Miguel Ángel steel, director of innovation and Izertis consulting: “ we have been beneficiaries of more than 20 projects for financing the CDTI, who have served to move forward in our road map ” technology

Anticipate the diagnosis, facilitate the follow-up from home and to alleviate the pressure on the health system are three of the potential impacts of Varkinson, a tool developed by the technological consultancy Izertis uses artificial intelligence and vision to detect and assess the Parkinson's disease sufferers.

The project Varkinson, supported by the CDTI Innovation and co-financed with departmental FEDER neural networks, applied to analyse the profound movements and facial expressions of patients, replicating the clinical criteria established by the scale of assessment for Parkinson's disease (UPDRS by its initials in english).

Behind this solution is Izertis, a company founded in Gijón, Asturias, in 1996, which has evolved from being a signature to a comprehensive regional. Today accounts for more than 2,000 professionals distributed among its three hubs in Europe, latin america and India. “ We were born in a regional market and very limited. After almost three decades of continuous growth, today we look at the highest value of the technological consulting services ”, stresses, Miguel Ángel Steel, director of Innovation and Consulting company.

Artificial intelligence that learns to observe

Detect Parkinson's disease in early stages and to facilitate a more continuous follow-up and personalized service is the main objective of Varkinson. The tool focuses on bradicinesia key, which is the slow movement abnormal volunteers. “ The tremor is one of the symptoms of Parkinson ’ S best-known, but not the most frequent. In Varkinson we focus on the bradicinesia, which is the main indication on the diagnosis, ” explains Samuel Camba, technical manager of the project in Izertis.

It has developed an application that allows users from home a series of standardized clinical trials using the camera phone or computer. Through the analysis of video, algorithms detected limbs, gestures and facial expressions, calculating, for example, the speed of movement of fingers or possible asymmetries motorbikes. All this is supported in techniques of vision, and deep learning models of automatic learning trained with the standards of the scale UPDRS, widely used in the hospital environment.

Cross-cutting and collaborative innovation

In Izertis, innovation is not a line of business. It Is the backbone structure all its activities. “ corporate Innovation is that cuts across all our structure. Thanks to our industry know-how and technological advice, and to collaboration with universities, research centres and startups, we can develop disruptive solutions across multiple sectors, ” says Miguel Ángel Steel.

Only in 2024, the company has participated in over 30 r & D & I projects, many of them within international consortia. “ One of the great values of our organization is the ability to coordinate multinational and multidisciplinary teams. This allows us to design and create solutions, new services and projects ”, add disruptive Steel. A good example is Varkinson, developed in an area of high specialization, such as the health sector.

Collaboration with the CDTI has been key in this way. “ Since the beginning of the department of innovation of Izertis in 2015, we have been beneficiaries of more than 20 projects for financing the CDTI, who have served to move forward in our road map of technological specialization, bringing us much value associated with the size of company over the years, ” explains. “ furthermore, aid have evolved to adapt to the needs of expertise in the country, as well as the promotion of effective collaboration between companies, which has served to enhance innovative solutions ”.

Technology and health: a necessary partnership

The development of Varkinson has benefited from the direct involvement of the Hospital Virgen del rocío, Sevilla, who had participated in the definition of clinical needs, data collection and validation of the system. “ working together to clinical experts has been crucial. They are aware of the disease, its patients and the details to be moved to model. It was essential to speak the same technical language, ” explains Camba.

Forecast on the face made by ai facial detection, which makes it possible to identify key points (in red), in addition to the guidance of the gaze (green and blue lines).

“ the most defining moment was to ensure the necessary funding to promote research and development, or simply to give continuity, particularly in cases of use with high uncertainty and high risk ”, recalls. “ once the projects start, they can always arise in the holes, but the professionalism and enthusiasm outweighed those difficulties ”.

Remote monitoring and personalized medicine

The usefulness of the tool is not limited to the original diagnosis. Varkinson allows patients testing from your own home, which opens up new possibilities in the clinical. “ These periodic checks can be done through the app. If the system detects discrepancies, can be sent an alert to specialists to review the treatment. It is a way to maintain the follow-up without saturate health services, ” Camba.

The potential benefits are significant: detection, monitoring more precisely the status of the patient and reduced reliance on witnessing. “ Suppose you rapid from home, and the model detects suspicious symptoms. If you go, medical care before Varkinson will have already fulfilled its mission ”.

Medical data, maximum responsibility

In the development of technologies applied to health, ensuring security and privacy of data is vital. “ Manage security, privacy and traceability of medical data was a critical aspect. Measures were implemented to consent, prevented access to the Internet of the algorithms and is not shared data with third parties ”, explains Camba.

Izertis has more than 2,000 workers spread over more than 20 offices; in the image, headquarters of Gijón, Asturias.

The records employees come mostly from patients at the Virgen del Rocío with profiles in various age, gender and stage of completion of the disease. “ This work not only has enabled us to develop a useful tool, but also to raise awareness of the human impact behind it. Neurodegenerative diseases are tough, but so is the strength of a man who fight every day against them ”, reflects.

The regulatory horizon

Although solutions, which employ Varkinson artificial intelligence, still need to overcome the european regulatory process for clinical use widespread, its potential as a tool of support for the diagnosis is clear. “ In europe there is a complex regulatory way that makes the use of the IA immediately in health, but we are confident we can begin to assist in Spain, and then in other countries, ” says Camba.

Varkinson could be implemented both in public hospitals and private, although its greatest impact could be made in the public system, helping to reduce waiting lists and ease the burden on health care.

A transformative vision of health

With an ambitious road map and the support of its strategic Plan 2027 Izertis intends to “ continue to support its internationalization, consolidate their brand and to step into the Continuous Market, ” explains Miguel Ángel Steel. The bets on innovation will continue to be its main engine.

“ we believe that solutions can transform Varkinson as the way we address neurological diseases. In the short term, improve the quality of life. In the long term, could lessen the impact on life expectancy, ” concludes Samuel Camba.

CDTI Innovation

The centre for technological development and innovation, CDTI E.P.E. is a public company under the ministry of Science, innovation and universities, whose goal is the promotion of technological innovation in business. The CDTI mission is to ensure that the business fabric english generates and transform knowledge into growth científico-técnico globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive. By 2024, within the framework of a new strategic plan, the CDTI provided more than $2.3 billion euros of support for business startups and spain.

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