Health

Personalised care & healthy ageing. Disease prevention, detection, treatment & management

Background

The Health Helix was amongst the first tranche of Helix communities launched by Crowdhelix in early 2013. The Helix is led by Dr Frauke Christ, Innovation Manager at the world-renowned academic institution KU Leuven.

Scope

Closely intertwined with the activities of a great many other Helixes, the Health Helix provides an Open Innovation community for experts seeking international collaborators to carry out health-related research and innovation in support of the following overarching objectives:

Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society
Living and working in a health-promoting environment
Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden
Ensuring access to sustainable and high-quality healthcare in the EU
Unlocking the full potential of new tools, technologies and digital solutions for a healthy society
Maintaining a sustainable and globally competitive health-related industry

Horizon Europe

As detailed in the strategic orientation papers for the EU’s Horizon Europe funding programme, all of the above challenges are both complex and interdependent. They have, however, been chosen by the EU because they address key concerns and provide a clear perspective on what benefits people, patients, and populations as well as what various institutional, social, and economic stakeholders can expect from research & innovation interventions.

The Health Helix is also oriented towards the activities of the Horizon Europe “Mission Cancer”, which aims to reverse worrying international trends in the disease, and to ensure that cancer patients can be diagnosed earlier, suffer less, and have a better quality of life after treatment.

Health research & innovation relies heavily upon experts working together across borders, sharing their knowledge and resources. Through promoting pan-European collaboration across the health sector and its many related disciplines, Crowdhelix aims to facilitate the maximum realisation of the many diverse impacts and societal benefits that can be derived from cutting-edge health research & innovation programmes.

Marine Desoche

Helix Manager

"Health research and innovation has always been and is one of the core activities of KU Leuven. Leading the Health Helix and integrating the activities of the research community for a better Health of our citizens, is a mission we fulfil with pleasure."