Background
Background
Section 4.5 of the final report for the coordination project states the following:
- The EU’s focus on data and digitalisation is positive. There is a strong need to cooperate internationally, especially with the EU Member States, both because we cannot do everything ourselves and because there is much to learn from other countries’ experiences and knowledge.
What is the problem?
European cooperation can provide access to key expertise, infrastructures, data, funding and collaboration arenas. AI and health are areas of focus within the EU, which means that both competence and capacities/facilities are being built to innovate using AI generally, and within health in particular.
It is difficult to obtain an overview and understand the various initiatives aimed at exploiting the opportunities offered by the EU. This means we are not making sufficient use of the opportunities that the EU offers.
What do we want to achieve?
We want to establish closer links between the government agencies and health and care services and selected initiatives within the EU to learn, share experiences and access capacities/facilities that are being developed and offered in the EU systems.
It should be noted that many of the measures recommended in the joint AI plan will benefit from closer cooperation with the EU, and many of the measures are also designed to draw on and share experiences, competence and capacities/facilities within the EU.
What is happening within the area?
Many of the EU’s initiatives are described under other measures in the plan. Here are some EU initiatives and projects that are not covered elsewhere in the plan and may be of relevance to artificial intelligence in the health service.
- The Norwegian Directorate of Health has established a separate programme for participation in EU4Health. Among other things, the work programme for 2024 (health.ec.europa.eu) includes a call to promote the use of artificial intelligence in the health service amounting to EUR 4,500,000.
- EdiHTA: is an EU project which seeks to develop a European framework for health technology assessments (HTA). From Norway, NSE, Det norske Veritas and Vestre Viken HF are participating.
- Norway is a full member of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and can exert its influence on an equal basis with other member states. Standards Norway (SN) has a national mandate to enable Norwegian stakeholders to exert an influence at the European level.
- The Council of Europe has adopted a Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence (rm.coe.int) and issued a guide to the Convention (rm.coe.int). The Convention complies with the proposed EU Act. Opens for signing on 5 September 2024 (coe.int)
- The Council of Europe’s Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO) has prepared a report on how AI affects the doctor-patient relationship. This report will be published shortly; here is some information about the "preparatory work” for the report and the work of the committee in the field (coe.int).
How to do it
The following activities are relevant:
- Assess the need to establish closer European government agency cooperation. This includes considering the possibility of participating in EU projects.
- Consider monitoring selected EU projects more closely by, for example, participating in reference groups and the like.
- Assess whether there is an additional need for someone to monitor key initiatives and calls for applications within the EU and communicate important information, so that the healthcare sector can access (part-)financing and competence in relevant areas.
Current collaboration
The Norwegian Directorate of Health, the health industry, regional health authorities, the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency, the Research Council of Norway and others.