ONCODIR is committed to advancing evidence-based primary cancer prevention programmes and pioneering AI-powered personalised prevention approaches. By leveraging expertise from health policy analytics, social and behavioral sciences, AI-driven multi-omics, and retrospective data analytics, ONCODIR aims to redefine colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention strategies: to reduce CRC incidence, enhance early detection, and shape future policy recommendations for cancer prevention—ultimately improving public health across Europe.
To ensure practical and sustainable impact, ONCODIR evaluates cost-effectiveness, affordability, and cost-benefit parameters of its prevention programmes, and explores financial models that balance costs and generate demand, fostering accessible and effective CRC primary prevention programmes.
The overall objectives are to:
1. Identify and address the main barriers that prevent the uptake of CRC prevention programmes: conduct a pan-European study on barriers and facilitators for CRC primary prevention, while compiling the results of a meta-analysis of CRC incidence-related risk factors and placing it at the core of the stratification process.
2. Promote and deliver trustworthy personalised recommendation services. The focus is placed on primary prevention interventions and the facilitation of a behavioural shift of population groups, considering their evidence-based risk stratification, co-designed through a participatory process in a series of design thinking workshops and Living Labs sessions.
3. Develop an adaptable implementation framework considering structural and behavioural interventions and make suggestions on how to enhance the ongoing prevention programmes with a focus on lifestyle, nutritional, and social behaviours. This will be achieved by integrating insights from economics, sociology, and regional cultural identities to develop holistic and inclusive prevention strategies.
4. Develop a coherent technological ecosystem built on trustworthy AI and privacy-preserving principles that will facilitate intervention delivery, increase citizen awareness, empower clinicians and policy makers towards an evidence-based policy shift.
5. Promote the adoption of ONCODIR’s results and solutions in cancer prevention by designing sustainable and feasible pathways for the integration of evidence-based and cost-efficient interventions into EU regional and national health strategies. To validate its results and ensure real-world applicability, ONCODIR will conduct:
Three Laboratory Integration Tests (LITs) to assess technological feasibility.
Three Large-scale Intervention Pilots (LIPs) across 5five EU member states, engaging medical scientists, healthcare providers, and foundations.
