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Digitization increasingly important ingredient in EU stew

Data eHealth EU

After another stint in Brussels, it hits me like a bolt from the blue: I realize that those who rule here - the European Commissioners - are just like star chefs. Each Commissioner runs his or her own restaurant and aims to get as many stars as possible.

How do you get your stars? Perhaps by using old, well-established recipes, relying and leaning on experience, proven knowledge of ingredients, spices and well-used tools. I suspect that this is what the European Commission has relied on in its focus on social and labor issues related to work, employability and education. This was before the new issues of the future - such as digitalization - were addressed.

The question is, what are the star chefs thinking now that we are actually living in a disruptive world, where other values and considerations than the experiences inherited from generations govern the individual? Which recipes and dishes will bring future stars to the restaurant and queues outside the doors (or perhaps rather crash the table booking app)?

The answer is that the chefs here in Brussels have started to experiment with new spice mixes and in this context have developed a strategy for how the ingredient digitalisation should be considered. In the framework of the Commission's Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy, these three areas have been identified in the mid-term review:

  • Enable citizen's secure access to and use of health data across-borders;
  • Support a cross-border data infrastructure to advance research and personalized medicine;
  • Facilitate feedback and interaction between patients and health care providers, supporting citizen empowerment.

In fact, since 2004, the Commission has been using e-Health, or e-health as we call it, as an exciting new spice in the creation of new dishes and menus. In 2011, an e-Health network was established to collaborate on data/information exchange across national borders. A second e-Health action plan was then developed in 2012 and will live until 2020. The plan was updated in 2014 with the mobile spice, and in 2015 e-Health became part of the DSM. For the years 2018 - 2020, 207.5 million euros have been set aside for future program calls.

So far, Estonia has been the country in the EU that has focused most on driving innovation in the digital field. During their Presidency, for example, there has been a strong focus on opportunities for citizens to gain secure access to their own health data. In light of the Estonians' commitment, I can't help but wonder when we will see Swedish recipes and spices in European restaurants? Not least in AI and robotics, we should take more space, but my impression is unfortunately that our representatives here are so Swedish lagom even in this matter. And moderate is not always best.

Ps.
The AI spice will be highlighted on April 25th in a so-called Call, ie a communication from the Commission. What it looks like and what it contains, no one outside the inner circle of chefs knows yet. Let's hope it tastes good.