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A Groundbreaking AI Competition in Cancer Research

The PINKCC Challenge is a unique data science competition designed to revolutionize cancer and radiology research through artificial intelligence.

Launched by Professor Stéphanie Nougaret, radiologist at the Montpellier Cancer Institute (ICM), AI expert, and head of the Precision Imaging as a New Key for Cancer Care (PINKCC) research team within the IRCM laboratory, this challenge brings together researchers, data scientists, and enthusiasts to tackle a major medical challenge.

The goal of the PINKCC Challenge is to invite participants to develop a high-performance algorithm for segmenting an organ-related pathology, studied by the PINKCC Lab, using open-source medical images. This innovative challenge—at the crossroads of medical research, medicine, and data science—aims to transform the diagnosis and management of poor-prognosis cancers.

The first edition in 2025 focuses on ovarian cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis.

The PINKCC Challenge is a concrete application of the research we are conducting within the PINKCC team. This data challenge, which we aim to make a recurring event, focuses in 2025 on ovarian cancer. Each year, more than 300,000 women are diagnosed worldwide, often at an advanced stage due to the difficulty of early detection. To combat one of the deadliest cancers in women, we strongly believe that AI can help physicians better assess the extent of the tumor.
Prof. Stéphanie Nougaret – Radiologist at ICM, Research Director of the PINKCC Lab, IRCM / SIRIC Montpellier Cancer

🎯 The PINKCC Challenge returns in 2026 with a brand-new challenge centered on pancreatic cancer.
Stay tuned—we’ll be sharing more very soon!

📩 Questions? Want to join the adventure?
Email us at: siric.montpellier@icm.unicancer.fr

Objectives and Impact of the PINKCC Challenge

Fostering Peer Collaboration

Data science students, AI experts, physicians, and researchers are invited to participate and form multidisciplinary, international teams.

Attracting Talent to the Occitanie Region

The Montpellier Cancer Campus and the MedVallée ecosystem offer rich and attractive career paths in AI applied to science and global health.

Addressing a Public Health Challenge

Ovarian cancer is a major issue for women’s health. This data challenge aims to advance research and accelerate innovation in this crucial field. Each year, the challenge will focus on different poor-prognosis organ pathologies.

Advancing Cancer Research Through AI

Artificial intelligence is transforming medicine and cancer research. Montpellier, as a leading health excellence cluster, plays a key role in this revolution. During the final, participants will have access to the high-performance computing platform ISDM-MESO (University of Montpellier/INSERM) as well as computing resources from Scaleway/NVIDIA to validate their algorithms under optimal conditions.

By bringing together professionals from diverse backgrounds, this event aims to inspire young talents to pursue innovative careers in medicine, science, or entrepreneurship related to artificial intelligence.

PINKCC Challenge 2025: AI For Ovarian Cancer Research

From April to June 2025, over 250 young AI talents participated in the challenge, developing algorithms based on anonymized clinical data. This phase was conducted in partnership with Professor Anne Laurent’s team—Vice-President Delegate for Open Science and Research Data at the University of Montpellier and Director of ISDM—who provided access to the Meso-LR platform.

Among these participants, 30% were international, coming from laboratories in Taiwan, Colombia, and Europe, as well as prestigious institutions such as École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, ENS, Mines d’Alès, Sorbonne University, University of Montpellier, EPITA, Epitech, and hospitals including the University Hospitals of Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Saint-Étienne, Montpellier, and APHP via SIRIC Curamus.

Following this initial “pre-qualification” phase, the final phase was launched in partnership with Scaleway, the European cloud provider and subsidiary of the Iliad group.

Overall, participants developed and trained their models on more than 300 ovarian CT scans, collected, anonymized, structured, and annotated by the teams at the Montpellier Cancer Institute.

After this second stage, 70 finalists were selected to present their algorithms in Montpellier before an international jury during the grand final held on June 13, 2025, at the Montpellier Cancer Institute.

Partners of the PINKCC Challenge

Beyond being just a competition, the PINKCC Challenge 2025 showcases the global reach of SIRIC Montpellier Cancer. Supported by MedVallée (Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole), this initiative showcases the ability of our world-class cancer research ecosystem to innovate, highlight local expertise, and attract top talent to the region.

Strategic partners from the industrial, academic, and institutional sectors have come together to ensure the success of this inaugural edition, including:
• The pharmaceutical company GSK France
Scaleway, European cloud provider and subsidiary of the Iliad group
Crédit Agricole du Languedoc
Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, through the MedVallée initiative

We sincerely thank all our partners for their support of the 2025 edition!

  • GSK
    Engaged stakeholder in oncology research
  • Crédit Agricole du Languedoc
    Key player in economic development in southern France
  • Scaleway
    Europe’s empowering cloud provider

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    With financial support from INCa, DGOS, and Inserm