SHARE: the goal

The global objective of the project is to define a comprehensive and detailed European R&D roadmap, covering both technology and policy aspects as well as guiding and promoting beneficial EU-wide uptake of HealthGrid technologies and applications into health & life sciences research, and into healthcare service provision.

SHARE has then laid down some goals like,

  • Proposing strategies to address some of the issues listed in the European Action Plan for e-health. The COM (2004) 356 document identifies actions needed to achieve the European Union's strategy in e-health.
  • Several of these actions can directly benefit from the deployment of Grid technology for e-Health and notably
    • Health authorities' leadership
    • Interoperability of health information systems
    • Mobility of patients and health professionals
    • Enhancing infrastructure and technologies
    • Legal and regulatory issues
    • Towards integrated health information networks
    • Disseminating best practices
    • International collaboration
  • Defining a roadmap for research and technology to allow a wide deployment and adoption of healthgrids in shorter term (3-5 years) and longer term (up to 10 years). As the project has been accepted by the European Union, the next step is now to exploit the existing systems (like GEANT, DEISA, EGEE) for life sciences and healthcare applications. Topics like security, accessibility, quality of service have to be improved by the R&D for becoming the real needs of end user.
  • Defining a complementary and integrated roadmap for e-health RTD policy related to Grid deployment, as a basis for improving coordination amongst funding bodies, health policy makers and leaders of Grid initiatives, avoiding legislative barriers. Further in this last objective, the project will also
    • develop a comprehensive compendium of national and EU initiatives including an analysis of strengths, weaknesses and gaps at EU level and
    • identify common interests and synergies, cooperation incentives and collaboration among the funding authorities

Although the project has got concrete aims to reach in one hand, the SHARE Roadmap in the other hand will focus on:

  • identifying requirements for further research and technology development;
  • Grid middleware development and research infrastructure deployment by the two units: research on new services / Grids for Complex Problem Solving and deployment of Grid infrastructures / Research Infrastructure and Testbed.