Nieuwsbericht Tanja Van Achteren 2 June 2025

VITO Remote Sensing joins ambitious AI project

We're proud to announce our key role in DVPS (Diversibus Viis Plurima Solvo - Latin for "Through diverse paths, I solve many issues"), a major Horizon Europe project backed by €29 million in funding. Led by Translated and involving 20 leading organizations from nine countries, DVPS marks a significant step forward in the development of a new class of artificial intelligence: multimodal foundation models (MMFMs) that learn through direct interaction with the physical world by combining language, vision and sensor data. 

The project aims to move beyond traditional, text-based AI models by developing systems capable of interpreting and responding to the complex real-world environments they operate in. From improving disaster response to enabling early diagnosis in healthcare, DVPS aspires to create AI that understands and adapts to human and environmental context. 

 

Driving AI innovation in geo-intelligence and health

VITO plays a pivotal role in DVPS across two high-impact domains:

  • Geo-intelligence: VITO brings its remote sensing expertise to the development of real-time environmental models using satellite, airborne, and drone data. By integrating multi-resolution imagery, LiDAR, GIS, and even social media signals into multimodal models, VITO supports faster and more accurate decision-making in environmental monitoring and disaster management.
  • Health: VITO is leading the development of privacy-preserving, federated AI models for cardiovascular applications. These models integrate data from medical imaging, ECGs, and biochemical markers to support more accurate, ethical, and cost-effective clinical decision-making—without compromising patient privacy.

     

Transparant and trustworthy AI

VITO is also at the forefront of ethical AI development within DVPS. The team is responsible for creating tools and methodologies that promote explainabilitybias evaluation, and regulatory alignment with the EU AI Act and GDPR. This ensures that DVPS models meet Europe’s highest standards for trustworthy and human-centric AI.

 

Strategic positioning for Flanders and Europe

DVPS represents a strategic milestone for VITO and the Flanders region, placing local AI excellence at the heart of a pan-European effort to build scalable, interoperable, and ethical AI systems. VITO’s leadership reinforces Flanders’ ambition to transform scientific innovation into sustainable social and economic impact.

Through DVPS, VITO Remote Sensing continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in AI and earth observation - bringing European values of transparency, responsibility, and collaboration to the global AI stage.

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