COVID-19 Rapid Response Innovation Project
Unlock the lock-down with Certify.health COVID19 status certificates
The challenge
Ending the lockdowns brought on by COVID-19 and allowing people to return to work requires a means of quickly checking whether or not an individual has the possibility of transmitting the disease. If there was certification of those who have been tested – or those who have taken a vaccine– it could facilitate the restarting of our economies.
The solution
This project proposes to develop a privacy-by-design COVID19 status certificate – telling whether a person istested and the test results, with a vision of extending into vaccination certificates. The solution would first be available to health care professionals and then other workers.
The project consortium is one month away from piloting verifiable individual immunity and infection test certificates with the Certify.health app. The digital certificate allows a digital audit trail, upstream and downstream from the point-of-diagnosis. It can incorporate broad sources of data into one system that offers appropriate security and GDPR compliance. This would make it possible to trace contacts, validate diagnostic tests and confirm special authorisations – while also protecting privacy.
The Certify.health app will build in the global standards for electronic identity authentication, while including privacy-by-design, anonymity and a citizen-centred approach that are foundational to personal health data in Europe. This system will secure key mechanisms for citizens and authorities to fight the pandemic by providing:
· identity authentication, while protecting anonymity
· proof of point-of-diagnosis of different types of tests, and in the future, vaccinations
· registered result of diagnosis
The duration of immunity, infection and test kit validity would be up to authorities to determine. As new, more reliable diagnostic tests – and vaccines – become available, these would be incorporated in the Certify.health app, to ensure the use of the most effective means for confirming health status.
Expected impact
A GDPR-compliant solution for health certification that protects anonymity while allowing for positive identification of those tested for COVID-19 promises a means to ending the lockdown. If it is possible to confirm quickly whether someone poses a risk of spreading the coronavirus it will be easier to restart the economy.
All Partners
EIT Health Core and Associate Partners
- Hospital Clínic de Barcelona
- IDIBAPS
- ISGLOBAL
- Université Grenoble Alpes
External partners
- CareChain now developed by Infrion AB
- FindOut Diagnostics
Linked third party
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble (CHUGA)
EIT Health Partners

CLC/InnoStars: Spain
Partner classification: Research
Partner type: Linked/Affiliated Party
Fundació de Recerca Clínic Barcelona-Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (FRCB-IDIBAPS) manages and promotes the research activities of Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (HCB), one of the best hospitals in Spain. It is a research organization dedicated to translational research in the field of biomedicine with the mission of integrating the state of the art basic research and quality clinical research. The institution ranks first in scientific productivity and quality among the Certified Health Research Institutes of Spain (e.g. 1,815 indexed original articles and mean impact factor of 7.7 in 2021). Its mission is to combine clinical research of proven quality with high-level basic research. In order accomplish this mission the researchers have novel and first-class infrastructures available together with six own core facilities offering a wide range of services under strict quality management controls performed at all levels. The institution has also a strong track record working in European projects (e.g. 90 projects obtained along H2020 and 22 in Horizon Europe) and has a dedicated European Projects Office (OPE) and the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office (KTT).
Fundació de Recerca Clínic Barcelona-Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (FRCB-IDIBAPS)
Consorci Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Carrer del Rosselló, 149, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
Key Activities in Research and Developement
-1700 researchers in 107 research groups
Key Activities in Corporate Innovation
Key Innovation capacities -Strong expertise in EIT Health projects (involved in +30 projects from all pillars since 2016) -Internationally recognized KOLs in different fields (+100 management positions in international scientific and clinical societies) -High volume of Clinical Trials (+200 new clinical trials performed every year) with a dedicated Clinical Trial Unit, offering an integral support -Technology transfer (+15 active spin-off; +60 active patent families)
Key Activities in Business Creation
Testing & Validation
Key Activities in Education
Medical faculties, Healthcare professional education/training


CLC/InnoStars: Spain
Partner classification: Research, Hospital / University Hospital
Partner type: Core partner
Hospital Clinic of Barcelona (HCB), founded in 1906, is a university hospital with 4,500 professionals covering most of medical and surgical specialties. It belongs to the Catalan Public Hospital Network and it is both a high-complexity tertiary hospital and a community hospital providing services to more than half million citizens. HCB is placed in Spain in a top position in the areas of research and innovation (e.g. top participant in Societal Challenge 1-Health in H2020).
Hospital Clínic de Barcelona
Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Carrer de Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
Key Activities in Corporate Innovation
Key Innovation capacities -Strong expertise in EIT Health projects (involved in +30 projects from all pillars since 2016) -Internationally recognized KOLs in different fields (+100 management positions in international scientific and clinical societies) -High volume of Clinical Trials (+200 new clinical trials performed every year) with a dedicated Clinical Trial Unit, offering an integral support -Technology transfer (+15 active spin-off; +60 active patent families)
Key Activities in Social Innovation
Healthcare provision
Key Activities in Business Creation
Testing & Validation
Key Activities in Education
Key Educational capacities -Professionals (AulaClinic) (+500 actions and +7500 participants in 2021) http://www.aulaclinic.com/ -Patients (Patient Experience Forum - Living Lab) (20 focal groups and 75 participants in 2021) https://www.clinicbarcelona.org/uploads/media/default/0002/77/9d52d7598494a2a45a34f19a56a6c4af1af6a0ae.pdf -Citizens (PortalCLÍNIC) (+5 million visits in 2021) https://www.clinicbarcelona.org/en/portalclinic


CLC/InnoStars: France
Partner classification: Education, Research, Tech Transfer, Clusters, Other NGOs
Partner type: Core Partner
The UGA in Grenoble is a leading University of Science Technology and Health. Within 80 multidisciplinary laboratories, the UGA is developing outstanding research at national and international level. The UGA offers a wide range of training courses, from bachelor to doctorate, in close connection with the socio-professional environment to promote the integration of its students.
Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)
621 Avenue Centrale, 38400 Saint-Martin-d'Hères
Key Activities in Research and Developement
Biomedical engineering, Life science, Social sciences /health economics
Key Activities in Corporate Innovation
Pharma, Med Tech, ICT, Diagnostics, Imaging, Nutricion
Key Activities in Business Creation
Incubation, Technology Transfer, Business coaching
Key Activities in Education
Entrepreneurship training, Technical faculties, Medical faculties, Healthcare professional education/training


CLC/InnoStars: Spain
Partner classification: Research
Partner type: Linked/Affiliated Party
Fundación privada Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona (ISGLOBAL)
Fundación privada Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona (ISGLOBAL), Carrer del Rosselló, 132, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
Key Activities in Business Creation
Testing & Validation
Key Activities in Education
Medical faculties, Healthcare professional education/training
