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PIONEER (Prostate Cancer DIagnOsis and TreatmeNt Enhancement through the power of big data in EuRope) is a European network of excellence for big data in prostate cancer, consisting of 32 private and public stakeholders from 9 countries across Europe. Launched by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 and part of the Big Data for Better Outcomes Programme (BD4BO), the overarching goal of PIONEER is to provide high-quality evidence on prostate cancer management by unlocking the potential of big data. The project has identified critical evidence gaps in prostate cancer care, via a detailed prioritisation exercise including all key stakeholders. By standardising and integrating existing high quality and multidisciplinary data sources from prostate cancer patients across different stages of the disease, rich big data will be assembled into a single innovative data platform for research. Based on a unique set of methodologies, PIONEER aims at advancing the field of prostate cancer care with particular focus on improving prostate cancer-related outcomes, health system efficiency by streamlining patient management, and the quality of health and social care delivered to all prostate cancer patients and their families. The literature suggests there is underuse of effective treatments and overuse of ineffective treatment. For example, androgen deprivation therapy is sometimes overused in situations where it is not recommended. It is therefore crucial to identify the best treatment option for the individual patient.

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Translating new technology and biological findings into clinical applications is hampered by insufficient translational research IT. The Dutch Translational research IT (TraIT) initiative organizes, deploys, and manages data and workflows in an on-line "office suite", supplemented with efficient training and user support. TraIT has been adopted by a wide user community providing an excellent large-scale demonstrator for the nation-wide Health-RI initiative.

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