A Technical Reference Architecture
to Interconnect the Care and Research Dataspaces
Hee Kim, Maximilian Fünfgeld, LIH
The document outlines a technical reference architecture designed to interconnect care and research dataspaces within the European Health Data Space (EHDS). The goal is to facilitate secure, interoperable, and sovereign health data sharing across Europe, focusing on the secondary use of health data for research and innovation purposes. The architecture builds on previous initiatives like the TEHDAS project and aligns with Gaia-X principles for federated data infrastructures, ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks such as GDPR.
The architecture consists of five layers:
System Layer: Provides secure, policy-compliant data exchange and integrates diverse data sources.
Process Layer: Manages intelligent automation and workflow coordination.
Information Layer: Ensures machine-readable, context-aware data exchange and supports federated queries and AI readiness.
Functional Layer: Interfaces and applications for clinicians, patients, researchers, and administrators.
Business Layer: Defines legal, ethical, and operational frameworks including consent, authorization, and compliance mechanisms.
Key components include national dataset catalogues, data access applications, and secure processing environments (SPEs). The document also emphasizes the importance of authentication and authorization infrastructure (AAI) and secure communication protocols.