HeliX launches in Portugal: EIT Health InnoStars strengthens Europe’s sovereign health data ecosystem

EIT Health InnoStars is playing a key strategic role in HeliX, a newly launched European initiative designed to unlock the value of health data through federated learning and stronger interregional collaboration.

On 27 October 2025 in Porto, the HeliX project — Health Ecosystem for Learning and Innovation Across Sovereign Data Space — officially launched, bringing together 14 partners from Portugal, Italy, Hungary and Poland. Coordinated by Health Cluster Portugal (HCP) and funded under the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Instrument, the project represents a significant step towards a more connected, secure and interoperable European health data landscape.

At a time when data fragmentation and regulatory complexity remain major barriers to innovation in healthcare, HeliX addresses one of Europe’s most urgent challenges: how to unlock the value of health data without compromising security, privacy and sovereignty.

From vision to reality: who’s behind the project

The HeliX consortium brings together a diverse network of healthcare institutions, clusters, technology providers and innovation leaders, including: Health Cluster Portugal (PT), ULS de Coimbra (PT), Prologica (PT), Opvance (PT), SYNLAB SDN SRL (IT), BioTekNet (IT), Distretto Tecnologico Campania Bioscience (IT), Istituto Nazionale Tumori – Fondazione Pascale (IT), Pineta Grande S.p.A. (IT), Healthcare Poland Foundation (PL), E-GROUP ICT Software (HU), Spicy Analytics (HU), Hungarian Innovation Agency – NIÜ (HU) and EIT Health InnoStars (DE).

This mix of expertise ensures strong cross-border cooperation and the ability to address both technical and systemic challenges within the European health data ecosystem.

Over the next three years, HeliX aims to unlock the full potential of health data by connecting data holders with secondary users through an advanced cloud–edge platform powered by federated learning. This approach enables artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to be applied directly at the data source, allowing large-scale insights to be generated without moving sensitive information.

As a result, patient privacy is preserved, data sovereignty is respected and trust remains at the centre of the system.

EIT Health InnoStars: driving business, growth and SME integration

EIT Health InnoStars plays a strategic and integrative role in the HeliX project as the leader of Work Package 5 (Business & Operations). In this capacity, it is responsible for developing the project’s business model and long-term sustainability strategy, ensuring that HeliX delivers value well beyond the lifetime of the funded project.

A core element of this work is the expansion of the value chain through three cascade funding schemes, which will enable the integration of over 45 SMEs from less developed regions into the HeliX ecosystem.

This directly supports InnoStars’ mission to reduce regional innovation gaps, empower local ecosystems and create new market opportunities for start-ups and scale-ups working in health, data and artificial intelligence.

As HeliX now enters its implementation phase, EIT Health InnoStars is committed to ensuring that the project delivers tangible value for start-ups, institutions and regions alike.

By strengthening links between data, technology and people, HeliX lays the groundwork for a more connected, trusted and innovation-driven European health data ecosystem.