"eHealth, Wellbeing & Ageing Newsletter" Newsletter Issues

Reminder - Moving from Newsletters to Notifications (24/02/2022)

We are going to improve and automate the way in which you will be informed about our topics. In order to allow for a more personalised selection, we will move in the near future from the current newsletter format to a notification system. In order to benefit, you will need to subscribe to this notification service which will inform you of relevant website updates. You'll be able to choose from a wide range of topics those you want to be informed on. You can also choose the frequency of the notifications. So if you want to keep receiving news from us, please visit the notification subscription page and subscribe to the notifications.

Summary report of public consultation on the proposed initiative for a European Health Data Space published (27/01/2022)

The European Commission has consulted stakeholders on the proposed initiative for a European Health Data Space. The consultation was open from 3 May until 26 July 2021. There were 382 valid responses and 64 respondents provided additional documentation.

Just published: vacancy for an Executive Director of the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) (31/01/2022)

The Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) is looking for an Executive Director. The closing date for submission is 28 February 2022, 12.00 noon Brussels time.

IHI is looking for members of its scientific advisory body (31/01/2022)

The Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) is looking for members of its scientific advisory body, the Science and Innovation Panel.

Introducing the Innovative Health Initiative (26/01/2022)

What is the Innovative Health Initiative? Who are the partners? And how can I get involved? The online IHI launch event introduced the Innovative Health Initiative: Europe’s new partnership for health.

Citizenship ethics and health data ministerial conference (02/02/2022)

This conference aims to foster the creation of a European ethical framework for digital health and health data. This framework would ensure consistency with the EU’s fundamental principles on ethics and citizens’ rights, brought into focus during the Covid-19 pandemic.

8th webinar of “Hub Talks” series (03/02/2022)

The aim of this webinar is to provide expert information, lessons learned and key recommendations from the Hub country support work. National experiences on mHealth for supporting countries and regions in setting up large-scale mHealth programmes will be shared, helping to facilitate innovation in mHealth and accelerating the EU Digital Single Market.

How European funded research can boost cyber resilience of hospitals (09/02/2022)

Hospitals are becoming the frequent target of cyber-attacks, with very serious consequences in terms both of data leakage, and, even more, of business continuity. The time has come to learn lessons from attacks, plan and invest in implementing effective full spectrum mitigation measures, leveraging results from European funded research to better prepare healthcare organisations in 2022 to improve preparedness in the face of new attacks.

Web Accessibility Directive - Monitoring reports (04/01/2022)

The Web Accessibility Directive requires Member States to report on the results of their monitoring activities every three years. The Member States have published the reports from the first monitoring period on their national websites.

Horizon Europe Information and Brokerage Session (02/02/2022)

The virtual half-day event will provide participants with information on the Horizon Europe Cloud-Edge-IoT call as well as the possibility to network and forge partnerships with experts from academia, research and innovation, industry and SMEs.

Commission to invest nearly €2 billion in delivering digital advances to business, citizens, and public administrations (10/11/2021)

The Commission has adopted three work programmes for the Digital Europe Programme, outlining the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €1.98 billion in funding. This first set of work programmes includes strategic investments that will be instrumental in realising the Commission's goals in making this Europe's Digital Decade.

Digital Europe Programme's multiannual work programme for 2021 - 2022 (10/11/2021)

This document sets out the Work Programme for part of the actions to be implemented in the first two years of the Digital Europe Programme, namely Data, AI, Cloud, Quantum Communication Infrastructure, advanced digital Skills and deployment activities for the best use of these technologies.

Digital Europe Programme's multiannual work programme – European Digital Innovation Hubs for 2021 - 2023 (10/11/2021)

This document sets out the Work Programme for the activities related to European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) to be implemented in the first three years of the Digital Europe Programme.

Digital Europe Programme's multiannual work programme - Cybersecurity for 2021 - 2022 (10/11/2021)

This document sets out the Cybersecurity Work Programme for part of the actions to be implemented in the first two years of the Digital Europe Programme under objective 3 : Cybersecurity and Trust.

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare report (11/11/2021)

The Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare report provides an overview of national strategies, the uses and plans for AI in healthcare, and stakeholder views

Digital Economy and Society Index 2021 (12/11/2021)

The Commission published the results of the 2021 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which tracks digital progress made in EU Member States in key areas.

New Publication: CSIRT Capabilities in Healthcare Sector (09/11/2021)

The report published by the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) focuses on sectoral Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) capabilities status and development within the health sector since the implementation of the NIS Directive. The aim of the report is to offer insights on current incident response (IR) trends in order to draw practical recommendations about the development of IR capabilities in the health sector.

European Big Data Value Forum - EBDVF 2021 (29/11/2021)

The European Big Data Value Forum (EBDVF) is the flagship event of the European Big Data and Data-Driven AI Research and Innovation community co-organised by the Big Data Value Association (BDVA) and the European Commission (DG Connect).

The Digital Health Europe Summit 2021 at a glance (29/11/2021)

DHE Summit 2021 brought together a large number and wide variety of stakeholders for inspiring and forward-looking debates to provide a vision of the future of digital health and care. Topics covered ranged from real-life transformation through digital health, via empowering citizens, to scaling up innovation through health data.

Joining Forces for Blockchain Standardisation 2021 (09/12/2021)

INATBA and the European Commission are hosting an online webinar “Joining Forces for Blockchain Standardisation 2021”

Call for twinning applications from EIP on AHA Reference Sites is now open (18/11/2021)

The IN-4-AHA project will support 10 twinning schemes for Reference Sites of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) in 2022.

Interoperability of Electronic Health Records in the EU (04/10/2021)

The European Commission has just released a study on the development of Interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHR) in EU Member States (as well as Norway and the UK).

Accessible web & digital content for people with disabilities – review of EU rules (19/07/2021)

The consultation aims at collecting views of all interested stakeholders including Member State, regional and local authorities; independent bodies dealing with accessibility, NGOs and organisations representing persons with disabilities and older people, industry players and technology providers, academic and certification bodies, accessibility experts, and citizens, especially persons with disabilities or functional limitations, and older people.

Join the European Week of Active and Healthy Ageing 2021! (18/10/2021)

This four-day event, inspired by the ongoing WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing, will consist of a plethora of exciting sessions, plenaries and a wide range of exhibitors all working within the ageing well sector.

Healthy ageing in the EU: the potential of digital innovation for elderly health and social care (12/10/2021)

The workshop aimed to gather European institutions, regions and cities, and key stakeholders to foster a debate on the challenges posed by the ageing population process in the European Union, and explore the opportunities of digital transition in improving the quality of life of elderly people, and transforming health and social care systems in light of a ‘healthy ageing-oriented’ approach.

Innovation Day 2021 - European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format community event (11/10/2021)

The Innovation Day 2021 marked the end of the first year of the X-eHealth project. The project's objective is to develop the European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format (EEHRxF) specifications for the exchange of medical image, laboratory results, discharge letters and rare diseases, whilst promoting sustainable practices for the sustainable uptake of cross-border digital health services.

Lower back pain under control thanks to an app supporting the therapy (11/10/2021)

The EU funded innovative project selfBACK is helping sufferers of lower back pain stay on track with their therapy thanks to an app using an artificial intelligence decision support system.

5 finalists of the Living Lab Testing scheme of IN4AHA (12/10/2021)

Over 25 organizations participated in the IN-4-AHA Open Call and five finalists have now been selected. The objective of IN-4-AHA Open Call was to facilitate the scalability of innovative solutions in active and healthy ageing across EU and provide testing opportunities and business coaching for innovative and scalable solutions.

mHealth label published (25/08/2021)

The new technical specification on a quality label for health and wellness apps has been published by ISO, CEN and IEC. It brings together and builds on guidelines and requirements for apps, by many local and national health organizations around the world to ensure they are safe, reliable and effective.

The DigitalHealthEurope project expert roundtables summary (09/08/2021)

DigitalHealthEurope expert roundtables on health data sharing and use are already available online. Roundtables were dedicated to the three topics: legal challenges in using health data, health data standards and interoperability and cloud technology in health data. Each workshop was attended by experts from related fields to discuss the issue at hand, map the scene, identify crucial points and think about innovative measures to tackle the identified challenges. More details about the discussions in the roundtables can be found in the summary document.

Innovative technology for aging populations with chronic health conditions (26/08/2021)

EU funded H2020 Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) project CAREMATRIX has just published a prior information notice, whereby it invites all interested market actors to participate in events that inform about the procurement objectives, process and the main contractual clauses. The events will take place online in November and December, and registration is open on the project’s website.

Improved treatment for patients with advanced heart failure (26/08/2021)

EU funded H2020 Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) project TIQUE has published a prior information notice (PIN). TIQUE aims to trigger new solutions to be developed and tested to improve treatment for patients with advanced heart failure and complex care needs through technology enabled integrated care solutions – thereby implementing a predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory model of health care services for patients with heart failure.

2021 DigitalHealthEurope Summit - save the dates! (28/09/2021)

The aim of the summit is to generate a discussion about the challenges and solutions related to the future use of health data, the upcoming European Health Data Space, and many other health data-related issues. Save the date in your diaries (28-30th September 2021) and subscribe to ensure you don’t miss news related to the event where broad audience of stakeholders will share their learnings, findings, and proposed policy recommendations.

Homes4Life - Certification scheme encourages age-friendly housing (14/07/2021)

An accreditation scheme that recognises buildings adapted and equipped for active ageing could help ensure that Europe’s housing stock is fit for our ageing population.

NESTORE - Empowering older people to live independently (12/07/2021)

EU researchers have developed innovative technology that delivers personalised advice and support to older people, potentially extending the number of years that can be lived independently.

You missed this year’s R&I Days or would like to revisit specific sessions? (29/07/2021)

The European Research and Innovation Days are the European Commission’s annual flagship event on research and innovation. This year, the event took place online on 23 and 24 June.

What has been done to support the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing this year? (27/08/2021)

The EU-funded Innovation Networks for Active and Healthy Ageing (IN-4-AHA) Coordination and Support Action has been supporting the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing since the beginning of 2021. Here is a wrap-up of the different activities so far.

Horizon Europe Health Cluster calls open now! (21/09/2021)

There are funding opportunities under Horizon Europe coming for digital health solutions. Digital technologies and health data are the key drivers for innovation in the health and care sector. First calls submission deadline is 21 September.

EU Digital COVID Certificate enters into application in the EU (01/07/2021)

As of the 1st of July, the EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation entered into application. This means that EU citizens and residents will now be able to have their Digital COVID Certificates issued and verified across the EU.

Commission to invest €14.7 billion from Horizon Europe for a healthier, greener and more digital Europe (16/06/2021)

The Commission has adopted the main work programme of Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2022, which outlines the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €14.7 billion in funding. These investments will help accelerate the green and digital transitions and will contribute to sustainable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and to EU resilience against future crises. They will support European researchers through fellowships, training and exchanges, build more connected and efficient European innovation ecosystems and create world-class research infrastructures. Moreover, they will encourage participation across Europe and from around the world, while at the same time strengthening the European Research Area.

The Connecting Europe Facility regulation adopted to support connectivity across the EU (07/07/2021)

The European Parliament has adopted the regulation establishing the next Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme, which will support investments in Europe's transport, energy and digital infrastructure networks with a budget of €33.71 billion for the 2021-27 period.

EU and Japan strengthen research and innovation collaboration on robotics solutions for active and healthy ageing (08/07/2021)

The Commission and Japanese partners have successfully collaborated in research and innovation projects on the challenges associated with population ageing.

European Patient Digital Health Awards (PDHA) 2021 (05/07/2021)

Here is your opportunity to win a prize and recognition for your work in digital health innovation!

Horizon EU Info Days 2021 (28/06/2021)

This first edition of the Horizon EU Info Days takes place online. It offers the opportunity to prospective applicants and other stakeholders of EU research and innovation to receive information and ask questions about the novelties, main funding instruments and processes of Horizon Europe.

EC workshop ‘Building the capacity of health care systems through European cooperation in Innovation Procurement’ (22/06/2021)

The Commission has just organised a workshop about innovation procurement in the field of health care that gathered a lot of participants. It provided an opportunity for information and discussion about: - Horizon Europe and other EC funded actions that provide funding, assistance, tools or other forms of support for innovation procurement in the field of healthcare - real-life case examples and experiences of procurers an companies from implementing innovation procurement in the field of health care.

ORCHA - independent framework to support mHealth objectives in different countries (13/07/2021)

Join 5th Hub Talks 2021 to understand how a public/private partnership can deliver outcomes to Member States mHealth policies. How digital health solutions can be reviewed. Which are the differences in digital health assessment and distribution across countries in Europe? What new can the New EU ISO standard TS 82304-2 bring? How to activate the digital patient? And more...

The mHealth Hub organised it’s fourth Webinar in the Series of “Hub Talks 2021” (17/06/2021)

Several members of the Hub working group on health apps assessment frameworks will be presenting the most recent work within the Hub on mHealth assessment.

The GATEKEEPER Open Call is now open (05/07/2021)

The GATEKEEPER project is an EU-funded initiative under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. Its main objective is to create a GATEKEEPER that connects healthcare providers, businesses, entrepreneurs, elderly citizens and the communities they live in. This connection between stakeholders will promote an open, trust-based arena for matching ideas, technologies, user needs and processes, aimed at ensuring healthier independent lives for senior people.

Have your say on measuring digital transformation in your city or community! (08/06/2021)

Deadline extended until the 24th September. The DIGIsurvey is a baseline survey on how cities, towns and rural areas across Europe approach digital innovation.

A survey on providing solutions to people over 65 for supporting active and healthy ageing (05/07/2021)

Are you providing solutions (service, innovation, product) to people 65+ to support active and healthy ageing? Do you wish to share your good practice with peers?

Best practices month for Active and Healthy Ageing innovative solutions (15/06/2021)

Post your best practices on the "Active and Healthy Living in the Digital World" Futurium platform! Three participants will be invited to present their work in a dedicated webinar.

Europe's Digital Decade: Commission launches consultation and discussion on EU digital principles (12/05/2021)

As a follow-up to its Digital Decade Communication of 9 March, the Commission has launched a public consultation on the formulation of a set of principles to promote and uphold EU values in the digital space. The consultation, open until 2 September, seeks to open a wide societal debate and gather views from citizens, non-governmental and civil society organisations, businesses, administrations and all interested parties. These principles will guide the EU and Member States in designing digital rules and regulations that deliver the benefits of digitalisation for all citizens.

EU Digital COVID Certificate: EU Gateway goes live with seven countries one month ahead of deadline (01/06/2021)

The EU Digital COVID Certificate has reached another important milestone with the go-live of the technical system at EU level, which allows to verify certificates in a secure and privacy-friendly way. The EU certificate was proposed by the Commission to resume safe travelling this summer. It will be free of charge, secure and accessible to all. Available in digital format or on paper, it will be a proof that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, tested negative, or recovered from an infection.

European Innovation Partnership Action Groups moving to FUTURIUM (01/06/2021)

EIP-AHA action groups are transitioning to Futurium! The new consortium managing the community is guiding this change by promoting the new platform. Make sure to have an EU Login and then sign up for Futurium - Active and Healthy Living in the Digital World!

EU and India to work together for a stronger digital cooperation and to tackle the pandemic (11/05/2021)

India and EU leaders have agreed to build a sustainable and comprehensive Connectivity Partnership, as well as cooperate on supercomputers to bring solutions to challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, during the 16th EU-India Summit held on the 8th of May.

Call for proposals on Alliances for Innovation 2021 is open (17/05/2021)

Alliances for Innovation aim to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity by boosting innovation through cooperation and flow of knowledge among higher education, vocational education and training, and the broader socio-economic environment, including research. To boost innovation, the focus will be on digital skills, including in the Health sector.

Policy recommendations on ageing with digital tools by the NESTORE project (25/05/2021)

After a 4 year journey in developing a virtual coach for wellbeing and healthy ageing, the EU funded NESTORE publishes a set of recommendations on ageing with digital tools and a book on Digital Health Technology for Better Ageing

Ageing assisted by behaviourally competent robots (31/05/2021)

The ACCRA research and innovation project responds to the challenges associated with population ageing. It aimed to utilize robots that are accepted by both men and women for elderly end users and their formal and informal caregivers. The ACCRA solution accounts for different cultures across the EU and Japan.

CARESSES - care robots culturally competent (31/05/2021)

CARESSES (acronym for Culture-Aware Robots and Environmental Sensor Systems for Elderly Support) is a multidisciplinary, international project with the goal of designing the first care robots that adapt their behavior and speech to the culture of the person they assist. CARESSES was funded by the European Union and by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan.

European Research and Innovation Days 2021 (23/06/2021)

Join live sessions with interesting speakers talking about the future of European research and innovation, and Horizon Europe, the new European research and innovation funding programme.

IDIH Week 2021 (01/06/2021)

The IDIH Week will focus on international cooperation on Active and Healthy Ageing in the digital world with key strategic partners

Summer Summit 21 (17/06/2021)

This June, join DIGITALEUROPE as we tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead together with Europe’s top policymakers and industrial leaders.

Further crucial step for the Digital Green Certificate: Member States agree on technical specifications (22/04/2021)

One month after the Commission's proposal for a Digital Green Certificate, Member States representatives in the eHealth Network agreed on guidelines describing the main technical specifications for the implementation of the system. This is a crucial step for the establishment of the necessary infrastructure at EU level. In parallel Member States are encouraged to deploy the needed technical solutions at national level.

Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (21/04/2021)

The Commission has proposed the first ever legal framework on AI, which addresses the risks of AI and positions Europe to play a leading role globally.

Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence 2021 Review (21/04/2021)

The 2021 Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence is the next step in creating EU global leadership in trustworthy AI.

EU-funded projects that use Artificial Intelligence technology (21/04/2021)

A selection of AI projects funded by the Horizon 2020 programme.

COVID-X: Supporting SMEs to advance their solutions in the fight against COVID-19 (15/04/2021)

COVID-X will fast-track to market over 30 European data technology solutions that have the potential to confront and overcome many of the challenges that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.

New portable solution for scarce ICU resources to help in the fight with Coronavirus (14/04/2021)

The EU-funded VASCOVID project is developing a portable, non-invasive and real-time health monitoring platform that combines time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy and diffuses correlation spectroscopy. The solution will enable the large-scale testing of new treatment procedures and therapies, targeting microvascular impairment.

Become Part of the UNICOM Community of Expertise (14/04/2021)

The UNICOM Innovation Action is about improved patient safety and better healthcare for all.

Webinar Round Table: The management perspective on the benefits of innovation procurement (22/07/2021)

A selection of top managers from Belgium, Greece and Spain give insights into the benefits and positive side effects of Innovation Procurement. They tell us how Innovation Procurement can be part of a new organizational agile mind-set to optimize overall performance and services and how it can create new dynamics with the market. They share and discuss their challenges and practical ways to tackle them successfully. Join the 22 July webinar (14h30-1600).

mHealth policies (28/04/2021)

The European mHealth Hub project, which is a collaborative project of the EU, the ITU and the WHO, organises a webinar on mHealth policies. Registration is free.

The 1st New European Bauhaus conference just took place (22/04/2021)

The New European Bauhaus initiative connects the European Green Deal to our living spaces.

Call for tenders: PCP on integrated care solutions for chronic heart failure (11/01/2022)

The INCAREHEART buyers group from 5 different countries around Europe (SE, IT, EL, PT, TK) invites interested bidders to submit offers for their pre-commercial procurement. The aim is to trigger new ICT-enabled integrated care solutions to be created and tested that can advance multidisciplinary health and care for patients with chronic heart failure, in particular regarding early diagnosis and anticipatory care, care and follow-up, living with heart failure.

Apply for the 2021 Procura+ Innovation procurement of the year award (16/04/2021)

Are you a public procurer in Europe who completed an innovation procurement that led to significant improvements of public goods, services, processes or infrastructure? Apply for the award by 30 April 2021. There is also a specific award category for outstanding innovation procurement in ICT. The award is part of the activities of the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Procure2Innovate that is setting up a European network of national competence centres around Europe.

Call for expression of Interest for experts covering the entire duration of the new MFF (2021-2027) is now open (26/03/2021)

This call is a call for expression of interest for the Portal Expert Database for the period 2021-2027. It seeks individuals to assist the EU services in a personal capacity as experts with the implementation of EU funding and tenders managed through the Portal, in particular: - assessing applications for funding (including tenders) - monitoring of projects and contracts - opinions and advice on specific issues. Tasks may include evaluation, monitoring and advice of all types.

Futurium - a new EU platform to support Active and Healthy Living in the Digital World (25/03/2021)

The Active and Healthy Living in the Digital World community platform is created to bring together innovators, researchers, health and care providers, industry, civil society, academia, public authorities and other stakeholder groups committed to work on health and wellbeing promotion throughout the life course and on active and healthy ageing, with the support of digital technologies. All actors in the field are invited to register, disseminate information and best practices, share important news and events and actively engage with each other in the forum.

BETTEReHEALTH supports deployment of eHealth in African lower income countries for better health outcomes (26/02/2021)

BETTEReHEALTH, funded under Horizon Europe and started in January 2021, aims at mapping and identifying human, technical and public policy factors that are barriers or enablers for eHealth implementation in low and lower middle income countries in Africa. BETTEReHEALTH will coordinate and support the deployment of sustainable eHealth solutions to derive strategies and policies for more successful use of eHealth, and thus better health.

Health and long-term care workforce: demographic challenges and the potential contribution of migration and digital technology (26/02/2021)

The EU’s health and long-term care workforce will need to grow by 11 million workers between 2018 and 2030 to meet the demands of an ageing population, according to a JRC report.

Commissioners Schmit, Breton and Kyriakides host Pact for Skills roundtable with executives and representatives from the health ecosystem (16/02/2021)

On 16 February, Commissioners Breton, Schmit and Kyriakides hosted a high-level roundtable on the Pact for Skills with the health ecosystem. Announced under the European Skills Agenda in July 2020, the Pact aims to mobilise all relevant actors – industrial, social, regional and education partners – to assist people in developing the right skill-set for a sustainable, social and resilient recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Partnerships established under the Pact will benefit from Commission support such as a platform and information on EU funding options.

Curbing COVID-19 unemployment rates: helping people with stress and depression get back to work faster (17/02/2021)

The EU funded NYMPH-MD pre-commercial procurement helped the Danish start-up to bring to the market a mobile ehealth solution that supports mental care providers in the treatment of stress, depressions and bipolar disorders. Since this project, the company increased revenues, doubled its workforce, had a very successful IPO on NASDAQ First North Copenhagen and struck a deal with a major pharma company. Monsenso’s mHealth solution is also used in the efforts made towards curbing increased COVID-19 unemployment rates by helping people with stress and depression in getting back to work faster.

PANCAIM - Improving treatment outcomes of pancreas cancer patients through AI for genomics and personalized Medicine (08/03/2021)

The goal of the new Horizon 2020 project PANCAIM is to successfully exploit available genomic and clinical data to improve personalized medicine of pancreatic cancer.

NESTORE project - a new virtual coach for better well-being (08/03/2021)

A 42-month-old journey comes to an end. The Horizon2020 project NESTORE, funded to deliver a prototype for a virtual coach to motivate healthy and active habits for better well-being, had its final workshop online on 25 February 2021.

Research and Innovation for prevention of cognitive decline: the LETHE project (04/03/2021)

Funded by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Program, the LETHE project aims to develop a personalized prediction and intervention model for early detection and reduction of risk factors causing dementia, based on Artificial Intelligence and distributed Machine Learning.

INCISIVE - exploring the potential of novel Artificial Intellligence tools for enhancing current imaging solutions for cancer cases (18/02/2021)

INCISIVE is a 42-month project that aims at exploring the potential of novel AI tools for enhancing current imaging solutions for cancer cases. INCISIVE addresses challenges related to the detection of patterns in large volumes of cancer imaging data, thus increasing the interpretability of complex imaging data and supporting more effective decision-making for Healthcare Providers. It also addresses challenges related to data labelling and annotation, as well as availability and sharing of imaging data so that it can be used for training and validating AI tools for improved imaging methods.

Building an imaging platform for next-generation artificial intelligence in oncology - EuCanImage (10/02/2021)

EuCanImage, which started in October 2020, builds a federated, secure and scalable European cancer imaging platform to enhance the potential of AI in oncology. This 4-year research project comprises of 20 world-renowned research institutions, companies and clinical centres across Europe and the US. It will be populated with data from over 25.000 subjects, and cross-linked to biological and health repositories to develop multi-scale AI solutions by integrating organ-level, molecular and other clinical predictors into patient-specific cancer fingerprint, to investigate unmet clinical need.

vCare - Machine learning and cardiac rehabilitation in Romania (16/02/2021)

Stroke and ischaemic heart disease remain the main causes of mortality in Romania. The absence of free-of-charge ambulatory rehabilitation puts Romania in the last place in Europe in the management of secondary prevention. Through machine learning, vCare builds software which will allow patients to perform cardiac rehabilitation in the comfort of their own homes. The testing of the integrated system is taking place at the Bagdasar-Arseni Emergency Clinical Hospital in Bucharest, where the vCare team has created all the conditions necessary for the optimal development of the project.

Brainteaser project kicked off (10/02/2021)

The Brainteaser project, led by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, will use AI systems to process data gathered from patients affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) to make patients’ management more efficient and effective and to develop models able to predict the disease progression. During the four years, the project will involve patients enrolled in four participating clinical centres located in Italy, Spain and Portugal, to assess the disease progression and advance the medical interventions to prevent the health decline of MS and ALS patients.

Personas under the Blueprint of the European Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) (11/02/2021)

This infographic shows the 12 Blueprint personas that have been developed to use in user-experience design and user research, describe example users and enable organisations to understand their potential needs better, consider users' needs, aspirations, attitudes and dreams and assess other relevant user characteristics like psycho-social forces, health or care choices and health or care outcomes.

Action Groups of the European Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) (11/02/2021)

This infographic explains the objectives of the EIP on AHA Action Groups, their thematic areas of work, their role and provides some statistics.

Two cross-border consortia of healthcare providers prepare new pre-commercial procurements in healthcare (17/02/2021)

The ROSIA buyers group aims to boost innovative digital solutions that can offer remote rehabilitation services for isolated areas. The INCAREHEART buyers group is looking for innovative ICT-enabled integrated care solutions to advance multidisciplinary health and care for patients with chronic heart failure. Both the ROSIA and INCAREHEART buyers groups receiving co-financing from the EU Horizon 2020 programme.

Call for papers: Big Data eHealth applications (25/03/2021)

The upcoming Special Issue of the Applied Sciences journal issued a call for papers that will be focused on technologies and methodologies in the field of Big Data Analytics for eHealth, also considering their combined use with Internet of Thing (IoT) devices, Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods, and Cyber Security (CS) techniques for the definition of complex systems and architectures for the eHealth domain. A special regard will be paid to papers devoted to the analysis of COVID-19-related Big Data.

Hospital buyers invite peers across Europe to collaborate on finetuning innovative procurement needs (25/03/2021)

Six hospitals from Spain, Italy, Poland, Lithuania and the UK invite other clinics, healthcare organizations and practitioners for feedback on six unmet needs that require innovative solutions: zero waste operating theaters, personalised surgical process for joint replacements, waste reduction services, smart emergency call and response solutions, innovative renovation of hospital wards and transformation of the outpatient journey. Are you facing similar challenges? Submit your comments. By working together, we can encourage and enable innovation in the supply-chain that meets also your needs.

European Commission procurement triggers wider deployment of innovative disinfection robots across Europe's hospitals (17/03/2021)

The European Commission contracted UVD robots, a Danish startup, to deliver an additional 100 disinfection robots to hospitals across EU countries, bringing the total to 300 robots purchased so far. Back in 2014-17, Blue Ocean Robotics created this self-driving disinfection robot in a pre-commercial procurement for a buyers group of Danish regions. Since then its subsidiary UVD robots experienced steep growth by selling the robots worldwide to fight COVID-19.

Two transnational buyers groups prepare new pre-commercial procurements in healthcare (17/03/2021)

The CAREMATRIX buyers group intends to boost innovative integrated CARE solutions to address the Multimorbidity mATRIX in ageing populations. The TIQUE buyers group is looking for InnovaTIve integrated care services to deliver QUick rEsponses for individuals with advanced heart failure and complex care needs. Both the CAREMATRIX and TIQUE buyers groups receiving co-financing from the EU Horizon 2020 programme.

Call for tenders: Next Generation Sequencing for Oncology (07/12/2021)

Increasing the use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in oncology requires further cost and technology acceleration. 8 health procurers from 5 countries (BE, FR, DE, ES, IT) invite potentially interested bidders to submit an offer for their oncNGS pre-commercial procurement. Aim of the procurement is to develop an affordable integrated solution for predictive, prognostic and diagnostic analysis in liquid biopsies of solid tumours (including appropriate haematological indications) based on NGS technology. Deadline for submission of offers: 2 February 2022

Open Call for the IN-4-AHA Living lab testing scheme (09/04/2021)

The EU-funded IN-4-AHA project will enhance the uptake of digital innovations in active and healthy ageing. The objective of this open call is to facilitate the scalability of innovative solutions in active and healthy ageing across the EU.

Denmark joins the 1+ Million Genomes Initiative (02/02/2021)

Denmark has signed the declaration of cooperation that aims to link genomic health data throughout the EU and achieve access to at least 1 million sequenced genomes by 2022. Since its launch in 2018 the Commission has been supporting the “1+ Million Genomes” initiative, which already involves 24 countries that have signed the declaration.

Coronavirus: Commission to provide 200 disinfection robots to European hospitals (23/11/2020)

As part of its continued efforts to tackle the spread of coronavirus and provide Member States with necessary equipment, the Commission launched the purchase of 200 disinfection robots that will be delivered to hospitals across Europe.

Safer x-rays for use with children developed (09/02/2021)

European photonics scientists have developed a new ‘autocorrect’ image processing algorithm that is able to reduce X-ray scatter, which means that children will now be able to receive safer, high contrast, low dose X-rays.

Open Market Consultation: Next Generation Sequencing for personalised cancer therapy (23/01/2021)

Seven hospitals from Austria, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and France are inviting potentially interested bidders to participate in the open market consultation for their upcoming pre-commercial procurement on Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). The aim is to develop and test two fully integrated, standardized NGS workflows, from sample-pre-analytics to medical decision making, for routine diagnostics of common and rare cancers from adults and children. The open market consultation is planned to take place 22-23 March 2021 in Vienna. Registration deadline: 1 March 2020.

IN-4-AHA – scaling-up innovation in active and healthy ageing (09/02/2021)

The EU-funded IN-4-AHA project will build on the achievements and legacy of the EIP on AHA ecosystem to further enhance the uptake of digital innovations in active and healthy ageing. The main outcome of the IN-4-AHA project is an active and healthy ageing innovation scale-up model that is validated by stakeholders and complemented by a clear implementation roadmap, an innovation impact evaluation toolkit and a strategy for long-term investments.

Share4Rare - making a difference in rare diseases (08/02/2021)

Patient driven research, and patient centre healthcare are key topics and trends in eHealth. Share is the pivot in the COVID19 society and in patients research, allowing connections without borders and limitations. In the rare diseases field, it is even more important to raise citizen science to promote 100% sustainable solutions.

SimCardioTest: EU-funded project develops new predictive tools in cardiac pathologies (27/01/2021)

A new project funded by the European Union will provide novel insights into designing new predictive tools in cardiac pathologies. It will accelerate the uptake of computer simulations for testing medicines and medical devices.

Important results for Precision Medicine on Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer (05/02/2021)

The EU funded project IASiS tried to pave the way for precision medicine approaches by utilising insights from patient data. It aimed to combine information from medical records, imaging databases and genomics data to enable more personalised diagnosis and treatment approaches in two disease areas – lung cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Digi-NewB project - A new generation monitoring system in neonatology (05/02/2021)

A high proportion of premature babies become infected while in hospital leading to significant morbidity and mortality. A new decision support system, developed by the Digi-NewB project, aims to reduce sepsis risk while monitoring newborn cardiorespiratory and neurobehavioural maturation.

Gatekeeper Open Call for projects focusing on AI and Big Data solutions for older adults (30/10/2020)

The Open Call launched by the EU-funded project Gatekeeper targets mid-caps, SMEs, start-ups, universities, research and technological centres and European industry. It offers up to 600,000 EUR to fund 10 projects focusing on Artificial Intelligence & Big Data applications, tools or components to help ensure healthier independent lives for older adults.

AAL 2021 - call for projects launched (29/01/2021)

The AAL Programme announced the publication of the 2021 Call for proposals which is dedicated to advancing inclusive health and care solutions for ageing well in the new decade.