HealthyCloud’s first workshop, the Joint Workshop of Strategic Projects for the Health Research & Innovation Cloud, was held virtually on 18 May 2021 with the aim of bringing together strategic European projects and initiatives working towards making secure cross-border health data sharing a reality. The event was attended by 100 participants and had over 190 registrations from 23 different countries from all over the world.
Summary of the workshop’s recording
After a welcome message from Sandra GarcÃa Armesto (IACS) and Alfonso Valencia (BSC), key representatives from the projects HealthyCloud, EOSC-Life, B1MG, PHIRI and TEHDAS Joint Action shared lessons learned, expected outcomes and best ways to tackle common challenges. The wrap-up discussion focused on the source and nature of the data used in each project, the objective of the reuse of data in each case, and the role of national and regional hubs. The specific characteristics of each project were highlighted in order to optimise the use of the outcomes, avoid overlapping, and define the best ways forward for cooperation.
Selected stakeholders from the public sector, policymakers, ethics commitees, academia, industry and patients were also invited to highlight challenges of health data sharing they would like to see addressed within a pan-European Health Research and Innovation Cloud. They were represented by the European Commission’s Directorates-General for Health and Food Safety, for Communications Networks, Content and Technology and for Research and Innovation, as well as the European Patients’ Forum, the Inserm Ethics Committee, Findata, the European Health Data Evidence Network (EHDEN) and the European Medicines Agency.
The main discussion points and conclusions of this workshop were presented at the Portugal eHealth Summit (2 June 2021, virtual) in the session ‘Towards a Health Research and Innovation Cloud’.