On 11 October 2022, the online kick-off meeting of the EDITH (Ecosystem for Digital Twins in Healthcare) Coordination and Support Action (CSA) has marked a successful inception, distinguished by the strong commitment of all its partners. The CSA, led by the Virtual Physiological Human Institute (VPH Institute), is granted funding of 5 million Euro by the European Commission (DG CNECT) under the Digital Europe Programme.

EDITH aims at fostering an inclusive ecosystem for Digital Twins in healthcare in Europe and at preparing a strategic roadmap for its wider development, integration and uptake. A digital twin is a patient-specific virtual representation of real-world systems or processes (ranging from organs to the whole body), that is built by combining data-driven and knowledge-driven predictive computer models, and that can be used as a clinical decision support system or as a tool for the development and personalisation of medical products.

Liesbet Geris, Professor at the University of Liège and KU Leuven in Belgium, executive director of the VPH Institute and coordinator of the EDITH project, believes this ecosystem is “an unprecedented opportunity allowing the realization of an integrated digital twin for personalised healthcare.”

EDITH will develop, combine and further enhance the synergies between the European communities, resulting in a cohesive ecosystem and consensus-driven roadmap to virtual human twins. It will also leverage the EU infrastructure to develop a repository of digital twins and a simulation platform. EDITH’s vision is to facilitate the realisation of the opportunities presented by virtual human twins for the benefit of patients, healthcare providers, regulatory bodies, and industry, both within Europe and globally.

EDITH is driven by a consortium of nineteen partners, including the following internationally renowned research institutions, professional associations, companies, and hospitals of excellence: VPH Institute (BE), Lynkeus (IT), the Athena Research and Innovation Center (GR), the AGH University of Science and Technology (PL), the University of Amsterdam (NL), the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO, BE), the University of Bologna (IT), DIGITALEUROPE (BE), the Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE), the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS, DE), Pi School (IT), the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA, FR), the University of Liege (BE), Empirica (DE), the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (ES), the University Hospital of Aachen (DE), the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH, GR), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL, CH), and the Queen Mary University of London (UK).