The European Commission has articulated a clear vision for Europe’s Digital Decade, anchored in a strategic framework setting concrete targets to make Europe fit for the digital age by 2030. Ambitious goals support this framework and its priorities, including ensuring that at least 80 % of adults have basic digital skills, widespread adoption of cloud, AI, and data technologies by companies, universal access to high-speed networks, and fully online public services, including universal e-health records.
From April 13th to 16th, SHINE participated in the Madeira Digital Transformation Summit that aligns with this European vision by providing a forum to discuss and debate the EU’s digital strategy, bringing together distinguished representatives from the European Commission, governments, academia, industry, and wider stakeholder communities to explore how these strategic objectives can be implemented.
SHINE’s CEO Carina Dantas synergised and took some additional food for thought to the event through projects such as MAYA, TRACE and PATH-IHI.
The first one, with participatory approaches being developed with a focus on the co-researchers group that SHINE formed and is now fully active, and the 8 Living Labs that will support the project led by INOMED.
As for TRACE, SHINE’s CEO Carina Dantas shared that the multi-stakeholder approach is also applied through regional Living Labs – in Portugal, Serbia and Poland – citizen science and other co-creation activities that bring research closer to communities. By working directly with local stakeholders, the project supports the development of cancer literacy tools, awareness initiatives, and education programmes designed to address real needs and reduce inequalities in prevention and early detection.
Concerning PATH-IHI Project | Patient AI Treatment Hub, that is smarter, data-driven clinical decision-making and more personalized cancer treatment pathways, the focus was on the initial works towards stakeholder engagement, namely the creation of the Experts Community, that soon will be in place.
The projects contributed to the session “Cancer and Beyond: Practical Cross-Domain Digital Health Innovations” at the DT Summit, highlighting how collaboration across sectors can strengthen cancer prevention and care at regional level, the meaning and need for Penta-Helix collaboration in cancer innovation and the importance of building trustworthy digital health ecosystems that support the safe and ethical use of artificial intelligence in clinical practice.
A strong message from the session was that technological progress alone is not enough. The successful adoption of AI in healthcare depends on trust, transparency, and collaboration between clinicians, researchers, industry partners, policymakers, and citizens.
Events like the Digital Transformation Summit Madeira provide valuable opportunities to share experiences, learn from other initiatives, and reinforce collaboration across Europe’s cancer innovation landscape.