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We are experiencing astonishing developments in the areas of big data and artificial intelligence. They follow a pattern that we have now been observing for decades: according to Moore's Law,the performance and efficiency in the area of elementary arithmetic operations increases a thousand-fold every 20 years. Although we have not achieved the status where in the singular sense machines have become as "intelligent" as people, machines are becoming increasingly better. The Internet of Things has again helped to massively increase the efficiency of machines. Big data and suitable analytics do the same. If we let these processes simply continue, our civilization may be endangerd in many instances. If the "containment" of these processes succeeds in the context of a reasonable political global governance, a worldwide eco-social market economy, andan economy of green and inclusive markets, many desirable developments that are advantageous for our future may result. Then, at some point in time, the constant need for more and faster innovation may even stop. However, this is anything but certain. We are facing huge challenges.

Clinical/methodical Issue: Reporting in radiology faces considerable changes in the near future that will be influenced by a broader understanding of the task and increasing technological possibilities., Standard Radiological Methods: Until now a radiological report could be regarded as a text phrased by a radiologist after viewing imaging data., Methodical Innovations: New solutions will be accessed by advances in visualization of large datasets, in extracting, analyzing, and communicating metadata as well as by improved integration and interpretation of clinical information., Performance: Virtual reality, texture analysis, growing networks, semantic annotation, data mining and context based presentation have the potential to extensively change the everyday working routine., Achievements: Although many of these developments are still in a laboratory phase, the impact on the process of reporting can already be predicted., Practical Recommendations: As the leading community in information analysis and technology, radiology as a subject should strive to lead and shape these impending changes.

Telemedicine is an emerging field within medicine with potential to revolutionize the delivery of health care. It is defined as the use of telecommunication technologies to transfer medical information. Teledermatology is a category of telemedicine. Early experiments were already made at the beginning of the 20(th) century, the breakthrough happened in the nineties because of the rapid progress of telecommunication technology. The latest advance is mobile telemedicine which is characterized by the use of mobile devices such as mobile phone and PDA (personal digital assistant). Advantages of telemedicine are the possibility of remote patient-care as well as the easy and fast access to expert opinions and education. This can either happen through exchange of previously stored data/images (store-and-forward method) or in real time. Since our society is increasingly becoming interconnected via technical advances, it is essential that medicine also has an objective understanding of the topic.

The broadening use of imaging management systems in radiology and other disciplines is due in large part to the success of the DICOM standard (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine), which has been accepted worldwide for more than 10 years and meanwhile represents one of the most successful standards in medicine. The central intent of establishing the initiative "Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise" (IHE) was to ensure interoperability of different IT systems in medical processes. IHE is essentially based on widespread standards such as DICOM or HL7. This overview article briefly addresses the principles and organization of DICOM and IHE and describes the current developments in both domains.

In an overview the situation of telemedicine in Austria is presented regarding the Austrian health service with the focus on patients. First the term "telemedicine" is defined according to the present definition of the European Union and the situation of the Austrian health service. Afterwards individual success components for the planning of telemedicine projects are presented. These are briefly shown by the "five-column concept" of the Tyrolean Government, which includes the medical, legal, economic, technical and quality management-oriented aspects during the planning and evaluation period of telemedicine projects. The conclusion gives an overview of individual committees and activities of the Austrian medical universities, the federation and states as well as individual Austrian telemedical societies.