CVDLINK

Since its launch, the CVDLINK project has been committed to advancing data-driven solutions for cardiovascular care across Europe. During the past half year, key activities have included retrospective data analysis and validation, interactive workshops on privacy, user needs, system design and clinical interfaces, and critical discussions on building a federated repository for scalable and secure data integration. These achievements mark an important milestone in the project’s journey towards defining robust technical frameworks and fostering impactful research.

The most recent CVDLINK meeting in Thessaloniki in December 2024 brought together key stakeholders to advance several critical aspects of the project. A key focus was on retrospective data analysis and validation, highlighted in the related deliverable. This report collates all available retrospective datasets from the participating pilot sites, along with their respective ethical approvals. These validated datasets serve as an important cornerstone for future research and ensure compliance with the highest ethical standards. With regard to the highly important yet particularly sensitive information the project consortium engages with, the requirement for a robust ethical framework is a focal point of the CVDLINK project.

In addition to the retrospective data work, the meeting included a series of interactive workshops designed to address key dimensions of the project, such as:

• A privacy impact assessment workshop, where all consortium partners discussed strategies for aligning privacy practices with ethical and legal frameworks,
• a user needs identification workshop, which captured diverse stakeholder perspectives to define key system requirements,
• a system design workshop, aimed to lay out the basic technical architecture for the CVDLINK platform, and
• a clinical interface workshop, which gathered valuable feedback from participating clinicians to ensure that the system is both practical and effective in real-world medical settings.

The discussion centred – amongst other things – on the development of the CVDLINK federated repository, which will facilitate the seamless integration of current and future cardiovascular data sources. The repository is being designed with a focus on scalability, quality and ease of integration. Using a distributed approach, data will remain decentralised and securely stored at the provider sites. Furthermore, a central query mechanism will regulate access and ensure compliance with governance frameworks. The repository will also include a robust semantic catalogue service, enabling fine-grained indexing and retrieval of resources. This design draws on existing expertise from widely used frameworks such as ELIXIR, EOSC and EHDS, ensuring that the repository is in line with international best practices.

The Thessaloniki meeting demonstrated the power of collaboration and user-driven innovation to push the boundaries of cardiovascular research. With strong progress in data integration, privacy and user engagement, CVDLINK is poised to make a meaningful contribution to the future of cardiovascular care.

Links

https://cvdlink-project.eu/

Keywords

Cardiovascular diseases, Personalised medicine, Data-driven interventions, AI Tools, Sustainable project outcomes, Exploitable solutions