consortium then turned its attention to the Screenathon, with FwdFaster presenting its preliminary results. The activity focused on literature screening and landscape analysis, including the identification, mapping and analysis of AI tools currently used in clinical oncology. These findings will contribute to a better understanding of the existing landscape and help inform the further development of PATH.
The next session, led by SHINE, presented the updates on stakeholder and ecosystem mapping activities and the establishment of the PATH Expert Group. Designed as a well-balanced group of experts representing different sectors and geographical areas across Europe, the Expert Group will bring diverse perspectives and expertise into the project’s activities. The session continued with a hands-on workshop, during which partners worked together to define tasks and activities related to the Expert Group and their contribution across the different Work Packages. All consortium partners participated in the exercise, helping to establish a coordinated approach to expert engagement and ensure that relevant expertise is integrated throughout the project.
The work on the PATH use cases continued with the completion of the workshop initiated on Day 1. The different teams presented the results of their collaborative work, providing the consortium with an opportunity to review the outcomes and further discuss the use cases that will guide the project’s development.
The meeting then moved to the project’s dissemination, communication, training and exploitation activities, led by HICT, with contributions from FORTH, UOA and AUTH. The session covered the activities planned to communicate PATH’s progress and results to its different audiences, support knowledge sharing and training, and lay the foundations for the future uptake and exploitation of the project’s outcomes. The D&C session concluded with an update from CerICT, which also invited the PATH consortium to the upcoming ITAData 2026 event, where CerICT will organize a workshop on health data spaces in collaboration with other European projects. The workshop will provide an opportunity to exchange experiences and perspectives with related initiatives and further strengthen cross-project collaboration and knowledge sharing around health data spaces.
To wrap up plenary meeting, the Project Coordinator presented the roadmap towards Month 18, consolidating the key outcomes and decisions from the discussions. The 2-day session brought together the main technical decisions, responsible partners, deadlines and required inputs, while outlining the next steps and priorities following the plenary meeting. This final alignment provided the consortium with a clear framework for the months ahead, ensuring that the progress and discussions translate into coordinated action across all Work Packages.