Issues of data subjects’ privacy and data security represent a crucial challenge in the biomedical sector more than in other industries. The current IT landscape in this field shows a myriad of isolated, locally hosted patient data repositories, managed by clinical centres and other organisations, which are subject to frequent and massive data breaches. Patients are disenfranchised in this process, and are not able to have a clear understanding of who uses their personal information and for what purposes. This makes it the ideal field to build and test new models of privacy and data protection, and the technologies that encode them. MyHealthMyData (MHMD) aims at changing the existing scenario by introducing a distributed, peer-to-peer architecture, based on Blockchain and Personal Data Accounts. This approach will determine new mechanisms of trust and of direct, value-based relationships between people, hospitals, research centres and businesses, in what will be the first open biomedical information network centred on the connection between organisations and the individual. The system will develop a comprehensive methodology to guide the implementation of data and identity protection systems, specifically defining approaches and tools to profile and classify sensitive data based on their informational and economic value, to assess the most suitable and robust de-identification and encryption technologies needed to secure different types of information, to allow advanced analytics, and to evaluate the overall reliability of a generic multi modular architecture. MHMD will also analyse users’ behavioural patterns alongside ethical and cultural orientations, to identify hidden dynamics in the interactions between humans and complex information services, to improve the design of data-driven platforms and to foster the development of a true information marketplace, in which individuals will be able to exercise full control on their personal data and leverage their value.

Europe has an opportunity to have a leading position on Data Economy, particularly in B2B scenarios. Special focus must be placed on accessing, sharing and reuse of data in an environment of security and Trust, which are fundamental preconditions for the Data Economy. The support of pilot projects and innovation spaces for experimenting with cross-sector multi-stakeholder data innovation is therefore urgent. Efforts need to concentrate on the provision of trusted and secure privacy-aware analytics solutions allowing for the secure sharing of proprietary industrial data along with personal data. REACH aims to launch a sustainable European-wide second-generation incubator for data-fuelled start-ups & SMEs aiming to develop innovative experiments within data value chains. REACH will launch 3 Open Calls expecting to attract +500 data driven concept-applications and select 100 business ideas to undertake a 4-phases funnel Tech-Biz acceleration programme (EXPLORE - EXPERIMENT - EVOLVE - EXPOSE). REACH aims to support the generation of new data-fuelled products & services, drive the development of solid businesses, trigger revenue growth and foster the access to new funding rounds, by offering a full service pack consisted of: tech-training and experts, datasets, technological bricks for secure and trusted data value chains, computing infrastructures, business development training & coaches and up to €120k equity-free funding. REACH will demonstrate that Data Silos can be broken by enabling a multi-stakeholder cross-sectorial incubator to boost data-fuelled sustainable solutions, leveraged by the capacities of the best data-driven DIHs in Europe. Besides a solid consortium to access world class startups/ SMEs and deliver high valuable technological & business services, REACH integrates 3 DIHs and 9 public/ private data-providers and 2 private investor brokers. We aim to generate 10M€ volume investment for SMES creating 15 data value-chains delivering fit-to-market products