TEHDAS2 workshop explores balancing IP protection and data access under the EHDS

A recent TEHDAS2 workshop explored how intellectual property (IP) protection and data access can be balanced under the European Health Data Space (EHDS), bringing together stakeholders from across Europe to discuss practical challenges and implementation approaches.

Held on 12 March in Brussels and online, the event gathered more than 220 participants, including health data holders from industry and academia, Health Data Access Bodies (HDABs), policymakers and data users. The workshop focused on how to ensure secure and responsible secondary use of health data while respecting existing IP rights and trade secrets.

The European Commission clarified during the discussions that the EHDS does not override current IP protections. Instead, it establishes a framework for controlled data access, where HDABs assess requests on a case-by-case basis and apply safeguards when necessary.

Participants from industry underlined the importance of preventing unintended disclosure of commercially sensitive information, while academic stakeholders highlighted the value of high-quality datasets, appropriate attribution and secure, federated approaches to data use.

From an operational perspective, discussions focused on the need for consistent IP risk assessments across Member States, sufficient expertise within HDABs and coherent approaches for multi-country data access requests. Data users also stressed the importance of having clear and predictable rules that can support research and innovation across Europe.

Stakeholders agreed that early decisions regarding metadata and access conditions, taken in close dialogue with data holders, are essential for reducing downstream risks. Secure processing environments were also identified as a key mechanism for enabling controlled data use under the EHDS, with strong cybersecurity safeguards considered fundamental.

The workshop was the third and final event in the TEHDAS2 series on collaboration models for the EHDS. Earlier sessions addressed ethical dimensions of the EHDS as well as collaboration on data discovery and multi-country applications.

Insights from the workshop will contribute to ongoing discussions and practical work related to EHDS implementation across Europe.

You can read the full workshop report.