LIS4FUTURE

The significant competitive pressure in the laboratory industry boosts the ongoing consolidation of the market. The acquisition and preservation of competitive advantages requires a quick adaptation to external conditions such as new regulations. Within the publicly funded research project "LIS4FUTURE – Laboratory Information Systems of the Future" the Project Group Business & Information Systems Engineering of the Fraunhofer FIT works in collaboration with Medizinische Labor-Organisations-Systeme (MELOS) GmbH on the development of a demonstrator enabling configuration and modularization of flexible, data-driven business processes.

High cost pressure forces an increasing number of medical laboratories to merge to large conglomerates, which often operate throughout Europa or the world, e.g., Sonic Healthcare. In addition, many laboratories expand their range of products and newly process veterinary and ecological samples. Those developments pose challenges for current laboratory information systems (LIS) since order types as well as corresponding billing and documentation obligations become strongly diversified. Funded by the R&D program "Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik Bayern" (Information and Communication Technology Bavaria) of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology (StMWi) the research project "LIS4FUTURE – Laboratory Information Systems of the Future" strives to address these challenges.

In very close collaboration with the Department of Life Science Informatics of the Fraunhofer FIT, the Project Group Business & Information Systems Engineering aims at developing new mechanisms for the configuration of business software with complex, data-driven processes. This condition is perfectly met by laboratory information systems. In the long run, the customized software shall enable an adaptation to changing boundary conditions. To reach this goal, LIS4FUTURE analyzes the viability of different approaches and technologies which provide configurability via demonstrator development. This evaluation’s results can finally lead to the development of revolutionary laboratory information systems ready for the market in a few years. ​​