Foundation

Foundation

Alan Turing Institute Almere (ATIA) is de trading name of the foundation named "Stichting Valorisation Bridge".
The institute is named after Alan Mathison Turing (1912–1954). Turing was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist, and later also a (mathematical) biologist. He was influential in the development of computer science, and providing a formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, he played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer. 
During the Second World War, Turing devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including a method for finding settings for the Enigma machine. After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer.
Later he continued to do more abstract work, and in "Computing machinery and intelligence" (Mind, October 1950), Turing addressed the problem of Artificial Intelligence, and proposed an experiment now known as the Turing Test, an attempt to define a standard for a machine to be called "intelligent". The idea was that a computer could be said to "think" if it could fool an interrogator into thinking that the conversation was with a human. 
Towards the end of his life Turing returned to the interest in empirical science that had already been present in his youth. In particular, Turing worked on mathematical biology, specifically morphogenesis. He published a paper on the subject, putting forth the Turing hypothesis of pattern formation. His central interest in the field was understanding the existence of patterns based on the Fibonacci numbers in plant structures.

Mission

ATIA must contribute to the health and well-being of people. The knowledge based systems we develop, can help scientists to formulate and test hypotheses that explain the course of a disease and its underlying mechanisms and serve to support healthcare professionals to optimize medical care. In particular, they must be able to predict which treatment is optimal for a particular patient, as well as an individual's risk of developing a certain disease and indicate how to prevent that disease. To this end, we develop innovative technology based on artificial intelligence and agent technology, to integrate multidisciplinary –and seemingly unrelated- health research results (data). This data and scientific knowledge are modeled to allow reasoning about individuals.  

ATIA purpose: Although AI and agent technology have many applications in the real world, their use in healthcare is still limited. The complexity of disease management, the vast amounts of scientific literature and data and the challenge to apply this knowledge to the individual patient make a strong case for ATIA's approach. Its powerful analytical algorithms help realize truly personalized medicine. The knowledge and tools will be combined in Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) that help healthcare professionals make decisions in complex medical problems. Our systems are modular and adaptive and can quickly integrate the latest scientific views. 

Higher Education. The institute will educate and train PhD students in artificial intelligence and in (bio)medical and psychological domains. The institute also wishes to participate, in Almere, in the Masters curriculum of the allied university.

Knowledge Valorisation. The knowledge based systems developed at the institute will serve to generate spin off companies that will develop new products for medical and psychological professionals.