EHTEL is highlighting the EHDS at its Thought Leader Symposium. Going bigger and more radical, we’re joining forces with the Radical Health Festival Helsinki (RHFH).

📅 The Symposium’s high-impact EHDS agenda

21 January 2026 | 9.00 - 16.00

🕐 9:00 - 9:30 ▶️ Plenary session | Upgrading Data Infrastructures to Realise the Full                                              Potential of the EHDS

EHTEL and RHFH are kicking off the third day of the Festival with a high-impact plenary session, where experts from distinguished international institutions will discuss the infrastructure needed to achieve the EHDS’s full potential.

 🕐 10:15 - 11:15 ▶️ Session 1 | The EHDS Regulation of EHRs: Blind Spots and Pain Points

The EHDS regulation inevitably contained some blind spots in the face of the complexity of Europe’s healthcare delivery. The blind spots are now emerging and causing pain points for implementers. The session will feature perspectives from healthcare providers, industry and Member States, and discuss policy recommendations to ensure a successful EHDS implementation.

🕐 11:30 - 12:30 ▶️ Session 2 | Structured High-Quality Data with AI and other means

The EHDS addresses the syntax of health systems transactions, though not yet the use of international semantic resources. What are the necessary conditions to implement a meaningful - in particular semantic - interoperability strategy in a dedicated organisation? Which infrastructure, tools and competences are necessary? Can AI meet the clinician dream with coding happening in the background with no or very minimal human intervention?

🕐 13:30 - 14:30 ▶️ Session 3 | EHR Algorithm Communication

This session will discuss the need to have data that fuels algorithmic tools that are of high quality, meaningfully structured, and easily sharable. Achieving impact requires comprehensive, multi-level strategies - from local hospital workflows up to European semantic frameworks - with human beings and AI working hand-in-hand to progressively refine data ecosystems.

🕐 14:45 - 16:00 ▶️ Session 4 | The Yellow Button - Innovating for Everyday Life with Patient Access

The right of patients to access their own health data isn’t only great for individuals who are keen to know more about their health. Indeed, it opens the door to an ecosystem of innovative solutions that wouldn’t be possible if the data were to remain locked inside hospitals or labs.

📅 Join EHTEL's track in the festival and the RHFH sessions for up to three days:

• 19 January 2026 afternoon: Join the EHTEL members' matchmaking event, with a wide range of stakeholders.

• 20 January 2026: Take in all the interesting Radical Health Festival sessions

• 21 January 2026: EHTEL’s Thought Leader Symposium agenda will zoom in on the European Health Data Space (EHDS).

Throughout 21 January, the Symposium will give you the opportunity to get engaged in a conversation about how you, your health institution, company, or country could apply the EHDS Regulation in the most practical ways.

Each one-hour session will:

• draw on insights from leading-edge implementers
• be interactive, based on a synergy of state-of-the-art working papers with input from the papers’ authors
• offer you the chance to provide input through discussions, polls, and exercises.

Get engaged:

Autumn 2025 is your chance to get involved, get hands-on, and help drive real progress on the EHDS. From October to December 2025, EHTEL members are welcome to participate, in your chosen area of focus and with your expertise.

Together, we will prepare the ground for the EHTEL Symposium. 

Together, we’ll co-create four working papers to spark meaningful insights and action ahead of the January 2026 event and throughout the Symposium. Draft versions of each working paper will be presented during a series of EHDS-related exclusive webinars for EHTEL members, providing you with an opportunity to develop and finetune actionable messages aimed at European policymakers on how to practically implement the EHDS. Key messages from the working papers will serve as impulse statements to kick off each of the four Symposium sessions at the RHFH in January. There is a chance we will develop White Papers or publishable articles based on these working papers.

Your first opportunity to make your voice heard will be on 12 November 2025, at the 5th EHTEL members' EHDS Implementers Task Force meeting.

Helsinki: The EHDS Place-to-Be

Between 19-21 January 2026, Helsinki becomes the meeting place for EHDS visionaries and implementers.

Our Symposium will be fully embedded in the RHFH, creating a dynamic platform for visionary ideas and transformative collaboration.

Two events, one powerful experience: Obtain exclusive insights at the EHTEL Symposium while tapping into the vibrant energy and wide expert network of RHFH.

Why Helsinki? Finland is setting the standard with cutting-edge progress on data spaces, EHRs, secondary use of health data, and citizen engagement. This prime location is your chance to connect with trailblazers, exchange ideas, explore best practices, and even visit important Finnish digital health-related sites. Expect to experience many highlights and special moments there.

Whether as a speaker, participant or panellist, you are invited to continue the EHDS journey along with EHTEL and fellow Europeans.

Be where the future of EHDS is happening. Join us in Helsinki.