The purpose of the Smart4Health platform is to aggregate all health data and medical records in one place, and make them available to citizens themselves, explains Ricardo Jardim Gonçalves, professor and researcher at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT NOVA) .

“With this project, people become the owners of their health data,” the researcher who will represent Portugal at the 11th European Innovation Commission on 5 February, told Lusa, adding that until now patients' access to their records was limited.

Smart4Health is one of the three projects of the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme (dedicated to research and innovation) with the Portuguese coordination of FCT NOVA's Institute for the Development of New Technologies (Uninova).

According to Ricardo Jardim Gonçalves, this is the most important of the three projects and the one with the greatest immediate impact on society, since it will allow all health units to have access to the complete clinical history of patients.

"This will allow that if a European citizen needs, for any reason, to go to a consultation in another country, they have immediate access to their data and can make them available to the doctor", he exemplified, stressing that the platform will also avoid the repetition of exams and allow more complete diagnostics.

The researcher added that another objective of Smart4Health is the permanent monitoring of citizens who want it, through smart devices and sensors capable of communicating with each other, which allow, for example, recording physical activity, heart rate or blood pressure at any time.

According to Ricardo Jardim Gonçalves, the researchers are working in collaboration with four European hospitals: in Madeira, Germany, Holland and Italy.

In addition to Smart4Health, Portugal will present to Parliament two other projects coordinated by Uninova, in the industry area, with a digital platform that allows the manufacture of flawless products, and digital innovation, through a network of ‘Hubs’ in this area.

The three projects total an investment of 38 million Euros and, for the researcher, represent the “consolidation of the reputation” of FCT and of Portugal's role at the forefront of research and innovation.