An initial investment of €24 million has been made by Sanofi, Capgemini, Generali and Orange to create a platform that accelerates the development of digital healthcare solutions in Europe.

The project aims to bring together scientific and technological expertise across the region and to strengthen France's position in the health technology sector, as part of the Campus PariSanté initiative.

The virtual platform will be operational from June 2021 and the physical hub will launch in December 2021.

WHY IT MATTERS

As digital innovation and data become increasingly important in healthcare, Europe will have the opportunity to capitalise on the innovation and agility of startups in order to develop digital solutions that bring value to patients and the healthcare ecosystem.

The initiative will focus on key themes for one or two years at a time and will revolve around a technology, a pathology, a patient population or a public health topic. The new ecosystem, will bring together the four founding companies to unite large companies and startups at a European level to collaborate on the emergence of disruptive new technology models.

The project is based on three key areas:

• The founding companies will share and pool their technologies, expertise and data with selected startups, in compliance with regulations and within an ethical and responsible framework, to support the implementation of digital solutions that improve the quality, security, accessibility and productivity of healthcare.

• The multidisciplinary nature of the ecosystem will be embodied by the founding companies, the partner companies and around a hundred French and European startups, as well as other players in the healthcare, technology and insurance sectors, public and private hospitals, patient associations, regulators, schools and universities.  

• The development of concrete solutions to build tomorrow’s healthcare services, from the initial idea right through to making them available to patients and/or healthcare professionals. The strength of this alliance is based on the fact that the entire ecosystem will simultaneously focus on the same commitment, which will limit the dispersion of energy and increase the chances of success and creation of value for patients and the entire sector.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Also aiming to build on the current health data momentum in the region is the GAIA-X proposal, which works to ensure that Europe's data is collated and shared in a secure and transparent way.

ON THE RECORD

Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi explained: “We believe that France, and more broadly Europe, have all the necessary assets to be among the leading global players in digital healthcare innovation. This project is the cornerstone of the open ecosystem centred on digital technology and healthcare data that we want to build with our partners. Our shared ambition is to bring together all the players, including startups, that will collectively invent the future of healthcare for the benefit of patients and thereby place France at the heart of European innovation in this strategic field."

Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini Group said: “As a global leader in digital technology, one of our major responsibilities for future generations is to put technology at the service of health. This is now a priority for Capgemini, which is proud to participate in this fine project. The founding members all believe that digital technology will provide a tremendous boost; we have the ambition to quickly achieve concrete results.”