ELLINIKI ANTIKARKINIKI ETAIREIA

Their core work

The Hellenic Cancer Society (HCS) is Greece's primary national cancer NGO, working on cancer prevention, patient support, and public awareness. In EU research projects, they contribute cancer domain expertise, access to patient communities, and real-world clinical knowledge that purely technical partners cannot provide. Their value to consortia is twofold: they represent the patient and civil society perspective, and they bring on-the-ground connections to oncology networks in Greece. They have participated in research ranging from public health interventions against tobacco exposure to AI-powered cancer imaging diagnostics.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (TackSHS, 2015–2019), HCS contributed to traditional public health research on tobacco harm and cancer risk factors — work aligned with their core advocacy mission. By 2020, with INCISIVE, their focus shifted sharply into digital health: AI, explainable AI, deep learning, federated learning, and blockchain-based health data sharing applied specifically to cancer imaging. The trend is clear: HCS is moving from public health advocacy into the role of cancer-domain anchor within technically complex digital health consortia.

HCS is positioning itself as a cancer-domain partner for AI and digital health consortia, where patient community access, ethical oversight, and disease-specific expertise are scarce among technology-heavy project teams.

How they like to work

HCS participates exclusively as a consortium partner — they have never led a project as coordinator across their entire H2020 history. They operate within large, internationally distributed teams (38 unique partners across 10 countries in just 2 projects), which suggests they are sought out as a specialist contributor rather than a project driver. Their role is to anchor technical work to real cancer patient populations and to provide the NGO legitimacy that many EU research consortia require.

Despite only two projects, HCS has built a surprisingly wide network of 38 unique partners across 10 countries, indicating they joined large, multi-partner RIA consortia. Their network is European in scope, though their on-the-ground patient access is specifically rooted in Greece.

What sets them apart

HCS occupies a rare position in EU health research: a nationally recognized cancer NGO with direct access to patient communities, clinical networks, and cancer-specific advocacy infrastructure in Greece — a combination that technical or academic partners simply cannot replicate. For any consortium building an AI, imaging, or data-driven cancer solution, HCS provides the ethical, patient-facing, and disease-specific grounding that turns a prototype into something deployable. They also bring credibility for patient consent and data donation frameworks, which are increasingly critical in health AI projects under GDPR.

Highlights from their portfolio

• INCISIVE
  Largest funding received (EUR 406,250) and most technically ambitious — an AI/XAI cancer imaging toolbox combining federated learning, blockchain, and health data interoperability across multiple cancer types.
• TackSHS
  Shows HCS's earlier public health roots in tobacco harm research, establishing their credibility in cancer-risk epidemiology before pivoting to digital health AI.