Skip links
Home » Press Releases » Gaia-X to host its first Health Data Space virtual event 4 April 2022

Gaia-X to host its first Health Data Space virtual event 4 April 2022

The event will be centered towards building a scalable and efficient health data space in Europe

24 March 2022 – Brussels, Belgium: Gaia-X, an organisation championing data sovereignty, has announced the launch of the first of its Data Space event series, focused on Health. It will take place on 4 April 2022, at 10:00 – 16:00 CET.

Bearing the title “Enable the future of health: federated, citizen-centric, and insight-driven!, our forthcoming event will position the need for a scalable and efficient health data space in Europe that is truly decentralised, citizen centric and insight-driven.

“Gaia-X has been at the forefront of driving digital initiatives in Europe, and this event is a step in that direction, towards a Health Date Space Ecosystem. This event also perfectly aligns with the European Commission’s recent Data Act that fully enables a data-driven society and with the forthcoming European Health Data Space regulation” Francesco Bonfiglio, CEO of Gaia-X highlighted.

The European Commission recently released the 2022 Data Act, outlining the necessity for European common data spaces in health, energy, manufacturing, mobility, among others. The implementation of the Data Act will have several benefits for consumers and businesses alike. It creates a level playing field creating new opportunities, providing better access to data, and providing lower prices.

In its 2021 Work Programme, the European Commission announced a legislative proposal for a European Health Data Space (EHDS) planned for adoption in 2022. The EHDS is essential for advances in preventing, detecting, and curing diseases from the perspective of patients as well as for informed, evidence-based decisions to improve the accessibility, effectiveness, and sustainability of healthcare systems.

The legislative proposal will build upon and complement the horizontal frameworks announced in the Data Strategy, specifically the Data Governance Act, with more specific objectives in the area of health [1].

As part of the Impact Assessment, the Commission is currently studying the infrastructure needs of the future of the EHDS, both in terms of supporting the use of health data for the provision of healthcare and supporting the further reuse of health data for research and innovation, policy-making and regulatory activities.

“Data-driven insights have the potential to dramatically improve health for all. This one-day event will ignite the deployment of federated Health Data Spaces based on the Gaia-X framework. We are committed to creating a value-based health care system and data is one of the most important components for achieving that. We plan to create a secure, transparent, and collaborative health data infrastructure in the EU that enables easy access and analysis of data to improve citizen-centric healthcare operations and innovation.” Jeroen Tas, Royal Philips.

The event will begin with a general session setting the scene for the entire day, followed by breakout sessions around use cases and building blocks. The programme will culminate with a government session, dedicated to a limited audience, primarily discussing national-level legislation changes, subsidies, and collaboration opportunities across borders that will help create a sustainable data infrastructure.

“The meeting will bring together IT experts, policy makers and government officials to contribute their unique experience and expectations around the topic. Discussions will address subjects like patient-driven measurements and outcomes, medical record exploration, as well as genomics and imaging data, among others. Beyond Gaia-X, the participants represent currently ongoing, independent initiatives in Europe which makes the event and in particular its breakout sessions a unique platform to converge and align” Ulf Nehrbass, Luxembourg Institute of Health highlighted.

Such high-level events present the added value brought by Gaia-X, with the Association taking the lead in creating an overarching data-space ecosystem in Europe. 2022 marks the Adoption year, lining up an impressive editorial calendar of exciting activities aiming to bring together diversified groups and sectors that will eventually align to realise the overarching mission of Gaia-X: establishing digital sovereignty.

Opening its data space event series with this Health meeting, the coming months will see other important activities. For one, the Gaia-X Magazine and its dedicated Podcast series will be launched. In addition, the Gaia-X Editorial Calendar has planned important events, covering the Mobility, Tourism, Agriculture and Manufacturing data spaces, EU Funding events, Tech Dives, and membership onboarding webinars, among others.

Such high-impact activities will enable a community platform of valuable industry thought leaders, experts and other stakeholders truly coming together to realise the core values of Gaia-X: transparency, openness, and trust – finally leading to the release of major deliverables during this year’s Summit in November 2022.

[1]

  • ensuring access, sharing and use of health data for healthcare delivery purposes (primary use of health data), as well as control by individuals over their health data.
  • fostering a genuine single market for digital health services and products, including those based on AI.
  • facilitating access to and reuse of health data for research, innovation, public health policy-making and regulatory activities, in a privacy-preserving, secure, timely, transparent, and trustful way, with an appropriate institutional governance (secondary use of health data).