Dear colleague,
The European Commission and the EDITH consortium (www.edith-csa.eu) will be launching a Virtual Human Twin Manifesto (attached), a short but powerful statement of support from the ecosystem for the development of innovative digital tools in health and care. The Virtual Human Twin (VHT) is a systematic, ever-growing digital and quantitative representation of the actionable knowledge available on human pathophysiology. The European VHT platform will enable the pooling of resources and assets to develop digital twins in healthcare and assess their credibility. It entails the development of a federated public infrastructure and the collection of appropriate resources (data, models, algorithms, computing power, storage etc.), driven by the engagement of a collaborative ecosystem.
This Manifesto highlights the important role that these new technologies have in maintaining affordable access to a high-quality health and care systems for all citizens, as well as advancing research and innovation in this space.
The Manifesto will be made public at a high-level launch event organised by the European Commission in Q4 2023. In preparation of the public launch of the Manifesto, we are inviting you to join the growing group of signatories of the Manifesto, a non-binding document aimed at policy-makers, stakeholders, and the public at large who recognise the need for, and opportunities provided by, the VHT initiative. Until the publication of the Manifesto, we ask your discretion and not to communicate about the Manifesto publicly.
By signing the Manifesto, your organisation can demonstrate their strong interest in the development of the VHT in all its diversity and their recognition of its importance. The voluntary document can be signed by official representatives of research institutions, education institutions, private or public companies and organisations, NGOs and philanthropic organisation as well as local, regional and national authorities.
If you are willing to join our community of signatories and stay up to date on the latest developments regarding the VHT, please get in touch with our communication officer Roberta De Michele (roberta@vph-institute.org , reply-to address in this e-mail). We ask you to provide us the following information to properly process your organisation’s signature and publicly announce it on the Manifesto’s website after the launch:
Official organisation name
Type of organisation (civil society organisation; company or other private organisation; local government or public agency; government; Other)
Country
Logo (please send link or attachment)
Name of the person signing on behalf of the organisation
Function of the person signing on behalf of the organisation
Email address of the signatory or their personal assistant (will not be included on the website)
Email address of a reference contact within the organisation to keep informed on further developments on VHT (will not be included on the website).
IF there is anything that we can help you with to get this signed (e.g. contacting your hierarchy ourselves), we are happy for you to let us know. If you would like to forward this message to other potentially interested organisations that meet the criteria, please feel free to do so; we encourage you to copy Roberta so we can track progress and facilitate feedback.
During the high-level launch event, there will be the possibility to invite guests on stage to formally launch the Manifesto in the presence of a high-ranking representative of the European Commission. If your organisation (by means of a representative of its leadership) wishes to participate in this event, please let us know. More details are not yet available but we will update you when they are.
If you are interested in learning more about the VHT or the EDITH coordination and support action that is preparing the roadmap for its implementation and uptake, we are happy to refer you to our website or the first draft of the roadmap that we have recently released (https://zenodo.org/record/8200955). If you have any questions regarding EDITH, the VHT or the Manifesto, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
We thank you very much for your consideration and helping us make this Manifesto a success.
Best wishes,
Liesbet Geris
EDITH-CSA coordinator
