As 2025 ended, so did the Horizon Europe project SHIFT-HUB, marking the successful conclusion of three years of intensive work to strengthen Europe’s Smart Health ecosystem. From January 2023 to December 2025, SHIFT-HUB brought together a wide community of European stakeholders — digital SMEs, healthcare providers, innovation intermediaries, public authorities, policymakers, patients, and citizens — with the objective of accelerating the uptake of Smart Health technologies and services across Europe.

In a context where healthcare systems face increasing pressures and challenges, European digital solutions are key to ensuring resilient, inclusive, and patient-centred care. SHIFT-HUB addressed these challenges by building a connected European ecosystem helping driving innovation into real-world impact.

Building a connected Smart Health ecosystem

Over its 36-month duration, SHIFT-HUB succeeded in mobilising a critical mass of actors across the health value chain. More than 1,500 digital SMEs were reached, with many of them directly involved in project activities and the community platform. The initiative directly engaged 450+ innovation intermediaries, healthcare institutions, public bodies and policymakers, reaching with more than 5000 patients and citizens across Europe. In addition, with over 90 Memorandums of Understanding, SHIFT-HUB formalised collaborations with Official Partner Organisations, reinforcing cooperation and exchange within the Smart Health landscape.

SHIFT-HUB placed strong emphasis on turning collaboration into concrete innovation outcomes. Among others, the project organised:

• 9 Open Innovation Workshops, aimed at generating collaborative project ideas, and launched several Living Labs, promoting testing of Smart Health solutions
• 7 Demo Days gathering SME innovators and a series of Capacity-Building Workshops
• 3 International Brokerage Events for EU-funded open calls and SHIFT-HUB Conferences in Thessaliniki and Porto, gathering hundreds of participants

These activities supported innovation across five priority health domains: cancer, chronic and cardiovascular diseases, mental health, and disease prevention. The same focus areas were reflected in key project outputs, including the Mobile Health Apps Repository, featuring selected apps on targeted pathologies, a gamified e-learning journey and an Educational Repository made available over 150 resources across many digital thematic areas, helping bridge the digital divide.

DIGITAL SME: connecting European digital solutions at the heart of Smart Health

As a key partner, DIGITAL SME Alliance played a central role in connecting digital service providers with the wider health ecosystem. DIGITAL SME led community-building activities, promoted policy and standardisation alignment, and ensured that the voice of SMEs was fully embedded in the project’s approach.

A cornerstone of this effort was the e-Health Community, hosted on DIGITAL SME’s PartnerAll platform, which gathers more than 800 registered profiles. Designed as an open and dynamic collaboration space, the community enabled stakeholders to engage in B2B matchmaking, showcase digital solutions, explore partnerships, and participate in international events with a strong focus on capacity building, networking and funding opportunities.

In addition, the DIGITAL SME Focus Group on e-Health provided a space for discussion centred on how critical digital technologies, from AI to Data and cybersecurity, interact with Europe’s broader digital and industrial policy regulations and objectives.

Looking ahead: lasting impact beyond the project

While the funded period of SHIFT-HUB has concluded, its impact will continue well beyond 2025. Core services, results, and best practices remain available for replication and scaling, and the SHIFT-HUB Community Platform will continue to operate as a hub for collaboration, visibility, and matchmaking within the European Smart Health ecosystem.

To maintain momentum, SHIFT-HUB hosted two online Demo Days in early 2026, offering innovators the opportunity to showcase cutting-edge solutions and further engage healthcare stakeholders across Europe.

By combining ecosystem-building, innovation support, and SME engagement, SHIFT-HUB has laid the foundations for a more connected, innovative, and dynamic Smart Health landscape. Through its continued community and policy work, DIGITAL SME remains committed to ensuring that digital SMEs continue to play a central role in shaping the future of digital healthcare in Europe.