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ROADMAP

The roadmap, developed with active contributions of over 800 individuals, outlines a comprehensive strategy for the development, deployment, and long-term sustainability of the Virtual Human Twin (VHT). Structured into six interrelated parts, it addresses the scientific, technological, infrastructural, ethical, and socio-economic dimensions required for the successful implementation of the VHT.
The roadmap first establishes the rationale for the VHT, situating it within global healthcare challenges, technological advances, and the concept of Digital Twins as foundational elements. It emphasizes inclusive stakeholder engagement and systematically analyses user needs, challenges, and barriers to adoption. It then details the technological foundations of the VHT, focusing on the integration of heterogeneous data, models, and tools, the role of both data-driven and mechanistic models, and the importance of credibility, standardization, and AI-enabled integration across scales and organs.
Subsequent sections describe the necessary infrastructure, highlighting the coordinated roles of a Catalogue, Repository, and Platform to ensure discoverability, secure storage, interoperability, and effective use of VHT resources, in alignment with open standards and European research infrastructures. Ethical, legal, social, and regulatory considerations are addressed through the need for harmonized standards, robust governance frameworks, and adherence to Responsible Research and Innovation principles to ensure trust, equity, and societal acceptance.
The roadmap further examines strategies for user engagement, adoption, and sustainability, including usability, training, diverse funding and business models, and the establishment of a VHT Marketplace to support a vibrant ecosystem. Finally, it synthesizes key recommendations into a tentative decade-long timeline, emphasizing sustained collaboration, continuous research and innovation, and responsible evolution of the VHT.
Overall, the roadmap provides a coherent and actionable set of recommendations to guide stakeholders in realizing the VHT as a transformative, trustworthy, and sustainable paradigm for personalized, predictive, and participatory healthcare. 

EDITH roadmap
EDITH policy brief

EDITH was a Coordination and Support Action funded by the Digital Europe program of the European Commission under the grant agreement n.101083771. Views and opinions expressed in its deliberables and activities however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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