At the initiative of the Luxembourg Institute of Health and the National Cancer Center Korea, several research institutions offer a federated infrastructure designed to enable health data integration, joint clinical research
Jean-Michel Gaudron
A consortium of leading research and technology institutions from Luxembourg, the United States of America and South Korea have announced this Tuesday 22 July the launch of the International Health Data Space Initiative (IHDSI) that will accelerate precision medicine and cancer research.
This space initiative consists of a federated, secure, and privacy-compliant infrastructure designed to enable health data integration, joint clinical research, and translational innovation. An initial focus is announced on precision medicine in cancer and other complex diseases.
This initiative is led by the Luxembourg Institute of Health and the National Cancer Center Korea, alongside strategic technology partners: the IT infrastructure and platform services provider NAVER Cloud Corporation, leading cloud software company in South Korea Okestro Co., Ltd., and Cipherome, Inc., which provide tools that accelerate the work of researchers in precision medicine and therapeutic development.
IHDSI seeks to overcome traditional data silos by enabling sovereign and legally compliant access to health data across international jurisdictions, aligning with European Health Data Space (EHDS) regulations and protocols like GAIA-X.
The International Health Data Space Initiative (IHDSI) sets forth a transformative vision for global health by aiming to establish a long-term strategic alliance centered on data-driven and patient-centric healthcare innovation.
Initial research activities will concentrate on two major areas led by the LIH and the NCCK. First, a prospective Bladder cancer cohort will be established to collect clinical and multi-omics data, aimed at identifying biomarkers and developing precision oncology strategies.
This strategic initiative will fundamentally reshape how health data is accessed and used for research. Dr. Ulf Nehrbass, Luxembourg Institute of Health
Second, a Parkinson’s disease cohort will be used to conduct a feasibility study, validating the performance and utility of the federated data connector within real-world clinical research settings.
“We are proud to co-lead this strategic initiative that will fundamentally reshape how health data is accessed and used for research,” explains Dr. Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of the Luxembourg Institute of Health. “IHDSI exemplifies our shared commitment to overcoming fragmentation and enabling global collaboration to accelerate precision medicine, particularly in cancer treatment”.
