UEF Health Data Infrastructure Kuopio (UEF-HDIK)

The aim of the Health Data Infrastructure Kuopio (HDIK) development initiative is to build a unified data infrastructure in North Savo that meets European and international standards for the confidential and efficient utilization of social and health data.
This infrastructure enables harmonized, flexible, and scalable use of health data in research, development, and innovation at all levels – regional, national, and international.

A key element is the harmonization of health data according to the OMOP data model, which allows for comparable analyses and accelerates decision-making. The project identifies the needs of the business sector and regional datasets with RDI (Research, Development, and Innovation) potential, thereby strengthening the user network and ecosystem-level collaboration.

As a result of the project, North Savo’s position in the FinOMOP network has been strengthened, and the region’s competitive advantages have been identified, particularly within the international Darwin ecosystem. The OMOP-harmonized North Savo data from the Biobank of Eastern Finland, implemented in the project, is widely accessible through the biobank network, increasing innovation potential and reinforcing the region’s role in national development efforts.The project will also produce an implementation plan for expanding OMOP harmonization in the next phase to the extensive data lake environment of the North Savo wellbeing services county. Awareness of the possibilities for utilizing health data is growing, and a new service offering has been described and made available to the network, supporting long-term development and new partnerships.

HDIK strengthens the regional RDI ecosystem, supports the vitality of RDIs, and creates new value networks, services, and business opportunities. The region’s special expertise, such as imaging data, serves as a competitive advantage and attracts investments and talent in the long term. The project also promotes overall security by ensuring the rapid, ethical, transparent, and reliable use of data, while closely linking to national and international networks and advancing the adoption of high technology.

The project is implemented as parallel initiatives by the University of Eastern Finland (UEF-HDIK) and the North Savo wellbeing services county (PSHVA-HDIK).