Two days after the entry into force of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation, Brussels-based Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) summarised information about the projects it handles related to the EHDS. A taste of some of the projects which have supported the building of the EHDS are offered below. Many more details are available here.

What projects have supported the EHDS and its transition towards implementation?

HaDEA supports the EHDS Regulation in its aim to establish a common framework for the use and exchange of electronic health data across the EU. Three programmes overall reinforce this EHDS-related work. They are clustered in the programmes called EU4Health, Horizon Europe ‘Health’, and the Digital Europe programme. Here we focus on the EU4Health programme.

EU4Health

By March 2025, under this programme, HaDEA was managing or had managed close to 70 projects which supported the implementation of the EHDS and totalled EU funding of over €100 million. Three key projects prepared the groundwork for the EHDS implementation: 

• The  EHDS pilot project ran until December 2024. It piloted an infrastructure to share health data in the future EHDS, and tested how health data can be reused safely and securely across different EU countries by connecting national data platforms. 
• Until December 2026, the TEHDAS2 Joint Action continues to develop technical specifications and guidelines to ensure health data can be accessed in a secure manner across borders and to enable the secondary use of such data for research, innovation or policy making. The project collects regular input from stakeholders through public consultations. EU countries can use its results to prepare the implementation of the EHDS Regulation. TEHDAS2 has built on the work of the earlier  TEHDAS Joint Action and the EHDS2 pilot project.  TEHDAS2 is holding its final conference on 19 November 2026.
• Until April 2026, the Xt-EHR Joint Action developed implementation guides and technical specifications for a comprehensive, interoperable, and secure Electronic Health Records (EHR) system so as to promote seamless healthcare data flows across Europe. The joint action’s aim was to help healthcare providers with the diagnoses and treatments, to improve patient care, and to allow citizens to control their own health data. EHTEL produced working papers and implementers’ briefs with the support of Xt-EHR. The association also supported Xt-EHR work on EHR-related medical curricula.

As of March 2025, HaDEA was managing or preparing:

• Sixty-five EU4Health direct grants to EU countries and associated countries to support the setup of a trustworthy system to exchange and reuse health data in EU countries and implement the EHDS.
• Three procurement contracts related to capacity-building and communications about the EHDS.
• Several other contracts that included i2X, MyHealth@MyHands, and XiA.

What is EU4Health?

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. It goes beyond an ambitious response to the 2019-2020 COVID-19 crisis to address the overall resilience of European healthcare systems. It provides funding to national authorities, health organisations, and other bodies, through grants and public procurement, thereby contributing to a healthier Europe.

What is HaDEA?

HaDEA’s mission is to implement actions that strengthen European in various domains that include health, digital technologies and networks, and industrial capacity. The agency provides support to people and organisations running projects. Its aim is to enable European society to become more healthy, resilient, and fair and European industry to become more competitive. It also works to ensure that HaDEA-funded projects deliver concrete results that both benefit the lives of European Union (EU) citizens and provide the European Commission with valuable input for its policies. HaDEA manages most of the EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders. HaDEA continues to keep its followers up-to-date with all its latest projects of interest.

For more information

To see more about:

HaDEA, see here. 

Other HaDEA-managed projects, including those in the Horizon Europe ‘Health’ and the Digital Europe programmes – including on the cloud and AI, see here.

Which projects on mental health that HaDEA is supporting, see here.

Other projects to which EHTEL contributes, see here.