Clinnova Consortium Agreement signed, marking a major milestone for health research across Europe

The agreement formalises collaboration across four countries as Clinnova advances patient recruitment, health data infrastructure, and precision medicine.

• Digital Health
• Luxembourg Research Clinic – Fuerschungsklinik Lëtzebuerg

The Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) continues to play a leading role in advancing patient-centred clinical research through Clinnova, a European initiative focused on optimising the use of health data in research and healthcare. In May 2026, the programme achieved a major milestone with the official signing of its international Consortium Agreement across all participating partner countries.

The heart of the project is a federated approach to data infrastructure, enabling institutions to collaborate and generate insights from health data without transferring sensitive patient information across borders. This approach aligns closely with the vision of the European Health Data Space (EHDS), supporting secure and interoperable health data use across Europe.

Bringing together universities, hospitals and research institutes across Luxembourg, Switzerland, France and Germany, the Consortium Agreement formally establishes the framework for one of Europe’s most ambitious cross-border initiatives in data-driven healthcare and chronic disease research.

Between 2023 and 2025, the programme completed its first phase, laying the foundations for a sustainable clinical research infrastructure in Luxembourg and across Europe. More than 120 experts contributed to the initiative, and to date over 260 patients have been recruited across the consortium, with more than 16,000 biological samples collected.

A key achievement in Luxembourg was the development of a Prototype Data Integration Centre by the LIH in collaboration with the Hôpitaux Robert Schuman. The platform demonstrates the secure integration of clinical and research data within a real-world hospital environment and provides an important foundation for future data-driven research.

Clinnova’s scientific programme is centred on three disease cohorts: inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatic diseases (RD). In Luxembourg, recruitment for the IBD cohort is already underway, while the MS and RD cohorts are expected to begin this year.

As Clinnova continues to expand its activities, its infrastructure and expertise will also be integrated into the new Luxembourg Research Clinic (Fuerschungsklinik Lëtzebuerg, LRC), supporting the development of a secure research data network connecting hospitals across the country.

“The Consortium Agreement marks the beginning of the next chapter for Clinnova,” said Dr Jasmin Schulz, Strategic Programme Lead at the LIH and coordinator of Clinnova. “We now have the foundations in place to strengthen collaboration across borders and turn high-quality health data into knowledge that can directly benefit clinicians, researchers and patients. By connecting expertise, data and research environments across Europe, we are building a sustainable ecosystem for precision medicine and future healthcare innovation.”

Clinnova is supported by the National Centre of Excellence in Research (NCER), an initiative of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).