The European Health Data Space (EHDS) is a flagship initiative of the European Union (EU) aimed at transforming the way health data is managed, shared, and utilized across member states. It is part of the broader European strategy to foster a secure, standardized, and interoperable digital single market for data while ensuring that health-related data is used to improve healthcare delivery, research, and policymaking. Its vision is to create a pan-European framework that will empower citizens, enabling individuals to have control over their health data, access it easily, and share it across borders in the EU. Moreover, to enhance healthcare delivery by supporting healthcare providers with seamless access to relevant health data, improving diagnosis, treatment, and continuity of care. EHDS tries to accelerate research and innovation by facilitating the use of aggregated and anonymized health data for scientific research, innovation, and policy development, while on the same time, tries to strengthen existing health systems by providing the necessary tools for data-driven decision-making to enhance the efficiency and resilience of healthcare systems.

The EHDS is expected to bring several important benefits to a variety of different stakeholders, transforming revolutionary the way healthcare systems and services are being currently designed and delivered. For instance, patients will have the ability to better access their health data, being offered more personalized and effective treatments seamlessly across the borders of the European Union. Healthcare providers on the other hand are intended to get faster access to a plethora of different private or secondary health datasets in order to enhance decision making with comprehensive data, allowing for more accurate patient treatment. Researchers and innovators could take benefit from easier access to high quality datasets, in order to accelerate the development of innovative novel healthcare solutions. Last but not least, governments and policy makers have improved insights into public health trends, fostering data driver policymaking.

The EHDS represents a paradigm shift in how health data is managed and utilized in Europe. By creating a trusted, secure, and interoperable ecosystem, it has the potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery, research, and policy development. It is also expected to serve as a global model for data-driven innovation in healthcare. In order to address some of its key challenges, EHDS tends to adopt the architecture model of other data space initiatives, such as the International Data Space Association (IDSA). COMFORTage’s Ageing-EHDS infrastructure is fully compliant with the latter, as it integrates open source implementation related with one of its core components, the IDSA data connectors. Being IDSA compliant by design, it allows the Ageing-EHDS infrastructure to fulfil the most critical challenges and specifications that are envisioned to be part of the EHDS regulation.