EBRAINS contributes to discussions on the Virtual Human Twin platform in Brussels

Organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT), with support from the VHTnet consortium, the event took place at the Berlaymont and Charlemagne buildings in Brussels, with online participation.

The discussions built on a series of user group sessions held over recent months to identify detailed requirements for the Advanced VHT Simulation Platform. 

The first day focused on the user-centric aspects and incentivization for participation across the VHT ecosystem. The second day reviewed the findings and launched the low level requirement prioritization process for the platform’s first release.

EBRAINS’ contribution and potential connections

EBRAINS, represented in Brussels by Wouter Klijn, Platform Integration lead in VBT and Science Support Lead in the EBRAINS 2.0 projects, was highlighted in several presentations as a closely related research infrastructure and acknowledged as an active contributor to the collection of user requirements. DG CNECT also presented EBRAINS as one of the key infrastructures supporting data for AI and highlighted its positioning as a healthcare flagship within the AI Continent Action Plan.

Lyuba Zehl, Head of the Data & Knowledge Team at EBRAINS AISBL, asked questions and provided feedback through the online chat on curation, metadata and data harmonisation, interoperability plans, and data protection assessments.

Discussions pointed to possible technical connections between the VHT authentication and authorisation infrastructure (AAI) and EBRAINS. Early access to the planned VHT Access Federator and Orchestrator tools was also discussed as a potential opportunity.

During networking exchanges a potential closer collaboration between the Virtual Brain Twin (VBT) project and GEMINI - which develops digital twins for patients with ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke – was identifed. Discussions on intellectual property management may also offer useful lessons for VBT and the EBRAINS platform.

Priorities for the next phase

The second day marked the start of a new phase in the process, relying on the experts’ input to help align the platform’s development with users’ expectations. Sessions covered the VHT Framework and Federated Repository, Access Federator, Orchestrator and CNS Services, and Intellectual Property Rights Management.

Key discussion topics

• Validation of the Platform’s direction vis-a-vis community expectations
• Review of elicitation findings and identification of remaining gaps
• Stakeholder engagement and participation incentives
• Adoption drivers, barriers and enabling services
• Capacity-building, user support and legal/ethical awareness needs
• Lessons from comparable initiatives for the design of a VHT community hub
• Prioritisation of low-level requirements for the first version of the Platform
• Definition of the core scope for the first Platform release, including interoperability and readiness considerations

These exchanges provided an opportunity for EBRAINS to share its experience and explore how its services could connect with the developing VHT platform.

More information on the VHT annual event are available here.

Read more about Virtual Brain Twin project.