22 September CANDLE kicked off its UNCAN.eu Network, bringing together 49 participants from 20 countries, from (future) National Cancer Data Nodes and beyond.
The meeting surfaced two priorities for the Network work going forward:
1. Make the UNCAN.eu Network generate value for the data holder and user communities. This will also addresses challenges in the cancer data ecosystem and EHDS that also apply to disease-agnostic health data.
2. Clarify the coordination role of National Cancer Data Nodes of cancer data ecosystems on Member State level. How this looks like will differ from case to case – but it is crucial to define the mandate and funding of the National Cancer Data Nodes.
The UNCAN.eu network is an exchange space for Member States to plan their National Cancer Data Nodes, develop common approaches and connect to the UNCAN.eu infrastructure. Goal is to create one lasting community promoting national cancer ecosystem coordination.
The event marked the first Network meeting, moderated by coordinator Lifang Liu (Health-RI). It opened with a contextualisation in the EU Cancer Mission by Angelo Solimini (European Commission) . Anniina Hentinen (FICAN) and Robin Navest (Lygature) described the rationale and objectives of National Cancer Data Nodes that CANDLE helps create. Sudeep Das (Euro-BioImaging) and Daniel Barrowdale (ELIXIR) outlined the goals for the UNCAN.eu network. Lidia Villanova (Alliance against Cancer) and Salvador Capella-Gutierrez (Barcelona Supercomputing Center) presented hands-on updates from National Cancer Data Nodes in Italy and Spain, addressing infrastructure, core functionalities, governance and funding.
The debate with participants focussed on how to make the UNCAN.eu Network useful for its members and wider community. It also addressed how to implement the National Cancer Data Nodes in very different Member State contexts and how to advance on mandates and funding.
Thanks to all speakers for helping us bringing National Cancer Data Nodes to life!
