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IDERHA at 5 years Cancer Mission: Stronger Through Connection
Last week, IDERHA was represented at the 5 years Cancer Mission by Anna Keuchenius from our partner Lung Cancer Europe.
The European Commission brought together researchers, clinicians, policymakers, patients, innovators, funders, and industry representatives in Brussels to mark 5 years of the EU Cancer Mission. IDERHA member Anna Keuchenius presented the project’s work and perspectives on making better use of health data for cancer research and care.
The discussions highlighted strong connections between IDERHA’s work and wider developments across the European cancer research community. Here are four key takeaways from the event.
1. The data can stay where it is while the insights travel
Connecting health data across institutions does not necessarily mean moving that data. IDERHA is developing a federated data space that connects data holders and data users while allowing analyses to take place where the data is stored.
Federated approaches were a recurring theme at the event, with projects including CERTAINTY, LUCIA, UNCAN.eu and EUCAIM exploring complementary approaches to connecting and using health data across Europe. Discussions also highlighted the importance of securely connecting computing capacity with hospital data.
2. Technology alone is not enough
Building the technical infrastructure is only one part of the challenge. For new approaches to ultimately benefit patients, they also need to find their way into clinical practice.
For IDERHA, this means complementing technical developments with work on how real-world data and real-world evidence can support regulatory and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) processes. Across the event, topics such as clinician trust, regulatory requirements, governance and reimbursement reinforced the importance of considering implementation from the start.
3. Build for the future, not only for the project
European research projects have a limited funding period, but their results should have an impact beyond it. Sustainability and collaboration across initiatives were therefore important themes throughout the event.
IDERHA builds on previous initiatives and existing solutions rather than starting from scratch. While lung cancer provides the first use case, the ambition is to develop a disease-agnostic approach that can eventually support other disease areas. Other projects at the event similarly stressed early sustainability planning, avoiding duplication and creating tools and infrastructures that can continue to be used after projects end.
4. Patients should help shape the solutions
Meaningful patient involvement means engaging people early and giving them a role in shaping research and its outcomes.
Within IDERHA, patients and members of the public contribute to discussions and new developments around the use of health data. This message was echoed across the event, with initiatives such as the European Youth Cancer Network and OnQOL demonstrating different ways of involving patients and communities in research.
Moving forward together
The EU Cancer Mission Showcase Event demonstrated how closely connected many of the challenges facing European cancer research are. From federated health data and regulatory pathways to sustainability and patient involvement, collaboration between projects will be essential to turn research and data into lasting improvements for patients.
For IDERHA, these discussions reinforce an important principle: building a European health data ecosystem is not only about connecting data. It is about creating the technical, regulatory and societal conditions that allow health data to be used responsibly and effectively to improve research and care.
View the IDERHA presentation here.