CHAIN brings together 53 partners from 20 European countries to accelerate the safe, effective and equitable adoption of AI in cardiovascular care.
A new EU-funded flagship initiative to harness the power of health data and artificial intelligence (AI) across the continuum of cardiovascular care has been launched, with co-funding from the EU4Health Programme.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of mortality and disability in Europe, constituting the primary burden among non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with persistent inequalities across countries and institutions. Health data and AI offer major opportunities to improve CVD prevention, early detection and care. However, uptake is currently fragmented and standardised validation mechanisms are lacking.
The European Cardiovascular Health Data and AI Network (CHAIN) has been launched to close the gap, focusing on implementation, evaluation, governance and scale-up. This 36-month project is coordinated by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) as part of a multi-stakeholder consortium from 20 European countries. The 53 partners include universities and research centres, hospitals and clinical networks, technology companies, national ministries of health and patient organisations. CHAIN builds on ESC’s EuroHeart registry network, which already unifies 18 ESC member countries with standardised data on cardiovascular care and outcomes, offering tools and frameworks that help countries monitor outcomes, compare practices and drive sustainable improvements in care.
The aim of CHAIN is to build a federated ecosystem, aligned with the European Health Data Space (EHDS), for the safe, effective and scalable adoption of AI and health data for the improved management of CVDs and related NCDs. In concrete terms, this means securely connecting hospitals, health data hubs and disease registries across Europe, that will enable AI solutions to be tested, validated and deployed at scale. As a result, healthcare professionals will be able to identify disease earlier, make more informed decisions and deliver more consistent care to patients.
The federated ecosystem is fundamental to the implementation of the EU Safe Hearts Plan, in particular its flagship initiative on innovation and integration of AI and digital technologies in cardiovascular healthcare.
The launch of CHAIN comes at a time when the European Health Data Space (EHDS), the AI Act, and the evolving EU regulatory framework for medical products, including pharmaceutical, medical devices and in vitro diagnostic legislation, are reshaping how AI is developed, evaluated and deployed in healthcare across Europe. CHAIN will build on and seek synergies with other major EU initiatives, including EUCAIM, COMPASS-AI, AI4HF, DataTools4Heart, EHDEN, and Joint Actions such as JACARDI, TEHDAS2 and Xt-EHR, helping to maximise complementarities and impact.
Validated AI tools will be made available through a European repository, supported by AI Passports that document their performance, safety and suitability for clinical use. Together, these resources will help build trust in AI by providing hospitals and healthcare authorities and professionals with clear evidence on which solutions work, for whom and in which clinical settings.
To demonstrate the approach in practice, six real-world use cases will be implemented across 13 countries, covering prevention, early detection, clinical decision support and the management of complex cardiovascular conditions.
