20 years of EU membership: HaDEA-managed projects

1 May 2024 marked the 20th anniversary of the fifth and biggest enlargement of the EU, which saw the Union expand from 15 to 25 Member States. 20 years ago, 10 new countries joined our Union: Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia.  

European society has benefitted not only from the free movement of goods, services, capital and people, but also from more innovations, public and private investments, modern infrastructure and connections. 

Thanks to EU support, organisations and stakeholders from these 10 countries could participate and receive funding for innovative projects. Here is a selection of projects and initiatives managed by HaDEA in the health, digital, industry and space fields, mainly coordinated by beneficiaries from one of the ten countries that joined in 2004. This is a non-exhaustive list, as several other projects in these countries are managed by the Agency. Moreover, under some of HaDEA-managed programmes (e.g. EU4Health, Digital Europe Programme), all EU countries receive direct grants in specific areas.  

Cyprus  

• TRANSITION (EU4Health) aims to develop a new education and training programme for healthcare professionals and non-clinical professionals, focused on the acquisition of digital skills and competences to better support cancer patients. 

• SoFiN (Horizon Europe ‘Digital’) project is working to tackle important challenges related to the distributed sensing of critical infrastructures with innovative development of an adaptive, modular and highly integrated photonic multi-sensing system. 

Czechia 

• The ASP-belong project (Horizon Europe ‘Health’) is developing Augmented Social Play (ASP), a mental health intervention that uses smartphones to facilitate a sense of belonging in a group setting among adolescents. ASP uses storytelling, augmented reality, gameplay and psychotherapeutic techniques aimed at boosting mental wellbeing. 

• BALTCOR5G (CEF Digital) seeks to ensure uninterrupted and continuous 5G coverage along the Baltic cross-border sections of the corridor between Czech Republic and Poland by deploying infrastructure in areas where the market has failed to invest.  

Estonia 

• The project “Enhancing whole genome sequencing (WGS) capacities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and future health threats in Estonia” (EU4Health) aims to continue the work of a previous project in the field of enhancing whole genome sequencing (WGS), in order to improve health emergency preparedness and response to potential and existing health treats in the field of infectious diseases. 

• Water-ForCE (Horizon Europe 'Space') has developed a user- and stakeholder-driven Roadmap for Copernicus Water Services, which includes an assessment of emerging user needs and opportunities presented by satellite and in-situ sensors, as well as a gap analysis of the Copernicus water-related services portfolio.  

Hungary  

• PATHED (EU4Health) will develop, test and use a first version of a mobile app for cross-border access of patients to their health data, and provide the first evaluation on the extended MyHealth@EU infrastructure. 

• PPDR 5G (CEF Digital) will deploy an extensive 5G‑based disaster‑resilient mobile network along the Hungary‑Ukraine border, to provide police, border guards and ambulance services with secure and reliable real‑time voice, data, image and video communication, as well as enabling connected vehicles. 

Latvia  

• The objective of TOGAS (EU4Health) is to provide the missing evidence-based knowledge to develop new approaches for screening and early detection of gastric cancer, since no effective screening method for preventing this disease is currently available in Europe. 

• Baltic Ring (CEF Digital) aims to connect Sweden and Finland via a new fibre-based route through the Baltic countries to Europe via Warsaw. It offers a new, unique, and diverse path to connect with global cloud, digital services and interconnection hubs in Europe and globally. This project includes six countries (Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) and would improve each their access to improved connectivity. 

Lithuania 

• The aim of LT_SNOMED-CT (EU4Health) is to use the Systematised Medical Nomenclature for Medicine–Clinical Terminology (SNOMED CT) in the descriptions of laboratory test results and orders in Lithuania, making this nomenclature available for healthcare related organisations (e.g. hospitals, health care providers, health research facilities, health IT providers). This will ensure common interpretation of patient health data and enable future exchange of patient laboratory test data between EU countries 

• BOWI (Horizon Europe 'Digital') project developed a digital innovation hub widening network supporting the collaboration between Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) across Europe to increase their capacity in supporting SMEs with digital technologies and thus strengthen regional economy and the competitiveness of the European SMEs. 

Malta 

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to public health. In addition to current AMR surveillance, molecular methods such as whole genome sequencing (WGS) can provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of resistance and the relatedness of strains. The AMR-MT-WGS project (EU4Health) will implement WGS and integrate it within the established AMR surveillance in Malta.  

• Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (Digital Europe Programme) is the hub of EDMO covering the Southeastern Europe, including Malta, Cyprus and Greece. MedDMO brings together research, fact-checking and media organisations with internationally acknowledged research work and activity in the area of disinformation and important involvement in the media ecosystems of the three countries. 

Poland  

• The Peace of Mind project (EU4Health) is developing an approach aiming at supporting the mental health and psychological wellbeing of refugees and displaced people in Europe, with a focus on people from Ukraine. The project has already organised many awareness-raising events in Poland and their objective is to reach over 15 000 beneficiaries, including 700 health professionals in Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Belgium and France.  

• SK PL closer (CEF Digital) aims to diversify international backbone routes by constructing a new optical backbone path between Slovakia and Poland. The new optical route will also provide new connectivity of remote territory (Kysuce region, area of Cadca, Svrcinovec and Zwardoň) along the newly built optical backbone. 

Slovakia

• TUKE 5GSC (CEF Digital) aims at supporting the early deployment of 5G-based systems that enable local innovative use cases to develop and test a logistics use case and a smart energy metering use case and subsequently to provide blueprints for digital innovation projects to be replicated across Europe. The project which will deploy private 5G network elements at a university campus in Slovakia.  

• The SK-nCPeH project (EU4Health) will create and operate National Contact Point for eHealth (NCPeH) and four cross-border services in Slovakia. 

Slovenia 

• The SmartCHANGE project (Horizon Europe ‘Health’) is developing long-term risk prediction models for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in 5-19-year-olds through the use of data sets and machine learning. These models will be used to design two mobile applications, one for health professionals and another one for citizens. 

• ACCORDs (Horizon Europe 'Industry') is developing an imaging-based characterisation framework (ACCORDs framework) for the holistic correlative assessment of Graphene Family Materials (GFMs) as a representative of 2D nanomaterials (NMs) to assess and predict 2D NMs health and environmental risks.  

Background

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme supports projects of common interest deploying secure, resilient and high-capacity networks, including 5G and backbone infrastructures, fostering economic growth, innovation, and competitiveness in the digital sector. It also addresses the connectivity needs of rural, remote and overseas areas, as well as the digitalisation of transport and energy networks to create a more integrated and inclusive digital environment within the EU. 

The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) aims to build the strategic digital capacities of the EU and to facilitate the wide deployment of digital technologies. With an overall budget of €7.5 billion, out of which €0.8 billion is managed by HaDEA, the programme will support investments in the following sectors: 

• High Performance Computing 

• Cloud, data and Artificial Intelligence 

• Cybersecurity 

• Advanced digital skills 

• Accelerating best use of technologies 

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and tenders from 2021 to 2027. 

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth. HaDEA implements parts of Horizon Europe Clusters 1 (Health) and 4 (Digital, Industry, and Space). It was preceded by the  Horizon 2020 programme, between 2014 and 2020.