The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically transformed the world and the field of healthcare, and brought more pressure on the European countries and companies to develop and implement cutting-edge domestic health technologies. To succeed, collaboration, innovation, and investment that harnesses the collective strengths of the entire continent, are needed.
In response to those needs, the "CONNECTINGHEALTH - CONNECTing the dots withIN diGItal HEALTH Innovation Ecosystems" initiative emerged. CONNECTINGHEALTH was a two-year (2022-2024) preparatory action designed to establish a joint program among the actors within Europe's digital health ecosystems, and maximise the value of innovation in the digital health sector, which is poised to offer significant future opportunities for growth, increased competitiveness, and enhanced innovation.
CONNECTINGHEALTH was led by a small, agile core team, with ECHAlliance as a key partner due to its extensive European reach with three key digital health actors: Scottish Enterprise, Pannon Business Network, and Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences.
To achieve its objectives, CONNECTINGHEALTH undertook a comprehensive mapping of digital health ecosystems in Europe, identifying various initiatives, projects, resources, and stakeholders. The project developed future scenarios for the digital health sector in Europe up to 2030, and formulated a Multi-Year Action Plan along with policy recommendations. These efforts have culminated in several valuable outputs, including Multi-Year Action Plan: Shaping the Future of Digital Health in Europe, and Policy Brief: Fostering Innovation in the Digital Health Sector, which are intended to drive forward impactful and exploitable results in the realm of digital health across various stakeholder groups.