The II Republican Scientific-Practical Conference “Digital Medicine 4.0: Problems, Opportunities and Prospects” was held at the Institute of Information Technologies of the Ministry of Science and Education, organized by the Ministry of Health, the Health Committee of the Milli Majlis, the National Oncology Center, Azerbaijan Medical University, the Institute of Information Technologies, Azerbaijan Technical University and the Institute of Biophysics.

The event was attended by heads of relevant state agencies of the country, higher education institutions, ANAS, as well as scientists and specialists from scientific-research institutes of the Ministry of Science and Education, and media representatives.

The purpose of the conference is to increase attention to the need to solve many science-intensive issues, such as the collection, processing and exchange of large-scale digital health and medical data generated in Azerbaijan in the context of digital transformation, the creation and application of various medical information systems based on artificial intelligence technologies, and to organize an intellectual dialogue platform for discussing existing problems, opportunities and prospects in the direction of forming the conceptual and architectural-technological foundations of the country's healthcare infrastructure in the context of Industry 4.0 challenges.

At the opening ceremony of the event, the Vice-President of ANAS, Director General of the Institute of Information Technologies of the Academy of Sciences, Academician Rasim Aliguliyev, said that the conference dedicated to digital medicine problems is of great importance in terms of research conducted in the relevant field, discussions of achievements and existing problems, as well as the definition of new tasks.

Emphasizing that the issue of applying artificial intelligence in medicine has become even more relevant in the context of global challenges in the modern era, Academician R. Aliguliyev also highlighted the importance of training highly qualified personnel in the fields of medical informatics, data sciences, digital health, cybersecurity, and digital forensics in our country.

Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Associate Professor Nadir Zeynalov noted that digitalization has penetrated all spheres of society's life in the modern era. N. Zeynalov emphasized that digital solutions open up unlimited opportunities in the field of medicine and are of strategic importance, and are widely used in diagnosing patients, supporting doctors, etc. He added that digital solutions and expert systems provide doctors with recommendations in the decision-making process by using the information collected in this field when difficulties arise in determining the treatment method.

Also speaking at the conference, Professor Nurali Yusifbeyli, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of the Azerbaijan Technical University, and others noted that the conference is of great importance in terms of creating new opportunities for solving scientific-theoretical and practical problems of digital medicine.

Then, the conference continued its work with the section sessions entitled “Scientific-theoretical problems of the formation of digital medicine” and “Scientific-practical problems of the application of digital technologies in medicine”.