On July 31st the EDITH consortium published the first draft of the VHT roadmap. The roadmap is the result of the work done by the consortium with expert input from a wide range of stakeholders, as well as input received during the public consultation phase from individuals and organisations across the entire ecosystem.
The VHT Roadmap is due – in its final version – by the end of the EDITH Coordination and Support Action (i.e., September 2024). The present document is the first draft of the Roadmap, scheduled for delivery by the 31st of July 2023. This preliminary version of the Roadmap was planned in EDITH’s Grant Agreement as an initial contribution to the internal decision-making process of the European Commission. It has the declared purpose of allowing the Commission to start specifying already at an early stage by what steps the goal of pursuing the development of a VHT-based healthcare will be likely to trigger an effective engagement of Europe’s researchers, clinicians, industries, and regulators.
This interim version (link: https://zenodo.org/record/8200955) is therefore meant to highlight what is currently the envisioned structure of what will be in a year time the final roadmap and its main contents, leaving open the possibility that these contents can still be subject to both substantial and formal changes, in response to suggestions coming from both the European Commission and from different sectors of the broadening community of practice that the EDITH CSA is addressing.
In consideration of these double-edge purposes, this preliminary draft aims to capture the main concepts and the overall approach of the VHT Roadmap, while also identifying relevant challenges (from the perspective of research, infrastructure, and other specific aspects) that need to be addressed in the remaining year of the EDITH CSA (and beyond) and which will require further analysis, with the support of the whole VHT Community. For the technology, standards, regulatory, and legal aspects, the draft provides an overview of the state of the art and an analysis of VHT-specific needs, without determining as yet any conclusive choice.
Given the evolving nature of this document, the submitted text will again be made publicly available for further comments and feedback, in view of possibly including valuable inputs in a next version. For general discussions, we encourage everyone to use the slack channel on the In silico World Community of Practice (ISW_CoP: https://insilico.world/community/join-the-community-of-practice-channels/).
Critical remarks are welcome, as well as additional contributions, but also comments highlighting what sections are particularly appreciated will definitely help.
The EDITH consortium
31/7/2023
EDITH website: http://www.edith-csa.eu
Link to the roadmap: https://zenodo.org/record/8200955
