PANEPISTIMIAKO GENIKO NOSOKOMEIO IRAKLEIOU

Their core work

PAGNI is the University General Hospital of Heraklion, Crete — a major public teaching hospital that serves as both a clinical care facility and a research environment for health informatics, digital health, and cybersecurity in healthcare. In H2020, they contributed real-world clinical settings and patient data expertise to projects tackling health big data analytics, palliative care digital tools, and hospital IT security. Their involvement spans from patient-reported outcome systems in oncology to cyber range training platforms designed specifically for medical organizations, making them a bridge between frontline clinical practice and digital innovation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015-2018), PAGNI focused on health big data, integrated care services, and clinical digital tools — firmly in the patient-facing health informatics space. From 2019 onward, their portfolio shifted significantly toward cybersecurity for healthcare systems (AERAS, HEIR) and branched into neuroscience research (neuronsXnets). This evolution suggests the hospital recognized that securing health data infrastructure is just as critical as generating clinical insights from it.

PAGNI is moving from being a clinical data provider toward becoming a testing ground for secure, resilient health IT systems — a valuable niche as hospital cyberattacks increase across Europe.

How they like to work

PAGNI participates exclusively as a partner — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is typical for hospitals that contribute clinical environments and domain expertise rather than leading research design. With 75 unique consortium partners across 20 countries from just 6 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia. This makes them an accessible, low-friction partner: experienced in multi-country collaborations, accustomed to delivering within large teams, and not competing for the coordination role.

Despite only 6 projects, PAGNI has built a broad network of 75 partners across 20 countries — reflecting their participation in large EU consortia. Their reach is genuinely pan-European with no visible concentration in any single region beyond Greece.

What sets them apart

PAGNI offers something rare: a large public hospital that has hands-on experience in both health data analytics AND healthcare cybersecurity. Most clinical partners bring patient data access but lack IT security expertise; most cybersecurity partners lack real hospital environments. PAGNI bridges both, providing a live clinical testbed where digital health tools and security solutions can be validated in authentic conditions — an asset that is difficult to replicate outside a working hospital.

Highlights from their portfolio

• IntellIoT
  Largest single EC contribution (EUR 275,500) and broadest scope — intelligent IoT environments touching healthcare, agriculture, and manufacturing.
• AERAS
  Directly addresses the growing threat of cyberattacks on hospitals by building a cyber range training platform specifically for medical organizations.
• MyPal
  Tackles an underserved area — digital palliative care tools for both adults and children with cancer, combining patient empowerment with clinical outcome tracking.