Smart Health
Context
Building on the S3P4PM partnership and in parallel of the Medtech Partnership, the Vanguard Initiative Smart Health Partnership focuses on Smart Health and Personalised Medicine innovative approaches. It covers topics structured around four thematic pillars:
- digital technologies (human-centric data management, digital therapies, data-driven care),
- converging technologies such as cell-based technologies, non-invasive medical imaging, organ-on-chip,
- preventive health including patient-empowerment, reinforced primary care, and
- sustainability of health (regulatory preparation, implementation sciences and trainings for jobs of the future).
Year established: 2021
Regions (lead and partner)
- Leading regions: Flanders (BE), East Netherlands (NL), South Netherlands (Limburg) (NL)
- Partner region(s): Trento (IT), East and North Finland (FI), Emilia Romagna (IT), Lombardy (Italy), Northeast Romania (RO), Pays de la Loire (FR), Piemonte (IT), Saxony-Anhalt (DE), Slovenia (SI), Wallonia (BE)

Mission
The Smart Health partnership bears the ambition to transform the connected European value chains on smart health and personalised medicine by combining biomedical, technological, and data-driven expertise.
Objectives
In bringing regional smart health ecosystems together, a higher added value can be reached to boost the implementation of personalised medicine at EU regional level and offer a smart and innovation approach to health and care in Europe. The partnership:
- Supports the creation and development of interregional demonstration projects addressing the development gaps and needs of personalised medicine
- Animates a learning- and co-creation community of quadruple helix stakeholders
- Builds visibility and communicate with impact about partnership members’ activities and results
- Scouts and identify EU funding opportunities, supports the creation of complementary consortia and provision of guidance during project proposal preparation
Main activities
The Smart Health Partnerships supports demonstration cases including the following:
- We Are – A personal data management platform project that brings together three regional ecosystems to provide a personal digital safe and control over it to each individual citizen.
- RegMed XB – Regenerative medicine solutions to patients through the development of five patient-defined moonshots: Kidney, Hearth, Osteoarthritis, Diabetes and Eye (Cornea).
- Trace-Med – Inter-regional research platform or the synthesis and characterisation of new radiotracers supported by interdisciplinary research to advance the development of a personalised theragnostic approach in cancer treatment.
- Mobile health (r)evolution – A mobile health application for chronic disease patients to provide them with continuous and personalised health professionals’ support for better self-management of chronic disease.

Organisations involved
The organisations involved in the partnership include regions, regional innovation and development agencies, research and innovation centres, cluster organisations, SMEs, and (applied) universities.
Belgium
- Anicells (BE)
- Antleron (BE)
- at.las (BE)
- Department of Care (BE)
- Flanders.bio (BE)
- Flanders region (BE)
- friends of smart specialisation (BE)
- FWO (BE)
- Health House (BE)
- imec (BE)
- inovigate (BE)
- Johnson & Johnson (BE)
- KU Leuven (BE)
- leadlife (BE)
- Medvia (BE)
- Nonacus (BE)
- POM Antwerpen (BE)
- SCK CEN (BE)
- UAntwerpen (BE)
- UHasselt (BE)
- University of Ghent (BE)
- UZ Leuven (BE)
- UZA (BE)
- VIB (BE)
- elixir (BE)
- VITO (BE)
- Vlaams Brabant (BE)
- VLAIO (BE)
- VUB (BE)
- Walloon region (BE)
Finland
- Association du comté de Savo du Sud (FI)
- Business Oulu (FI)
- Central Ostrobothnia Region (FI)
- East and North Finland EU Office (FI)
- Lapin Liito (FI)
- North Karelia Region (FI)
- Northern Savo Region (FI)
- Ostrobotnie du Nord (FI)
- Oulu region (FI)
- OuluHealth (FI)
- Pohjois-Pohjanmaa region (FI)
France
- G.A.C. Group (FR)
- Atlanpole Biotherapies (FR)
- Pays de la Loire (FR)
Germany
- Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
- Research Campus STIMULATE (DE)
- Saxony-Anhalt region (DE)
Italy
- Cibio UNITN (IT)
- Hub Innovazione Trentino (IT)
- Trentino provincial (IT)
- Trentino Sviluppo (IT)
- ART-ER (IT)
- CLUST-ER Health (IT)
- Cluster Lombardo Scienze della Vita (IT)
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IT)
- TechForLife (IT)
- TechForLife / STIIMA CNR (IT)
- Bio Industry Park (IT)
- Piemonte Innovation Cluster (IT)
The Netherlands
- East Netherlands (NL)
- University of Twente (NL)
- Alpha Packaging (NL)
- Cluster Sports and Technology (NL)
- Erp - Brabant province (NL)
- Limburg region (south netherlands) (NL)
- Province of Brabant (South Netherlands) (NL)
- RegMed XB (NL)
Romania
- "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry Iasi (RO)
- ADR Nord Est (RO)
- Imago Mol (RO)
- University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi (RO)
Scotland
- NHS (Health Agency) (UK)
Slovenia
- Better (SI)
- EN-I (SI)
- Health Day (SI)
- Parsek (SI)
- SIS EGIZ cluster (SI)
- Slovenian Business and Research Association (SI)
- Provita d.o.o (SI)
Spain
- Basque region (ES)
- Biocat (ES)
- Catalonia Region (ES)
- CataloniaBio & HealthTech (ES)
EU
- EIT Health
Shared smart specialisation areas
Smart health, personalised medicine, precision medicine, P4-medicine, preventive health.
Related projects
- PRECISEU (https://preciseu.eu/)
PRECISEU is a regional innovation valley (RIV) project. The general purpose of PRECISEU is connecting innovation ecosystems across Europe to efficiently advance towards a truly personalised healthcare, transferring practices and solutions from region to region and scaling up deep-tech healthcare innovations based on advanced therapies medicinal products and health data across Europe. - HealthChain (https://healthchain-i3.eu/)
The I3 project offers a model for co-created, demand-driven technological solutions in health care by creating optimal value-chains. It provides a framework in which innovations do not arise from technological vacuum and therefore have a short lifespan. - EP PerMed (https://www.eppermed.eu/)
EP PerMed as a coordination platform brings together European as well as international, national and regional ministries and funding organisations, agencies and authorities, joining forces on several levels and sectors.
To realise the full potential of personalised medicine (PM), EP PerMed supports the entire PM value continuum by a wide range of definite actions, such as joint research funding and supporting activities, partnering and tailored tools, to accelerate PM innovations, which are completed by specific activities to support PM implementation. All activities are accompanied by supportive conditions regarding policy and regulatory frameworks, end-user engagement, education and knowledge exchange, aligned strategies and priority settings. - EHAB (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101134833)
The European Hub for Advanced Development in Regenerative Medicine and Biomaterials (EHAB) aims to accelerate the delivery of innovative health techniques and products in the area of advanced therapies/regenerative medicine and biomaterials to citizens and patients who need it. - NOBOCAP (https://nobocap.eu/)
This EU4Health funded project aims to empower the MedTech industry by enhancing the efficiency of Notified Bodies and Market Operators, unlocking regulations, and fostering health technology innovation across Europe. - THCS (https://www.thcspartnership.eu/)
The European Partnership on transforming health and care systems (THCS) is a Cofund action under the Horizon Europe Programme designed to support coordinated national and regional research and innovation programmes along with capacity building, networking , dissemination and other key activities to support health and care systems transformation.
THCS core activity is the fund of research and innovation projects through joint transnational calls involving a large number of Research and Innovation Funding Organisations on common priorities and topics. - MEDIC NEST (https://medicnest.eu/)
MEDIC NEST META-CLUSTER IN PRECISION MEDICINE is the voluntary, open alliance of European clusters and business supporting organisations strongly believing in the role of inter-cluster, cross border and cross sectoral collaboration supporting the internationalization, growth and global competitiveness of the European Precision Medicine Ecosystem.
Contact
- Jolien Roovers, jolien.roovers@vlaanderen.be
Latest news and upcoming events
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/vanguard-initiative-smart-health-pilot/