3 questions forInterview
Short interview with Roland Eils on the founding of EHDA e.V.
In order to create health data spaces that are in the interests of citizens, the European Health Data Alliance e.V. was founded at the end of 2023. We interviewed its chairman of the board Prof. Roland Eils, founding director of the Center of Digital Health.
How did the EHDA e.V. association come about?
The consortium members of the three GAIA-X health projects gaia-X MED, HEALTH-X and TEAM-X wanted to ensure that work on federated European health data spaces would continue even after the funding projects came to an end. EHDA e.V. was therefore founded in December 2023 to maintain and continue the momentum and results of these three projects. In the meantime, other members from industry, SMEs and research initiatives have also joined.
What does the association stand for and what is its goal?
EHDA e.V. sees itself as an association oriented towards the common good with the aim of promoting the development of citizen-centered health data spaces in Europe. It sees itself as a pioneer, think tank and starting point for groundbreaking EHDS-compliant projects, with best practices and specifications, as well as a guarantor for the future development of innovative data-driven health solutions. In working groups, the association develops the best strategies and standards with which European health data spaces can be created and operated.
What are the benefits of the European Health Data Space for researchers and patients?
EHDS holds out the prospect of a health data landscape that, while safeguarding privacy, gives everyone involved better opportunities to conduct research with real-world data and exchange health data. In the medium term, this will give patients better diagnoses, better data-based treatments and, above all, more control over their own health data.
EHDS focuses on European exchange so that we can do justice to the increasing mobility of European citizens and establish genuine European cooperation in the healthcare sector.