From pilot to scale: UNITE backs first digital health projects
The EU-funded UNITE(opens in new window) project has officially selected its initial three joint interregional projects from its first open call seeking breakthrough solutions to transform European healthcare. Representing a significant milestone in the construction of a borderless European digital health system, this selection furthers the project’s goal to bridge the digital health divide by funding solutions that can scale beyond local boundaries. UNITE’s open call engaged over 1 000 organisations and received 19 proposals from different European regions. To take part in the call, start-ups, scale-ups, universities, research centres, hospitals and healthcare providers joined hands, forming interregional consortia. After a rigorous multi-stage evaluation, only three projects were selected, highlighting both the intense competition and the critical drive for solutions capable of overcoming fragmented infrastructures.
The shift to cross-border deployment
Selected projects focus on two key priorities: improving health data accessibility across borders and delivering more personalised and human-centric remote care. Both are strategically important in a Europe dealing with the pressures of an ageing population and acute workforce shortages. The winning projects – CARDIO-HUB, NEODATA+ and RAD-TRACK EU – each deal with a different aspect of the same challenge: making health data usable, interoperable and clinically meaningful across fragmented systems. Implementation of the projects began in spring 2026. CARDIO-HUB focuses on heart failure, combining real-world data and remote monitoring to improve care for elderly patients. NEODATA+ targets neonatal intensive care, aiming to unlock highly sensitive datasets enabling earlier and more accurate clinical decisions. Meanwhile, RAD-TRACK EU tackles the widespread issue of radiation exposure in medical imaging by implementing a system that allows patient data to follow individuals seamlessly across different providers. Together, these projects mark a decisive shift from isolated pilot experiments to full-scale deployment. There have been numerous digital health pilots in Europe before, but strict regulatory frameworks and fragmented infrastructures have made scaling them across borders a challenge. This is precisely the barrier UNITE is working to dismantle. The total budget allocated for these projects amounts to EUR 3.78 million, secured through a mix of regional funding and partner co-funding contributions. The regions involved in these projects include Central Macedonia (Greece), Extremadura (Spain), Lombardy (Italy), Northern Netherlands and Romania. By funding interregional innovation projects, supporting local start-ups and SMEs, and making it possible for deep-tech solutions to be deployed across health systems, UNITE is helping to connect Europe’s isolated systems and transform them into a coordinated European effort. Marina Samoylova, Digital Health Programme Manager at UNITE (UNITE European Digital Health Valleys) project coordinator 28DIGITAL, Belgium, comments in a recent news item(opens in new window): “Europe has the data and expertise in digital health innovation—UNITE brings them together to scale solutions across regions and deliver real impact for healthcare systems and patients.” For more information, please see: UNITE project website(opens in new window)
