Objectives

MELISSA's main objective is to provide a clinically validated, efficient and cost-effective AI-powered digital diabetes management solution to support insulin-treated people with diabetes and their healthcare providers by providing personalised treatment and care recommendations, with the primary goal of maintaining normal blood glucose levels, thus avoiding both hyper- and hypoglycaemia.

The digital solution is independent of any currently available diabetes management devices and is based on the combined use of already prototyped AI-approaches and innovative tools for the quantification of lifestyle and behavioural factors.

The main objective will be achieved through five interrelated subobjectives:

  • Objective 1 - Clinical development of the MELISSA digital platform

    Existing (pre)clinically validated AI-driven solutions will be optimised, build upon and integrated into one digital platform. The goal is to accomplish better personalised day-to-day diabetes treatment and care including improved glucose control. This will be achieved in a sustainable and ethical fashion based on the needs of people living with insulin-treated diabetes. The platform will benefit people with diabetes to achieve self-management and glucose control. Healthcare providers will be able to take evidence-based decisions in providing optimal treatment with the aim to maintain glucose and to minimise risks of short- and long-term diabetes-related complications.
  • Objective 2 - Sustainable and ethical development of MELISSA based on the needs of people living with insulin-treated diabetes

    The involvement of health care providers and people living with diabetes, including underrepresented patient groups, as well as healthcare providers ensures that the resulting digital platform reflects their needs, both in terms of user-friendliness and ethical considerations.
  • Objective 3 - Clinical validation of MELISSA

    Once the AI-driven digital platform is set up, it will be validated in a clinical study involving insulin-treated people with diabetes from clinical centres based in four European countries: Denmark, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands. Primary focus of the study will be the effectiveness in terms of assessing health outcomes and user experience of the platform compared to standard care currently available.
  • Objective 4 - Democratisation of diabetes healthcare

    In order to reimagine the traditional power relationship between healthcare professionals and their patients (i.e. democratisation of healthcare), recommendations will be provided. Furthermore, clinical guidelines on the management of insulin-treated diabetes will be enhanced, based on the clinical study. This includes a cost-benefit analysis which investigates the potentials of people with diabetes to effectively and efficiently use information, innovative technology, and access to expertise for managing their condition and health.
  • Objective 5 - Health and digital literacy and patients’ empowerment

    To ensure health and digital literacy as well as patient empowerment, the MELISSA project will provide an extensive information and communication package about insulin-treated diabetes, diabetes management and glucose control for people with diabetes and their carers. Documentation regarding the MELISSA digital platform will also be provided. Furthermore, primary and secondary healthcare providers will receive dedicated training materials.

Work Packages

The project activities are managed in so-called work packages. MELISSA is set up around seven such work packages. Different partners take the lead on achieving different tasks within a particular work package while ensuring close collaboration with other institutions and across the different work packages.

For more information, please click on the graphic below.

WP1: Project management and scientific coordinationWP2: Clinical development of MELISSAWP3: Care aspects - User requirementsWP4: Clinical validationWP5: Value proposition / economic analysis / IP / exploitationWP6: Project communication and disseminationWP 7: Ethical requirements