X-eHealth’s project stands herein for a project of strategic relevance for tomorrow’s European eHealth Union. Assembling at the time of this proposal submission a shared commitment of 47 health actors, the underlying idea of this project is to develop the basis for a workable, interoperable, secure and cross border Electronic Health Record exchange Format in order to lay the foundation for the advance of eHealth sector while using the 3 pillars put forward by the EC as reference. Aimed at promoting a faster and sustainable EU digital transformation, this Cooperative and Support Action is made up of 8 Work Package in which 4 exclusively focus on technical-functional activities (WP4 to WP7). From Generic Aspects to System Architecture and Integration, passing by Functional and Technical Specifications, X-eHealth objective is to move towards a uniform interoperable data-sharing format framework. In addition, to enhance EU’s public health state of play, WP1 and WP8 are responsible for implementation studies, practicality and continuity of eHealth interoperability development. On this basis and building upon the already in place Patient Summary, X-eHealth purpose is to develop the foundations for a common framework for medical imaging, discharge letters, laboratory results and rare diseases to flow both alongside citizens care pathway and across health entities between EU Member States and Neighbour Countries. Focus on cross-border services, this consortium aims to advance an interoperable Common European Health Data Space for citizens and health providers engagement in accordance with privacy and cybersecurity regulations. To achieve this end, X-eHealth gathers 36 consortium partners plus 5 collaborative partners and 6 eHealth skilled experts, eager to develop the abovementioned 4 domains, and distinguished by policy and political actors mixed with national competent authorities to indeed concretely plan, implement and maintain national eHealth infrastructures.

Nowadays, cybercrime is one of the most relevant and critical threats to both the economy and society in Europe. Establishing efficient and effective ways to protect services and infrastructures from ever-evolving cyber threats is crucial for sustaining business integrity and reputation as well as protecting personal and sensitive data. To that end, the SHIELD project proposes a universal solution for dynamically establishing and deploying virtual security infrastructures into ISP and corporate networks. SHIELD builds on the huge momentum of Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV), as currently standardised by ETSI, in order to virtualise security appliances into virtual Network Security Functions (vNSFs), to be instantiated within the network infrastructure using NFV technologies and concepts, effectively monitoring and filtering network traffic in a distributed manner. Logs and metrics from vNSFs are aggregated into an information-driven Data Analysis and Remediation Engine (DARE), which leverages state-of-the-art big data storage and analytics in order to predict specific vulnerabilities and attacks by analysing the network and understanding the adversary possibilities, behaviour and intent. The SHIELD virtual security infrastructure can either used by the ISP internally for network monitoring and protection, but it can also be offered as-a-service to ISP customers; for this purpose, SHIELD establishes a “vNSF Store”, i.e. a repository of available virtual security functions (firewalls, DPIs, content filters etc.) from which the ISP customers can select the ones which best match their needs and deploy them to protect their infrastructure. This approach promotes openness and interoperability of security functions and offers an affordable, zero-CAPEX security solution for citizens and SMEs. Moreover, SHIELD services can be easily scaled up or down, configured and upgraded according to customers’ needs, as opposed to security solutions based on monolithic hardware.

InnoInnovation Procurement (IP) is a recognised strategy for driving technological development in the public sector and spurring economic growth. It modernises public services and accelerates the market entry of innovations. However, Europe has not fully tapped into its potential due to barriers. Small innovative companies should be more interested in IPs but face challenges engaging with public procurers (PPs). This is due to a) lack of awareness about public contracts and b) distrust in the procurement process. Startups find it difficult to meet the requirements and adapt to lengthy procurement procedures, leading many to avoid them. The barriers faced by public procurers when working with startups: • Qualitative selection procedures often favour large cooperations in PP, and there is little understanding of startup accreditation mechanisms. • Evaluating startups requires precise adjustments to criteria related to technical solvency, economic performance, and autonomy. • Establishing testing environments like regulatory sandboxes and granting temporary testing licenses for startups. • Understanding acceptable payment options and liquidity needs specific to startups in procurement processes. The ECLIPSE project will design and test a new cutting-edge interaction model to connect PP and innovative suppliers with investor ecosystems. Special attention will be dedicated to the role of venture capitalists and how they can effectively contribute to the IP process and foster the market exploitation of its results. ECLIPSE will build a system of tailored advisory services and tools to bridge the gap between PPs’ needs and innovative suppliers' capabilities. These services will possess the expertise and competencies necessary to overcome barriers that impede the integration of innovation in public sector. By leveraging their specialised knowledge, the advisory services will enhance coordination among Member States and Associated Countries in procuring innovative solutions.