BioMedIT strengthens Europe’s blueprint for secure cross‑border sharing of sensitive data
Swiss expertise is now contributing to EOSC‑ENTRUST, a Horizon Europe project developing a European blueprint for interoperable Trusted Research Environments. With the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and ETH Zurich joining the consortium as associated partners, BioMedIT helps advance secure, cross‑border use of sensitive data for research.
02.07.2026
Since its launch in 2017, the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) has made Swiss health data interoperable and reusable for research. A critical component of the network is BioMedIT, Switzerland’s nationally coordinated, sovereign data infrastructure for the secure exchange and processing of sensitive data for research. It is coordinated by SPHN and hosted at ETH Zurich, the University of Basel, and the University of Lausanne, managed in collaboration with SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.
As Switzerland’s only operational national Trusted Research Environment (TRE) network, BioMedIT has onboarded 47 data providing institutions, over 1000 registered users, and has so far hosted more than 120 national and international projects.
Advancing a European network of interoperable TREs
Across Europe, TREs enable secure analysis of medical, socio‑economic and other sensitive data. However, many data remain siloed, relying on incompatible technologies and governance models. EOSC-ENTRUST is a Horizon Europe project to develop a European blueprint which addresses this fragmentation by defining a common architecture, interoperability framework and security model that will allow TREs in different countries to connect in safe, standardized ways. The initiative brings together organizations from 16 countries.
Represented by our operating partners SIB and ETH Zürich, BioMedIT will contribute its proven approaches to secure data handling, governance and interoperability to help shape the European blueprint.
“We're proud to bring extensive experience in making high-quality health data discoverable, interoperable and securely reusable to Europe's blueprint for connected Trusted Research Environments.”
Davide Chiarugi (Technical Director, SPHN)
Strengthening Europe’s capacity for sensitive data research
Through BioMedIT’s involvement in EOSC‑ENTRUST, SPHN contributes to shaping a trusted, interoperable European TRE network embedded in the European Open Science Cloud and future European Data Spaces. This collaboration reinforces SPHN’s mission to enable responsible, high‑quality research on sensitive data and to ensure that Swiss expertise continues to support international scientific progress.