28th January 2025
As the AI Action Summit approaches on February 10-11, 2025, in Paris, AI is going to be at the centre of discussions involving heads of state and government, international organisations, businesses, researchers and academics, artists, industries, and more.
AI holds immense potential in transforming healthcare, for example in addressing cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in Europe, claiming 4 million lives annually. With an aging population, the prevalence of these conditions is expected to rise, making innovation in this area critical. EIT Health has been instrumental in supporting projects where its partners harness AI to drive meaningful advancements in cardiovascular care. For instance, the ProHeart project by ProCarement GmbH explores reimbursement pathways to expand access to life-saving solutions across markets, while the inEURHeart project by inHeart enhances surgical precision through 3D-quality imaging and digital twin technology. These initiatives underscore EIT Health’s commitment to fostering long-term improvements in healthcare.
However, AI also faces major obstacles. In 2020, EIT Health organized a series of Think Tank round tables as part of the ‘Transforming healthcare with AI’ hub to understand the challenges linked to the adoption of AI and its integration in healthcare and to propose solutions. Addressing these major topics require collaboration at a larger scale. Through joining European actions and fostering collaboration across borders, EIT Health commits to the creation of a sustainable and effective healthcare ecosystem.
Implementing the European Health Data Space (EHDS)
The EHDS represents a transformative vision for healthcare data sharing in Europe, empowering citizens with greater control over their health information while unlocking vast opportunities for research, innovation, and policymaking. EIT Health has been at the forefront of efforts to turn this vision into reality, working through its Think Tank and collaborative projects to identify and address implementation challenges. Find out more about our Think Tank’s report, which highlights the specific challenges that key actors may face when implementing the EHDS and makes recommendations on how to overcome them.
Through multi-stakeholder consultations across EU member states, EIT Health has spotlighted the importance of harmonized governance across regions, robust data-sharing frameworks, and capacity-building measures. By fostering a culture of transparency and collaboration, EIT Health is helping to ensure that the EHDS achieves its goals of improving healthcare delivery, fostering innovation, and reducing disparities in access to care across Europe.
The Role of Data in AI-Powered Healthcare
Data lies at the heart of AI’s transformative potential in healthcare. However, the challenges of ensuring high-quality, interoperable, and ethically sourced data remain significant.
Intensive care units (ICUs) illustrates perfectly the challenges associated to data such as the management of the vast volume of real-time information generated by medical devices, electronic health records, and monitoring systems, which can overwhelm clinical decision-making processes. Following up on the objective to reduce the bottlenecks in healthcare, EIT Health has joined the INDICATE project, launched in late 2024 in their ambitious effort to create a cross border federated infrastructure for ICU data.
Through its extensive network of partners, EIT Health has facilitated projects that use data to train and validate AI-driven medical devices, develop personalized treatment strategies, and improve diagnostic accuracy. These efforts demonstrate how AI, underpinned by robust data systems, can enhance patient outcomes and create more efficient healthcare systems.
In the construction of an AI powered healthcare, EIT Health has joined SHAIPED, with a kick off planned in March 2025, to bridge the gap between the EHDS, the AI Act and their implementation in clinical practices. It will pave the way to understanding how the EHDS can accelerate the adoption of AI technologies among healthcare professionals and patients. Bringing these new capabilities closest to the care facilities should enable them to achieve their main focus: improving healthcare delivery for both patients and healthcare providers.
Building Capacity and Infrastructure for Digital Health
The successful integration of digital health solutions requires not only technological advancements but also a skilled workforce and adequate infrastructure. EIT Health has taken significant steps to address these needs through targeted programmes and collaborations. By supporting training initiatives and fostering cross-border cooperation, EIT Health helps build the capacity required for the seamless adoption of digital health solutions across Europe. EIT Health also addresses the skills gap challenge ahead by developing AI based tools such as SkillSync, predicting and measuring the upskilling necessary in the organizations of tomorrow.
Moreover, EIT Health’s involvement in testing and experimentation frameworks, such as those under the Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEF) for Health, underscores its commitment to bridging the gap between innovation and implementation. These initiatives provide innovators with the tools and environments needed to refine their solutions while ensuring compliance with European standards.
Fostering Collaboration Across Borders
One of EIT Health’s greatest strengths is its ability to bring together diverse stakeholders—from academia and industry to policymakers and healthcare providers—to collaborate on shared goals. By creating a platform for dialogue and innovation, EIT Health facilitates the exchange of ideas and best practices, driving collective progress in European healthcare.
The Think Tank, for instance, has been instrumental in promoting knowledge sharing on critical topics like data governance and digital health adoption. By uniting experts and stakeholders, EIT Health ensures that policies and projects reflect the needs of the entire healthcare ecosystem and remain aligned with the broader objectives of the European Union.
Paving the Way for a Digital and AI-Driven Healthcare Future
EIT Health’s initiatives embody Europe’s ambition to lead in digital and AI-driven healthcare innovation. Through its work on implementing the EHDS, promoting ethical and effective data use, building capacity, and fostering collaboration, EIT Health is shaping a future where technology and human expertise converge to improve healthcare for all.
As the AI Action Summit convenes, EIT Health’s contributions serve as a powerful reminder of the transformative potential of innovation and collaboration. By addressing systemic challenges and embracing opportunities, EIT Health reinforces its role as a catalyst for change in European healthcare.
A Continuation To These Discussions
After the AI Action Summit, here are a few conferences and events that EIT Health will be involved in:
📌 4th-5th March: Driving Innovation through Health Data and Digital data: Two back to Back events to bring healthcare providers and SMEs together to address challenges and opportunities in health data innovation and digital health solutions.
📌18th-19th March: Health Data Summit 2025: Partnership with the European Institute for Innovation through Health Data to organize a 2 Days summit in Brussels dedicated to advancing healthcare and fostering innovation through strategic data quality management.
📌 10th-12th June: HIMSS25 Europe : Partnership to organize one of the biggest event of the year that will happen in Paris with global leaders, policy makers and KOLs in healthcare to gather on a 3 days event.
📌 17th-18h September: 8th AI For Health Summit: AI for Health is Europe’s largest AI and healthcare ecosystem, founded in 2017. The community gathers 150+ public and private sectors players in the Healthcare and Artificial Intelligence fields across France and Europe. More detail on the past edition.
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