RettungsNetz-5G

All about the project region and partners

Project region

The project RettungsNetz-5G is located in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. Named after the rivers Rhine and Neckar, which flow together near Mannheim, the metropolitan region is located in the border triangle of Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz and Hessen. The major cities of Heidelberg, Mannheim and Ludwigshafen am Rhein are located in this region.

The project partners who must be involved in the practical implementation on site are also located in the project region. These primarily include the University Hospital Mannheim, the Integrated Control Center Mannheim, and the German Red Cross Mannheim District Association. The exact project area covers the catchment area of the University Hospital Mannheim. Here, the potential of 5G technology can be tested by ensuring 5G coverage.

Karte zeigt die Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar - vom Landkreis südliche Weinstraße bis zum Neckarodenwaldkreis

Project Partners

The network of project partners and associated partners provides an ideal starting point to successfully implement the medical technology innovations based on 5G technology and significantly improve the chances of survival and prognosis of critically ill people.

Verband Region Rhein-Neckar

With a gross value added of more than 71 billion euros and an export ratio of approx. 59%, the Rhine-Neckar Region is one of the economic performance centers in Germany and the EU. The combination of a strong industrial base, a well-balanced industry structure characterized by small and medium-sized enterprises, and a particularly powerful research and development environment have been and continue to be the guarantee for successful economic development. The development of a nationwide 5G infrastructure represents a key factor in maintaining and further expanding this position in the future. In line with its mission, the VRRN bundles as well as orchestrates all existing forces to address local, transnational, national and global challenges at the regional level. Its strength is the close and partnership-based cooperation through an optimal networking and interlocking of the most important actors from politics, economy and science in the region as it has already been done in many preliminary projects. In this sense, the VRRN is ideally suited as a steering consortium partner.

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University Medical Center Mannheim

As a modern maximum care hospital, the UMM forms the central clinical contact point of the project. The four participating clinics for radiology and nuclear medicine, neurology, anesthesiology, and the central emergency room together are significantly involved in interdisciplinary emergency care: The procedure in preclinical emergency medicine is coordinated to a large extent with the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, which also provides emergency ambulances and their crews. Further care in the central emergency room is provided by an interdisciplinary team of physicians in one of the modern shock rooms. Emergency imaging is performed on a modern CT scanner at the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine; further care of stroke patients is provided by the Department of Neurology. Together, the four partners involved contribute the necessary technical and organizational expertise to practically implement innovative emergency care concepts. Within the framework of various funded preliminary projects, there is above-average experience in the implementation of cooperative projects – for example, the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine has already been closely associated with the UMA as well as Siemens and BEC for several years through the M²OLIE research project. The Heinrich Lanz Center for Digital Health is closely linked to the UMM and supports the project in the area of data harmonization to ensure the connectivity of other university hospitals.

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University of Mannheim

The Institute for Enterprise Systems (InES) at the University of Mannheim combines basic research in (business) informatics with practical and industrial implementation. Since its foundation in 2011, it has been possible to build up an internationally recognized research group with a focus on agile software development, process management, HealthCare IT, semantic data integration and Data Science. This competence profile has been successfully applied in research projects from the fields of smart city platforms (xDataToGo – BMVI “mFund”), autonomous driving or flying (VanAssist – BMVI “Autonomous and Connected Driving” and mobil-e-Hub – BMWi “ICT for Electromobility”) and industry (FitFor4 – BMBF), among others. Within the BMBF research campus M²OLIE (“Mannheim Molecular Intervention Environment”)
the overarching process analysis, modeling and integration of molecular intervention, electronic patient education, the effects of the use of automated AI findings and the development of a central data infrastructure in the form of a data lake have been carried out since 2013. In the process, a close and successful collaboration developed between the research groups of Professor Heinzl at InES as well as Professor Schönberg at KIRN of UMM. Through a close interdisciplinary collaboration of five academic and 19 industrial partners, a medical technology environment for the further development of minimally invasive cancer therapies is being developed, tested and successively introduced in M2OLIE. The targeted proliferation of 5G networks means a wide range of new applications for the medtech innovations developed at InES, which will be tapped in the RescueNet-5G project with UMM and the other partners.

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Siemens Healthineers

Siemens Healthineers is committed to shaping the healthcare of the future. As a leading medical technology company, it supports healthcare providers worldwide in expanding precision medicine, redesigning healthcare, improving the patient experience and digitizing healthcare. In this context, the importance of medical imaging is steadily growing. Our systems and software solutions support the early detection of diseases and the targeted management of therapies. However, this is countered by increasing staff shortages and an erosion of healthcare provision in rural areas.
In 2017, we equipped the first university hospital with remote software that can be used to coordinate complex CT examinations remotely. At RSNA 2019, one of the
world’s largest radiology congresses, we presented Siemens’ first mobile head CT scanner, which enables location-independent diagnosis. We expect helpful insights from the digital networking of our technologies with forays into the pre-clinical sector and the 5G standard in the RettungsNetz-5G project to find viable solutions for the challenges of the future. As a technology partner, Siemens Healthineers is available to the project to realize relevant technology building blocks regarding live video assistance, mobile CT, mobile robotics and analysis and decision platform.

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Smart Reporting GmbH

Smart Reporting GmbH, based in Munich, is a university spin-off founded in 2014 that offers digital solutions for efficient documentation of medical services. Currently, the company employs about 70 people to support structured radiological reporting with modern software tools. In this context, the company’s own software can be integrated into the technical architecture of third-party medical platforms, so that linking is possible without any problems. Smart Reporting GmbH is strategically interested in further developing its own product portfolio in practical medical fields of application, so that a partnership cooperation on the project makes sense for both sides.

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DRK Kreisverband Mannheim e.V.

Saving lives, helping people and alleviating suffering are our primary goals

A traffic accident with injured people on a country road, a colleague at work who suddenly complains about severe pain and collapses, a child who falls badly while riding a bicycle, a grandfather who has a heart attack or a disabled woman who needs to be driven to the hospital for an examination.

These are typical emergency situations for the rescue service. Via the rescue control center (ILS-Integrierte Leitstelle Rhein-Neckar), the rescue vehicles required and suitable for the respective (emergency) situation are deployed, manned by qualified personnel.

The DRK Kreisverband Mannheim e.V. operates a total of four rescue stations. Two rescue stations are located in the city of Mannheim, one in Weinheim Weststadt and one in Hockenheim Talhaus.

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Working groups

For the target-oriented and successful implementation of the project, the following working groups are collaborating within the network:

  • Cloud
  • Ambulance with audio-video surveillance
  • Mobile Stroke Unit (MSU)
  • Processes
  • Alerting
  • Public relations

At a glance

(I) Working group Cloud

The working group Cloud coordinates the networking of the IT systems so that the data collected at the deployment site is transmitted to the University Hospital Mannheim in real time. From here, the telemedical support of the emergency teams and the simultaneous preparation of the in-hospital further care and the comparison with possibly already existing patient data. The data is transmitted and processed via secure connections in accordance with data protection regulations. Furthermore, the data will be standardized in such a way that an immediate evaluation using AI algorithms is possible within the clinic in order to support workflows and estimate the prognosis at an early stage. For this purpose, the working group is made up of representatives from practical patient care, IT, rescue services and external technology partners.

(II) Working group Ambulance with audio-video surveillance

Within the working group Ambulance with audio-video surveillance, Siemens Healthineers is working with the partners of the 5G rescue network to develop a concept for the implementation of an ambulance equipped with telemedical equipment. The focus here is on the prehospital emergency care of a stroke. The digital platform for telemedical communication and the intelligent exchange of relevant patient data is being developed by Siemens Healthineers. The goal is more efficient patient care, as relevant information is available to the clinic in real time and telemedical communication can be established between the emergency services and neurology on site.

(III) Working group Mobile Stroke Unit

In close cooperation between Siemens Healthineers and the University Medical Center Mannheim, a sustainable concept is being developed within the Mobile Stroke Unit (MSU) working group, which focuses on the use of a digitized, networked MSU. The MSU is an ambulance equipped with special telemedicine and medical equipment. In addition to the above-mentioned telemedical infrastructure (working group Ambulance with audio-video surveillance), Siemens Healthineers is also working on the imaging components required for an MSU. The combination of early diagnostics on site and the exchange of data with all those involved enables earlier and more precise decisions and thus increases the chances of therapy and survival.

(IV) Working group Processes

The focus of the working group Processes, located in the working group Neurological Emergency Medicine (PD Dr. Carolin Hoyer, Prof. Dr. Kristina Szabo) of the Department of Neurology of the UMM, is the preparatory steps for the implementation of the Mobile Stroke Unit in the pre- and early in-hospital processes of acute stroke care at the UMM. The main aspects here are in particular the analysis, definition and implementation of individual sections of the process chain in out-of-hospital diagnostics and therapy, taking into account the challenges resulting from the existence of a wide variety of interfaces and the special needs of the cooperation partners involved in patient care.

(V) Working group Alerting

The working group Alerting consists of the integrated rescue control center (ILS), the neurological clinic of the University Medical Center Mannheim (UMM) and the Institute for Enterprise Systems of the University of Mannheim (InES). The working group is headed by InES. On the ILS side, Managing Director Christoph Scherer and his employees are working on the operational integration of the Mobile Stroke Unit (MSU) into the existing processes. On behalf of the UMM, Prof. Dr. Kristina Szabo and PD Dr. Carolin Hoyer, the detection of strokes in the preclinical phase and are developing a stroke protocol for use at the ILS. On the part of the UMA, Andrej Tschalzev evaluates historical data from the preclinical process in order to enable data-based decisions. In addition, the use of AI for preclinical stroke detection is being evaluated.

(VI) Working group Public relations

The working group Public relations organizes and plans measures both for the internal communication of all partners and with regard to press and media work for the general public. This includes, for example, the preparation of media for cross-project events, the presentation of the project in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region as well as the maintenance of the project's web presence. The working group is headed by Verband Region Rhein-Neckar, which is also the consortium leader of the project.