How can medical imaging software developed in Cardiff reach more researchers, clinicians and healthcare innovators?

SPAARC, short for Spaarc Pipeline for Automated Analysis and Radiomics Computing, is Cardiff University software that supports radiomics: the extraction and analysis of quantitative data from medical images. These tools can help researchers study patterns in imaging data and develop more reproducible approaches to medical image analysis.

Supported by Cardiff University’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funding, Professor Emiliano Spezi and his team from the School of Engineering has been working to expand the reach and usability of SPAARC through collaboration with Hero Imaging, a commercial medical imaging platform.

Hero Imaging provides a no-code environment for medical image analysis, making advanced image processing and radiomics workflows accessible to researchers, clinicians and healthcare innovators without requiring specialist programming expertise.

The IAA-funded projects supported specific stages in the wider development of SPAARC, including integration into Hero Imaging, development of new analytical tools, international showcasing, user feedback, and work towards licensing, clinical validation and wider adoption

SPAARC is a Cardiff University software platform for radiomics and quantitative medical image analysis. This wider programme of work aims to make advanced image analysis, machine learning and statistical modelling more accessible to clinical and research users, supporting reproducible research and future innovation in medical imaging.

The IAA-funded projects supported the integration of SPAARC tools into the Hero Imaging platform, a no-code platform that makes advanced medical image analysis accessible to researchers and clinicians. The team developed new software modules, documentation and learning materials such as SPAARC-Radiomics and SPAARC-Statistics, showcased the tools at international ESTRO conferences, and gathered feedback from researchers, clinicians and industry stakeholders.

IAA funding helped bridge the gap between research software and wider use. It supported technical development, commercial engagement, international visibility and collaboration with Hero Imaging, contributing to licensing activity and helping the team explore future routes for clinical validation, deployment and continued software development.

The team is continuing to develop SPAARC as part of a wider programme of work around radiomics, medical image analysis and clinical research software. Future activity will focus on further development, validation and routes to wider adoption.

Read more about the project on the spaarc website: https://spaarc-radiomics.io/