Interview | Prof. Dr. Martin Gersch, Freie Universität Berlin School of Business & EconomicsDepartment of Information Systems, Professor of Business Administration, Health-X Innovation Hub

Connected, comprehensive and always available – the future of health data

 

Prof. Dr. Martin Gersch holds a professorship in business administration at Freie Universität Berlin and also represents the FU Berlin on the steering committee of the “Health-X dataLOFT” lighthouse project. Together with partners from the capital region Berlin, such as the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Bundesdruckerei (federal printers) and the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering, the project is developing solutions to create a “citizen-centered health data space” at European level. In this context, the Gersch working group at the FU Berlin is focusing on supporting the economic utilization and sustainable use of this emerging common data space. We spoke to Prof. Gersch about the progress of the project and the opportunities it offers.  

 

 

In April 2024, the regulation on the European Health Data Space (EHDS) was approved by the EU Commission. Could you briefly explain to our readers what role the Health-X dataLOFT project and, in particular, the Health-X Innovation Hub sub-project, which your working group is working on, play in this context?   
 
As an EU regulation, the EHDS is a huge step towards a European data economy, but it is also just a regulatory framework. The Health-X dataLOFT project has now developed a specific tech stack* with which the central requirements of the EHDS can actually be implemented, for example “secure processing environments (sVU)” as a prerequisite for the use of health data. The Health-X Innovation Hub has developed a sustainable structure for the long-term use and further development of the tech stack and has already invited innovative companies and start-ups to try out the results during the project period and already position themselves in line with the EHDS. 
 
*Tech stack, also known as technology stack, refers to all technologies used to develop an application – for example programming languages, frameworks, databases and tools. 

 

One aim of the project is to support the economic utilization of the resulting federated data space. What specific tools and services will be offered to companies/start-ups in this context, and will these also be available after the end of the project?  

During the course of the project, we actively supported companies and start-ups in the development of EHDS-compliant solutions based on the Health-X tech stack, in some cases even funding them for up to one year with €75,000 as innovation prize winners from project funds. This also includes the development of viable business models for the future European data economy. The emerging community founded the “European Health Data Alliance e.V.” at the beginning of 2024 to enable further scaling, explicitly beyond the end of the project. This also includes the standardization and implementation of the necessary infrastructure, management and data services that are offered for the federated data spaces. 

 

At the “Barcamp Health Innovation” recently organized by HealthCapital, you and your colleagues used the example of the Data Wallet app to discuss with the audience whether a federated data room can put patients at the heart of the patient journey. What conclusions did the panel draw? 
 
We are already used to attracting a lot of attention with the Data Wallet app, as we are actually offering “patient-centricity and data sovereignty by design”. With a personal dashboard, every citizen has transparency and access to their health data. In addition to the necessary consent solutions, incentive models can also be implemented, from data income to the latest study results from previous data donations. According to the EHDS, it will even be a regulatory offense if a participant along the patient journey is not willing or technically able to make his/her data available to the patient in digital, machine-readable and interoperable form at any time. The extremely dedicated panel at the Barcamp Health Innovation agreed that this will have fundamental effects and changes on future care and research, including along the patient journey. 
 

How do German efforts to shape the health data space and involve citizens and patients compare with initiatives in other countries?  
 
As an EU regulation, the EHDS is intended to be European from the outset and will contribute to overcoming the previous fragmentation in 27 member states but offers flexibility in the specific national design. Germany can learn a great deal from the solutions in other countries, which have already demonstrated a more creative use of the “General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)”, for example. Health-X is also designed from the outset to implement Europe-wide usage scenarios. Perhaps EHDS-compliant solutions will even develop into a global success, similar to how the standards of the GDPR have been reflected and adapted in other countries around the world. With federated and participatory data spaces that focus on individual citizens “by design”, we offer a real alternative to the economically dominated logic of American platforms or the top-down logic of digital infrastructures from China. 

 

What (interim) conclusions can you draw shortly before the end of the project term (October 2024)? Have promising use cases and specific recommendations for action for the future emerged? 

Our project duration has since been extended until March 2025, but this is not so important for the long-term use of the project results. At the start of the project, I was one of the most outspoken sceptics as to whether we could actually stand a chance against global platforms. The tide has turned decisively, not least thanks to the EHDS as an EU regulation. We offer a functioning tech stack for the European data economy in line with the EHDS, with the unique selling point of the data wallet app. We are receiving more and more ideas and suggestions for promising use cases, and not just from our associated project partners and the Health-X Innovation Award winners. In this respect, I do not see the end of a BMWK-funded project, but the beginning of an exciting future in which every single one of the 450 million EU citizens can now really take center stage and make sovereign decisions regarding their data. 

About the person: 

Martin Gersch studied economics at the Ruhr University in Bochum, where he also completed his doctorate. After a brief period in the private sector, he returned to the Ruhr University and established the Competence Center E-Commerce there. He was then appointed to the FU Berlin in 2007. Today, he heads the Digital Entrepreneurship Hub, which coordinates start-up teaching at the FU Berlin and supports a large number of (health) start-ups. Since 2021, he has been a member of the steering committee of the “Health-X” consortium, funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. 

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