Imagine scientists collaborating across Europe to discover new treatments for rare diseases, or policymakers crafting improved prevention strategies for chronic illnesses. Until now, valuable health data has often been trapped in isolated systems, hard to locate and difficult to access.

This is beginning to change.

The European Union is building an ambitious framework to unlock the potential of health data: the European Health Data Space (EHDS).

Envision a future in which researchers and public health officials can securely find and use protected health information across borders, all while maintaining strong data protection, transparency, and citizen control.

With the HealthData@EU infrastructure, the EHDS will enable groundbreaking research, support evidence-based policies, and drive innovation in healthcare throughout Europe.

A crucial part of this technical infrastructure - the HealthData@EU Central Platform - is now available as open source. Its source code can be accessed on code.europa.eu, the European Union institutions' open source software repository.

A Secure Catalogue for Data Access

HealthData@EU Central Platform aims to be a secure library catalogue for anonymised and pseudonymised health datasets from across Europe. The platform will assist researchers, policy makers and innovators in accessing clinical data and statistics on disease prevalence or treatment effectiveness, all while safeguarding individual privacy. This access will enable them to identify trends, design better health strategies, and foster healthcare innovation.

From the outset, DG Sante decided to share the platform's source code as open source, according to Mrs Natalia Zylinska-Puta, EHDS IT portfolio manager at DG Sante. "Sharing builds trust, and encourages cooperation," she says. It allows experts, Member States, and developers to understand the system's workings, and makes it simple for Member States to adopt or adapt it for their national systems. "This ensures interoperability," she adds.

By utilising open source software, developers from member states can ensure their national systems comply with regulatory technical and operational standards, states Mr Nuno Miguel Soares Mesquita, IT project manager at DG Sante. "The platform can handle a wide variety of requests and approval processes. The platform can handle varied requests and approval processes, coordinating these inquiries and awaiting responses from each participating organisation in the member states," he explains.

Built for Growth and Collaboration

Mr. Soares Mesquita highlights another advantage of open source: the capacity to expand as needed. "The platform could contain many millions of datasets." DG Sante is very focused on reuse and finding synergies, says Mrs Zylinska-Puta. A prime example is Piveau; a metadata catalogue tool also used by data.europa.eu. "We have been enhancing features based on HealthData@EU's needs, and conducting code security audits," Mr Soares Mesquita shares. "We hope our efforts will be included in future Piveau versions, benefiting the broader community." HealthData@EU Central Platform is constructed with logical, developer friendly components, Mr Soares Mesquita adds. The team has meticulously documented their work, targeting system architects, developers and IT security specialists: "We want to make it as accessible as possible for everyone."

More information:

HealthData@EU Central Platform on code.europa.eu
HealthData@EU Central Platform Acceptance Environment
DG Sante announcement of HealthData@EU Central Platform
European Health Data Space Regulation
HealthData@EU central platform, Open-source release 3 : architecture model and Technical Specification