Servicio Vasco de Salud Osakidetza

Their core work

Osakidetza is the public health service of the Basque Country (Spain), operating as the region's primary healthcare provider with a network of hospitals, health centers, and specialized care units. In H2020 projects, they contribute real-world clinical environments, patient cohorts, and healthcare professional expertise — serving as a living lab where digital health tools, rehabilitation platforms, and chronic disease management systems are tested with actual patients. Their involvement spans from validating e-health platforms and clinical decision support systems to piloting infection prevention protocols in neonatal intensive care. They are a demand-side partner: they don't build the technology, but they define clinical needs, test solutions in practice, and validate outcomes in operational healthcare settings.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2016–2018), Osakidetza focused on foundational e-health infrastructure: secure health data exchange, mobile rehabilitation tools for stroke survivors, and federated care architectures for multi-morbidity. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward precision health, large-scale deployment of personalized care platforms, and pre-commercial procurement — indicating a move from piloting individual tools to system-wide integration of digital health into routine clinical practice. The appearance of infection prevention (NeoIPC) and personal data protection (SOTERIA) in their most recent projects signals a broadening beyond chronic disease into acute care and regulatory compliance.

Osakidetza is transitioning from testing individual digital health tools to deploying integrated, data-driven care systems at scale — making them an increasingly valuable validation partner for mature health technologies ready for real-world implementation.

How they like to work

Osakidetza never coordinates H2020 projects — they consistently join as a participant or third party, reflecting their role as a clinical end-user rather than a research leader. They operate in large consortia (267 unique partners across 32 countries), which is typical for health innovation projects requiring multi-site clinical validation. Their frequent third-party status (9 of 18 projects) suggests they are often brought in specifically to provide clinical testing environments and patient access, rather than driving the research agenda — a valuable but specialized role.

With 267 unique consortium partners across 32 countries, Osakidetza has a broad European network concentrated in health and digital innovation consortia. Their geographic reach spans most of the EU, though their Basque Country base gives them particularly strong ties to Spanish and Southern European health systems.

What sets them apart

Osakidetza offers something most technology developers struggle to find: a large, operational public health system willing to serve as a real-world testing ground for digital health innovations. Unlike university hospitals that participate primarily for research output, Osakidetza brings the perspective of a regional health authority responsible for actual patient care delivery — meaning solutions validated with them face genuine operational constraints. For consortium builders, they provide clinical sites, patient cohorts, practitioner feedback, and the credibility of a public health system endorsement.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GATEKEEPER
  Largest single EC contribution (EUR 634,978) — a major smart living and health risk detection demonstrator, indicating Osakidetza's strongest commitment as a validation site.
• NeoIPC
  Their most recent active project (2021-2026) targeting antibiotic-resistant infections in neonatal ICUs — a departure from their usual chronic care focus, showing expansion into acute clinical challenges.
• SHiELD
  Directly addressed the critical infrastructure layer of health data security and consent management — a foundational project that connects to their later work on data-driven precision health.