Workshop explores how to balance IP protection and data access under the EHDS
A TEHDAS2 workshop examined how to balance intellectual property (IP) protection and data access under the EHDS, highlighting the need for consistent IP risk assessments, early decisions and secure processing environments.
The event, held on 12 March, gathered more than 220 stakeholders in Brussels and online, including health data holders from industry and academia, health data access bodies (HDABs) and data users.
Discussions covered the legal framework for IP rights and trade secrets under the EHDS and key challenges across the secondary‑use workflow – from metadata and access decisions to secure analysis and the export of results.
In setting the scene, the European Commission highlighted that the EHDS does not override existing IP protections. Instead, it provides a framework for controlled access, where HDABs assess requests case by case and apply safeguards where needed.
Participants emphasised the need to strike a balance between protection and use. Industry participants stressed the importance of preventing unintended disclosure of sensitive information, while academic stakeholders highlighted the value of well-prepared datasets, appropriate attribution and secure, federated approaches to data use.
From an operational perspective, participants pointed to challenges related to consistent IP risk assessments by HDABs, ensuring sufficient expertise and maintaining coherence across Member States, particularly in multi-country settings. Data users underlined the importance of clear and predictable rules to support research and innovation.
Across the discussions, early decisions on metadata and access conditions, taken in dialogue with data holders, were seen as particularly important in shaping downstream risks. Secure processing environments were highlighted as a central mechanism for enabling controlled data use, with robust safeguards and attention to cybersecurity viewed as essential.
The workshop was the third and final event in a TEHDAS2 series on collaboration models for the EHDS. Insights from the discussions will inform ongoing work on practical approaches to EHDS implementation.
The key perspectives and discussion outcomes from the workshop are documented in a dedicated workshop report: Read the full workshop report.
Earlier workshops in the series addressed the ethical dimensions of the EHDS and collaboration in data discovery and multi‑country applications under the EHDS.
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