On May 20-21, Inneürope hosted the plenary meeting of the European project VELES in Valencia, held at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) with the support of ValgrAI.
VELES is a European project aimed at advancing the development of a Regional Smart Health Data Space (RSHDS) in Southeast Europe, fostering innovation in digital health through the secure use, sharing, and analysis of health data, in line with the objectives of the future European Health Data Space (EHDS). The project brings together regional ecosystems, research centers, hospitals, universities, companies, and public entities to move toward a more connected, interoperable, and intelligent healthcare system.
Over the course of two working days, consortium partners gathered both in person and online to review the progress of the project’s different activities, share technical and strategic updates, and coordinate the next steps toward the final phase of pilot implementation and innovation activities.
The sessions included updates on the different work packages, the regional pilots currently being developed in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Cyprus, as well as discussions around interoperability, health data governance, regulatory compliance, artificial intelligence applied to healthcare, and the long-term sustainability of the VELES ecosystem.
Artificial Intelligence, EHDS, and Digital Health: Highlights from Day Two
The second day of the meeting focused on technical sessions and presentations related to artificial intelligence, health data management, and the preparation of European ecosystems for the EHDS.
Among the featured presentations were discussions on:
- the development of national health data ecosystems and their readiness for the European Health Data Space;
- the potential of data analytics and artificial intelligence in Alzheimer’s research;
- GDPR and EHDS compliance aspects in clinical use cases related to cerebral tumors;
- and new approaches to personalized medicine and drug repurposing based on multi-omics technologies.
The day concluded with presentations by José M. Sempere and Jordi Linares, researchers affiliated with ValgrAI and the Universitat Politècnica de València.
José M. Sempere presented different applications of natural computing and AI inspired by natural phenomena for biomedicine, including biomolecular models focused on omics data analysis and disease detection.
Meanwhile, Jordi Linares explored the potential of intelligent assistive technologies and advanced interaction systems in healthcare, highlighting how artificial intelligence, conversational systems, immersive technologies, and multimodal interfaces can contribute to improving autonomy, inclusion, and quality of life for people with disabilities, cognitive decline, or neurodegenerative diseases.
From Inneürope, we would especially like to thank ValgrAI for its collaboration in organizing the event and for its participation in this technical session held at the UPV.
What’s Next? The VELES Open Call for Startups and Digital Health Solutions
Beyond the technical activities and pilots currently underway, VELES continues to move forward with new initiatives aimed at accelerating digital health innovation across Europe.
In this context, Inneürope is leading the preparation of the upcoming VELES Open Call, an open innovation initiative targeting startups, SMEs, research spin-offs, and technology providers developing innovative solutions based on health data.
The call will seek solutions related to:
- interoperability and secure health data sharing;
- advanced analytics and AI applied to healthcare;
- AI-ready datasets;
- data governance and data quality;
- digital infrastructures for smart healthcare;
- and tools aligned with the future European Health Data Space.
Selected entities will have the opportunity to participate in the development of Proofs of Concept (PoCs) in collaboration with real stakeholders from the European healthcare ecosystem, helping validate innovative solutions in real-world environments.
The Open Call will be launched soon through the official VELES project website.
If you work in the digital health sector and are interested in participating, you can already express your interest through the pre-scouting form promoted by Inneürope. This will allow you to receive early updates and stay informed about the official launch of the call.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
