{"id":27254,"date":"2025-01-31T15:57:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T14:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montpellier-cancer.com\/?page_id=27254"},"modified":"2026-01-20T09:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:52:10","slug":"pinkcc-challenge-2025","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/montpellier-cancer.com\/en\/pinkcc-challenge-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"PINKCC Challenge: AI for Cancer Imaging"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Groundbreaking AI Competition in Cancer Research<\/h2>
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The PINKCC Challenge<\/strong> is a unique data science competition designed to revolutionize cancer and radiology research through artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Launched by Professor St\u00e9phanie Nougaret<\/strong>, radiologist at the Montpellier Cancer Institute (ICM)<\/strong>, AI expert, and head of the Precision Imaging as a New Key for Cancer Care (PINKCC)<\/strong> research team within the IRCM laboratory<\/strong>, this challenge brings together researchers, data scientists, and enthusiasts to tackle a major medical challenge.<\/p>\n

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\u2014at the crossroads of medical research, medicine, and data science\u2014aims to transform the diagnosis and management of poor-prognosis cancers.<\/p>\n

The first edition in 2025<\/strong> focuses on ovarian cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/em>
\u2014 Prof. St\u00e9phanie Nougaret<\/strong> \u2013 Radiologist at ICM, Research Director of the PINKCC Lab, IRCM \/ SIRIC Montpellier Cancer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\ud83c\udfaf The PINKCC Challenge returns in 2026<\/strong> with a brand-new challenge centered on pancreatic cancer<\/strong>.
Stay tuned\u2014we\u2019ll be sharing more very soon!<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udce9 Questions? Want to join the adventure?
Email us at: siric.montpellier@icm.unicancer.fr<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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Objectives and Impact of the PINKCC Challenge<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\ud83e\udd1d Training and Collaboration<\/div>\n −<\/span>\n +<\/span>\n <\/button>\n <\/h3>\n\n
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Fostering Peer Collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n

Data science students, AI experts, physicians, and researchers are invited to participate and form multidisciplinary, international teams.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\ud83c\udf0d Attractiveness<\/div>\n −<\/span>\n +<\/span>\n <\/button>\n <\/h3>\n\n
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Attracting Talent to the Occitanie Region<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Montpellier Cancer Campus and the MedVall\u00e9e ecosystem offer rich and attractive career paths in AI applied to science and global health.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\ud83c\udf39 Society<\/div>\n −<\/span>\n +<\/span>\n <\/button>\n <\/h3>\n\n
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Addressing a Public Health Challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ovarian cancer is a major issue for women\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\ud83d\udd2c Innovation<\/div>\n −<\/span>\n +<\/span>\n <\/button>\n <\/h3>\n\n
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Advancing Cancer Research Through AI<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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\ud83c\udf93 Empowering Career Growth<\/div>\n −<\/span>\n +<\/span>\n <\/button>\n <\/h3>\n\n
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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.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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PINKCC Challenge 2026: AI For Pancreatic Cancer Research<\/h2>
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Since January 2026<\/strong>, pre-registrations have been open for the 2026 edition of the\u00a0PINKCC Challenge<\/strong>, which this year focuses on a major public health issue:\u00a0pancreatic cancer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Registration link : \u00a0PINKCC Challenge 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the registration phase, the challenge will officially kick off on\u00a0March 9, 2026,<\/strong> during an event hosted at\u00a0Epitech Montpellier. Participants will then have\u00a010 weeks\u00a0to develop\u00a0detection\u00a0and\u00a0segmentation algorithms<\/strong>\u00a0using several thousand imaging datasets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0grand finale\u00a0will take place in\u00a0Montpellier on May 27<\/strong>, 2026, bringing together the finalist teams selected based on the performance of their models. Throughout the competition, SIRIC teams will provide scientific and technical support through dedicated platforms and a private\u00a0Discord channel<\/strong>, where participants can interact with organizers and access relevant medical and technical resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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PINKCC Challenge 2025: AI For Ovarian Cancer Research<\/h2>
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From April to June 2025<\/strong>, over 250 young AI talents<\/strong> participated in the challenge, developing algorithms based on anonymized clinical data. This phase was conducted in partnership with Professor Anne Laurent\u2019s team<\/strong>\u2014Vice-President Delegate for Open Science and Research Data at the University of Montpellier and Director of ISDM\u2014who provided access to the Meso-LR platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among these participants, 30% were international, coming from laboratories in Taiwan, Colombia, and Europe, as well as prestigious institutions such as \u00c9cole Nationale des Ponts et Chauss\u00e9es, ENS, Mines d\u2019Al\u00e8s, Sorbonne University, University of Montpellier, EPITA, Epitech, and hospitals including the University Hospitals of Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Saint-\u00c9tienne, Montpellier, and APHP via SIRIC Curamus.<\/p>\n

Following this initial \u201cpre-qualification\u201d phase, the final phase was launched in partnership with Scaleway<\/a>, the European cloud provider and subsidiary of the Iliad group.<\/p>\n

Overall, participants developed and trained their models on more than 300 ovarian CT scans<\/strong>, collected, anonymized, structured, and annotated by the teams at the Montpellier Cancer Institute.<\/p>\n

After this second stage, 70 finalists<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Partners of the PINKCC Challenge 2025<\/h2>
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Beyond being just a competition, the PINKCC Challenge 2025 showcases the global reach of SIRIC Montpellier Cancer. Supported by MedVall\u00e9e (Montpellier M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e M\u00e9tropole), this initiative showcases the ability of our world-class cancer research ecosystem to innovate, highlight local expertise, and attract top talent to the region.<\/p>\n

Strategic partners from the industrial, academic, and institutional sectors have come together to ensure the success of this inaugural edition, including:
\u2022 The pharmaceutical company GSK France<\/strong>
\u2022 Scaleway<\/strong>, European cloud provider and subsidiary of the Iliad group
\u2022 Cr\u00e9dit Agricole du Languedoc<\/strong>
\u2022 Montpellier M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e M\u00e9tropole<\/strong>, through the MedVall\u00e9e initiative<\/p>\n

We sincerely thank all our partners for their support of the 2025 edition!<\/em><\/p>\n

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