“Europe’s building of e-health is a matter of sovereignty”

“Europe’s building of e-health is a matter of sovereignty”

FigaroVox / Tribune – While the health crisis has stymied the development of digital health, the president of the Sapiens Institute has invited European leaders to seize this area of ​​the future.

Olivier Babu is the President of the Sapiens Institute and Professor of Management Science at the University of Bordeaux. he recently published The new digital disorder: how digital is exploding inequalities (Buchet Chestel, 2020).


If there is one topic that has been driving political debate for many months, it is that of sovereignty. The main candidates for the presidential election aim to guarantee this by creating a French and European “GAMAM”, but few define a real readable and clear roadmap in this area. Yet it remains one of the central issues for our economic future: without champions of sufficient size to compete with the American or Asian titans, Europe and France have been able to impose their own economic, technical or ethical standards in many areas. especially in areas as strategic as health.

Epidemics have replaced health as a central element of our society. Not only has this once again become the main concern of voters, but it has also contributed to the acceleration of the use of digital health for patients: the number of teleconsultations has thus tripled since 2020. At the same time, technological e-health solutions health become widespread. From clinical aid, to the development of connected devices that continuously record patient data, to the printing of synthetic cells or the treatment of mental disorders using virtual reality technologies, European companies are constantly innovating and thus Creating an ecosystem with incredible growth potential. These new applications promise a radically enhanced approach to medicine. Not only will they facilitate prevention and prognosis, but they will also improve the follow-up and treatment of patients with temporary or chronic deformities, prevent their appearance and provide a personalized service tailored to each need. They accelerate the emergence of modern, state-of-the-art medicine, where therapy time is optimized, the supply of services is optimally distributed and efficiency is greatly improved.

Building a Europe of e-health through the emergence of several European champions with a global dimension is an economic challenge.

Olivier Babau

The European continent has the resources to stay in control of this revolution while being an actor in its field. From the United Kingdom to Finland, through Portugal and Switzerland, it appears that 441 mature health tech companies are able to provide a holistic and connected vision of health. These companies, with innovative and complementary technologies, could constitute a real credible competition to Big Tech, if they manage to group together under the auspices of the major European champions. There are five companies meeting the required size and growth characteristics that can play the role of a European engine capable of driving the European ecosystem. Based in the United Kingdom – an extremely conducive environment for the development of e-health innovations that provide the most significant financing and development potential on the continent – Health Hero is already a European teleconsultation giant serving the expectations of dozens of million patients in Europe. does. Other potential champions are Doctolib (based in France), Kry (based in Sweden), BioCartis (based in Switzerland) or even Ada Health (based in Germany).

The creation of Europe of e-health through the emergence of several European champions with a global dimension is also an economic issue. According to our estimates, the networking of these companies could lead to an increase of 144 billion euros in European GDP. In addition to establishing our medical sovereignty, this construction will generate a strong increase in the well-being and quality of life of Europeans.

The success of this project requires only one catalyst: regulatory cohesion. This is particularly expressed by the establishment of a European health data policy, highlighting the secure provision of European patient data and guaranteeing their semantic and linguistic interactivity between countries. It also requires the definition of a common development policy based on information exchange and innovation incubation processes. Finally, this is embodied by the establishment of a European e-health convention, which aims to structure a common area in the region, regulated by a health system coordinating agency, to provide exercise numbers to practitioners and to reimburse Why not by defining a qualified general care basket. , This ambition is far from being utopian, all the foundations for its creation are present on our continent, it remains only to bring them together and coordinate to transform the essay. It is an issue of health and sovereignty that must be included in the presidential election and subsequent debates.

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