EDITH-CSA aims to build the Ecosystem for Digital Twins in Healthcare, equipping all European stakeholders with the available infrastructure and tools to develop a fully integrated Virtual Human Twin (VHT). The Deliverable 3.1 “Vision for the VHT and roadmap outline” has been recently published on the EDITH-CSA website and it is available for consultation. The document is the first written presentation of the VHT vision as it has been prepared by the EDITH consortium and discussed with select representatives of the wider ecosystem. The document is composed of two main parts: the elaboration of the vision for the integrated VHT and the outline of the VHT roadmap.

The section discussing the vision starts by introducing its definition: the Virtual Human Twin is an integrated multi-scale, -time and -discipline digital representation of the whole body enabling the comprehensive characterisation of the physiological and the pathological state in its heterogeneity and allowing patient-specific predictions for the prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of a disease, as well as the evaluation, optimisation, selection and personalisation of intervention options.

Next, the organisation of the proposed resources for the VHT is discussed in detail, including possible barriers to the development and adoption of VHT in healthcare. The VHT ecosystem and community of practice are explained, as well as standardization needs and long-term sustainability actions. Finally, the document proposes a way to organise the essential data and model resources.

The remainder of the roadmap that is currently still in development will discuss the necessary technological elements to realise the vision, including data and models, the integration of resources and the required infrastructure. It will contain a detailed elaboration of the user profiles and accessibility, as well as a discussion of all ethical, social, and legal aspects. The roadmap will conclude with a list of recommendations on the research, infrastructure and policy elements that will facilitate the development, use and uptake of VHT in healthcare. The first complete draft of the roadmap is foreseen for 31st of July 2023.

The final section of the deliverable briefly summarizes the EDITH actions of the coming months, including several public online discussion meetings. The deliverable can be accessed through the EDITH-CSA website and Zenodo community. The consortium welcomes feedback on this deliverable via the form available on the EDITH-CSA website.