2015至2019年医学人工智能研究项目国家自然科学基金委员会资助情况分析

The current funding landscape of medical artificial intelligence research projects:an analysis of national natural science foundation of China from 2015 to 2019

目的:探讨分析2015至2019年国家自然科学基金委员会(NSFC)资助的医学人工智能(AI)研究现况。方法:以2015至2019年NSFC医学科学部资助的AI相关项目信息为数据基础,对项目的资助年份、题目、依托单位、项目类型、项目经费以及研究成果等进行综合分析。结果:2015至2019年,NSFC共资助AI相关项目278项,项目数和经费都呈逐年增长趋势。其中,90%(249/278)资助项目为面上项目和青年科学基金,53%(148/278)项目集中分布于北京、上海、广东,66%(184/278)项目为影像相关研究。研究的疾病类型主要为我国高发的肿瘤、心血管疾病和神经系统疾病等。结论:NSFC资助的AI相关项目具有数量和经费增长快、学科覆盖广泛、研究疾病类型多样等特点,但存在地域、研究领域和依托单位等分布不均衡等现象,需要后继重点关注。

Objective To investigate the current funding landscape of medical artificial intelligence(AI)projects in National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)from 2015 to 2019.Methods From 2015 to 2019,AI-related projects in NSFC Medical Science Department were collected.Comprehensive analysis was performed in the projects information including year,title,supporting institution,fund type,research findings,etc.Results NSFC has funded a total of 278 projects related to artificial intelligence,with the total funding amount of 139 million yuan.The number of projects and the funding amount were increasing year by year.Among these,90%(249/278)were general programs and young scientist funds;53%(148/278)of the projects were regionally distributed in Beijing,Shanghai and Guangdong;66%(184/278)of the projects were imaging-related researches;the projects mainly focused on diseases with high incidence in China,including neoplastic diseases,cardiovascular and nervous system diseases.Conclusion The AI-related projects funded by NSFC are characterized by rapid growth in number and fund amounts,wide coverage of disciplines,and diverse types of research diseases.However,the unbalanced distribution of regions,research fields,and supporting institutions demands more attention in future.