Empowering researchers to accelerate innovation in healthcare and medical science across Switzerland

The Swiss Digital Pathology Initiative (SDPI) aims to lead the digital transformation of pathology in Switzerland by creating a standardized digital pathology (DP) repository and tools for clinical research.

Our mission is to fuel advancements in public and private biomedical research by providing access to high-quality DP data.

Digital Repository

SDPI will generate and maintain a growing digital repository, enabling easy access to digitized slides for computational analysis.

Network Development

SDPI aims to establish a national network comprising of university, cantonal, and private hospitals to enhance research and clinical workflows leveraging DP.

Access To Computing Resources

SDPI provides access to localized high-performance computing resources, enabling large-scale cross-site projects utilizing advanced technologies like deep and federated learning.

Latest News

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A first prototype for a web-based repository tailored to digital pathology research is now available in the Swiss Digital Pathology Infrastructure (SDPI), offering an exciting leap in technology and healthcare. It is a major step toward advancing scientific collaboration and data access. This platform has been developed in full compliance with the data standards and by reusing the tools established by the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) and will help researchers, institutions, and stakeholders manage, analyze, and collaborate on pathology data, supporting scientific progress.

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We are pleased to announce a strategic collaboration between the Swiss Digital Pathology Initiative (SDPI) and the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN). This partnership marks a significant milestone in advancing biomedical research for precision medicine in Switzerland.

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In response to the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation's (SERI) mandate, the Swiss National Open Research Data (ORD) Strategy was initiated in July 2021 by the four national education, research, and innovation actors in Switzerland. The ORD Strategy aims to guide the development of the research data ecosystem through the identification of areas that require concrete action. In the 2024 report, the health and life sciences (HLS) cluster received prioritization. Within this cluster, an important role falls to the Swiss National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures with the Swiss Digital Pathology Initiative (SDPI) and the SwissBioData ecosystem (SBDe) seen as critical to taking the cluster to the next level of federated data for the sector in the coming years.

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Digital Pathology Powers

The Innovation

The availability of integrated DP and clinical datasets is a key resource for biomedical research, education, and industry development.

With conveniently accessible DP data, researchers are able to analyze large sets of pathology slides more quickly and more cost effectively, allowing them to focus their efforts on new discoveries. The standardization and sharing of DP data are crucial for the development, testing, and validation of machine learning-enabled tools, which can unlock insights leading to more effective and personalized healthcare interventions.

SDPI Powers

The Access

The SDPI is dedicated to creating a unified national network for DP data to provide biomedical researchers across Switzerland with access to research data and cutting-edge technology. Our work is geared towards delivering standardized, cleaned, and coded pathology data to the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN), leveraging the existing BioMedIT infrastructure.

Our Goals

Build a national, secure digital pathology repository for Switzerland 

Collect 1 million slides from 2025 to 2028

Grow at a rate of 100,000 samples per year

Use decentralized databases

Support cross-location projects

Use BioMedIT/BMI2

SDPI’s data access will lead to greater research insights, impactful economic development opportunities, and better patient care in Switzerland and worldwide.

Backed By Switzerland. Made For Switzerland.

SDPI is included in the Swiss Roadmap for Research Infrastructures 2025-2028 by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SBFI). The Swiss Roadmap for Research Infrastructures is a report on the status and development of national and international research infrastructures. It is updated by SERI every four years in preparation for the Federal Council Dispatch on the Promotion of Education, Research and Innovation (ERI Dispatch). This report provides an overview of future needs and planned developments in the various research areas and thus serves as a basis for the ERI Dispatch. 

Look at the Swiss Roadmap

Roadmap for Research Infrastructures 2023

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