We are glad to have our Health Cluster Portugal as our Ecosystem of the Month in December. Andy Bleaden, Communities Director at ECHAlliance, comments: “Ever since we first met colleagues at our Health Cluster Portugal Ecosystem I have found myself in awe at the depth of involvement of Joana and Patrícia in projects and taking the lead on areas such as the European Health Data Space as well connecting with the rest of our network.”
What is the approximate stakeholder breakdown of your ecosystem?
Our ecosystem comprises more than 220 members of the health value chain that include companies (~60%, including medtech, pharma, biotech, services providers, medical equipment, consultancy, …); R&D institutions and academia (~20% comprising public and private institutions); healthcare providers (~10%, including private and public hospitals and clinics), and also patients’ associations, professional associations, public organisms, science and tech parks (~10%).
Who are the top 3 champions from your Ecosystem?
In such a wide and complex ecosystem it is hard to identify 3 champions. We can highlight some projects and their main drivers. Some examples encompass:
1) a Value-based healthcare project that has been recognized by the WEF in 2021 and includes both public and private hospitals such as Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de São João, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, CUF,
2) a network to promote the development of the Smart Health segment in Portugal, with many prominent startups and SMEs
3) an integrated project funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, led by Prologica, a Portuguese company that uses intelligent systems to collect, monitor and analyze data,
4) a Digital Innovation hub coordinated by the HCP that includes 6 other members – Fraunhofer Portugal, IPN-LAS, IPN-Incubadora, Glintt, Value for Health Colab and EIT Health Innostars Portugal.
What EU funding/collaboration are you involved with, or you would like to be part of?
We are collaborating in several European initiatives, including an EDIH – DigiHealthPT – as coordinators, as partners of the Portuguese node of the only testing and experimentation facilities (TEF) initiative in Europe – TEF health – which is led by Charité Berlin, and as partners in 3 European projects:
1) EDAH – lnterconnecting lnnovation Ecosystems for common European Data Space in Health, to promote the dialogue and the inclusive involvement of stakeholders in the development of a European Health Data Space (EHDS),
2) Digit-Pre – DIGITAL tools delivering PREvention, prediction and remate care through a resilient EU value network to reduce health system stressors in a post-COVID world, and COBIOE – Growing connection for Bioproduction ecosystems
We also collaborate with the ScanBalt metacluster on the EHDS policy contribution; we are part of the WEF Innovation Hub Global Coalition for Value in healthcare, and collaborate with HIMSS (Health Information and management Systems Society), which will have its European Conference in Portugal next year.
What are the key priorities and themes for your ecosystem?
We have relevant players in Oncology, such as IPO (Portuguese Institute of Oncology) and IPATIMUP research institute, in Ophthalmology, including CHUC (Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra), UOC (Unidade de Oftalmologia de Coimbra, private clinic), and CUF hospitals, and in Neurosciences, including IMM (Instituto de Medicina Molecular), CHLC (Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central), ICVS (Life and Health Sciences Research Institute), among many others.
We have relevant players in Oncology, such as IPO (Portuguese Institute of Oncology) and IPATIMUP research institute, in Ophthalmology, including CHUC (Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra), UOC (Unidade de Oftalmologia de Coimbra, private clinic), and CUF hospitals, and in Neurosciences, including IMM (Instituto de Medicina Molecular), CHLC (Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central), ICVS (Life and Health Sciences Research Institute), among many others.
The priorities for our ecosystem, included in our 2030 strategy, are;
- In Health Data, to implement value-based healthcare models and facilitate access, availability, interoperability of data, to create a national health data lake for secondary use of data for innovative products and services, epidemiology analysis and health research,
- In Digitalization, to accelerate the expansion of the digital ecosystem; In Innovation, to promote collaboration and R&D translation;
- In Innovation, to promote collaboration and R&D translation;
- In Industrialization, to support the attraction of FDI and industrial cooperation;
- In Clinical investigation, to promote the attractiveness of the country for running clinical studies;
- In Internationalization, to promote the dissemination of national health products and services, namely for the increase of exportations.
What is your primary strength as an ecosystem?
The Health Cluster Portugal represents a coherent ecosystem of more than 220 members of the health value chain comprising organisations with different ambitions and needs. This is either a challenge and an asset as it makes it more diverse, inclusive and complementary.
Regarding Portugal, we have a national health service with pioneer digital solutions already implemented, highly qualified human resources and a nice size to test and pilot health solutions.
Who are your clinical champions either hospitals, clinicians, specialities
We have relevant players in Oncology, such as IPO (Portuguese Institute of Oncology) and IPATIMUP research institute, in Ophthalmology, including CHUC (Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra), UOC (Unidade de Oftalmologia de Coimbra, private clinic), and CUF hospitals, and in Neurosciences, including IMM (Instituto de Medicina Molecular), CHLC (Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central), ICVS (Life and Health Sciences Research Institute), among many others.
