A more open health innovation ecosystem: EIT Health Morning Talks on healthcare

The second round of Morning Talks this year, by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s health-focused Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT Health) took place at the end of November. This time, experts gathered to discuss the topic “The missing link in developing successful healthcare innovations – data pilot projects.”

While funding opportunities have grown noticeably in recent years, the number of healthcare startups in Latvia, as well as the level of innovation within institutions, still significantly lags behind many other European countries. Startups and researchers often point to the meaningful use of patients’ secondary data as a key to unlocking innovation. Lithuania has chosen this very path. Earlier this year, the country published its first data pilot project for early-stage startups using secondary health data. The Morning Talks opened with a presentation from Inga Kanapeckiene of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, who shared lessons learned from the development of this pilot and the factors that shaped it.

The process wasn’t exactly fast, Kanapeckiene noted, but collaboration and genuine engagement from all involved parties including state institutions and healthcare providers proved essential for success.

The price of one good-quality year of life: 5,630 euros

During the event, Alīna Dūdele, Head of Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Centre for Methodology Development and Guidance in Family Medicine, presented a study titled “The Economic Benefits of Breast Cancer Treatment.” She showed how data can be used to evaluate both direct health and financial gains, as well as broader economic benefits resulting from investments in breast cancer treatment.

The research drew on anonymised individual-level healthcare data, which allowed the team to examine changes in patient health outcomes, treatment costs, and other indicators. They found that state investments in healthcare and systemic reforms have led to improved survival rates among patients with stage IV breast cancer. Since government increased investments, 129 deaths have been prevented, and each year, breast cancer patients collectively gain an additional 53 years of life. The economic benefits are visible as well. For instance, the study determined that one good quality year of life for these patients cost the state approximately 5,630 euros.

Dūdele also pointed out that many types of data remain uncollected, even though they would be exceptionally useful for researchers and entrepreneurs. For example, medical sick leaves currently do not record the reason they are issued. Such information would reveal which conditions most frequently lead to incapacity for work and help evaluate whether public investment in treatment improves efficiency or reduces the duration and frequency of sick leave. There is also a lack of data needed to assess quality of life and social aspects of treatment.

Secondary data in research and entrepreneurship

The talk continued with a discussion on the real situation surrounding data use in Latvia and potential paths forward, expanding on a topic first raised in spring and highlighting the practical needs of startups developing solutions for the healthcare system.
Participants acknowledged that research data is technically available and that a system exists for requesting it, but these datasets contain many gaps because they were gathered for purposes other than research. Meanwhile, institutions like the Central Statistical Bureau, which would be willing to contribute, lack the legal framework that would allow them to share relevant datasets.

Emils Sjundjukovs, CEO of Longenesis, noted that many companies and research groups use his company’s solutions to access data and engage patients. Longenesis also often initiates studies themselves, for example investigating why people skip vaccinations or screening programs. According to Sjundjukovs, the main challenge is ensuring that the findings of such studies actually reach policymakers, and that state institutions have the capacity to use the data meaningfully to drive real improvements in the healthcare system.

When people talk about health data, they tend to focus on technical information treatment outcomes, medications, procedures yet often forget that every patient is a person, said Dins Šmits, founder and CEO of MeDi Group and board member of Prof. Skride’s Heart Clinic. Access to secondary health data is important, but there also needs to be a way to gather social data, since each patient has their own views, preferences, and motivations. Genetic data also plays a significant role, especially for solutions tied to new medications.

Latvia has a clear interest in developing and supporting innovative, science-based, competitive solutions that would strengthen national export capacity. Olevs Nikers, Senior Biomedical Expert at the Ministry of Economics’ Business Competitiveness Department, emphasised that the ministry should be one of the driving forces behind creating mechanisms that improve data access. According to him, secondary data use may be the key to fostering genuinely innovative products.

The solution: clear legislation and a unified roadmap

Throughout the discussion, experts stressed that a dedicated law governing the use of secondary data is the foundation needed to ensure that data can be used effectively. Research datasets are often collected for unrelated purposes, and there is frequently no legal basis for gathering data for specific studies or for providing datasets to, for example, startups.

Just as important is a clear process a roadmap for accessing data and for encouraging collaboration. At present, Latvia’s communities of innovators and researchers are relatively small, and personal connections often help “open the right doors,” but the situation would be very different if the request came from a foreign startup. Finland was highlighted as a good example: researchers and startups can submit their request along with contact information and receive a set of concrete steps from the regulatory authority describing how to access the data.

A clearer understanding of what data even exists would be helpful not only for health institutions, but also for researchers, entrepreneurs, doctors, and anyone else involved in creating health innovations.
The question of how to strengthen Latvia’s competitiveness in innovation has also been raised with foreign experts, who note that retrospective data laws have long been common in many countries. Latvia’s growth potential, they argue, lies a step further: figuring out how to open prospective data to international life-science companies.

Participants also emphasised the importance of a shared vision for how these datasets are used once processed by startups or researchers. The data may form the basis for improving specific procedures or treatment methods, or serve as motivation to conduct similar analyses for other diseases.

Morning Talks on Healthcare

Morning Talks traditionally bring together high-level specialists, decision-makers, and leaders from the startup sector, encouraging discussions on innovation in healthcare and exploring solutions to the challenges faced by startups, researchers, medical institutions, and the wider industry. The events are organised by EIT Health hub in Latvia, based at Rīga Stradiņš University.

The autumn 2026 Morning Talks took place on 28 November, featuring MeDi Group founder and CEO and board member of Prof. Skride’s Heart Clinic Dins Šmits, head of RSU’s Centre for Methodology Development and Guidance in Family Medicine Alīna Dūdele, Longenesis CEO Emils Sjundjukovs, and the Ministry of Economics’ Senior Biomedical Expert Olevs Nikers.