The second in-person HeliX General Assembly convenes in Budapest
The HeliX consortium held its second in-person General Assembly (HGA) on 10–11 March 2026 in Budapest, Hungary. As specified in the project’s grant agreement, the HGA — the primary decision-making body of the consortium — convenes physically every six months, with all partner organisations represented. This Budapest gathering marks an important milestone following the project’s kick-off meeting in Portugal.
These biannual meetings serve a clear strategic purpose: reviewing project progress, managing deviations from initial plans. And ensuring the consortium stays aligned on its shared mission. Decisions, procedural rules, and governance arrangements are guided by the Consortium Agreement, modelled on the DESCA framework, providing a solid foundation for collaborative action across borders.
What is HeliX?
Healthcare generates enormous volumes of sensitive data — yet the very regulations that protect patient privacy also limit how that data can be used to advance medicine. The HeliX project is tackling this challenge head-on by developing a privacy-preserving cloud-edge AI platform that harnesses federated learning technology to analyse health data without ever moving it.
Spearheaded by E-Group and a consortium of European partners, HeliX connects data holders, researchers, companies, and health authorities through a secure, interoperable platform — aiming to reach a market-ready TRL9 solution that accelerates progress in drug discovery, diagnostics, and precision medicine.
More than a meeting – a partnership renewed
In the age of remote collaboration, there remains something irreplaceable about partners meeting face-to-face. Representatives from across the HeliX consortium travelled to Budapest not merely to tick an agenda item. But to deepen relationships, align expectations, and address complex challenges with the kind of candour that video calls rarely afford.
Personal conversations, shared meals, and informal exchanges foster the trust that underpins great collaborative science. Budapest was not simply a venue — it was an opportunity to strengthen the human fabric of the HeliX project.
Two days, one shared vision
Monday, 10 March — E-Group Headquarters
Morning Bilateral 1:1 project meetings at E-Group’s headquarters, providing partners with dedicated space for focused, in-depth discussions on their collaborative workstreams.
17:30 Welcome reception at E-Group, bringing together partners. Guests toured the headquarters and gathered on the rooftop terrace for a relaxed social event.
Evening Group dinner at a traditional Hungarian restaurant — the ideal setting to close the first day and enjoy Budapest’s culinary culture together.
Tuesday, 11 March — Novotel Budapest Danube
Morning The full-day plenary session opened with a presentation and live demonstration of Milestone 2 by E-Group, showcasing the pilot system in its fully functional state and marking a major milestone for the project. This was followed by presentations of the FedX 2.0 solutions, offering a glimpse into upcoming developments. In the subsequent partner-delivered solutions segment, multiple partners presented and demonstrated their solutions and concepts, highlighting opportunities for integration within the HeliX ecosystem.
Early afternoon Data holders’ workshop provided a forum for discussion aimed at strengthening collaboration with data holders and supporting their progress within the project.
Late afternoon Business model workshop exploring sustainable paths to market, partner ecosystem leverage, key personas, and use cases for the HeliX platform. Followed by the Monthly Coordination Board meeting and consortium status update — closing the assembly with a clear picture of next steps and shared priorities.
A Resounding Endorsement from the Consortium
Feedback gathered from participants across the consortium painted a consistently positive picture. Partners highlighted three themes above all: the quality of the event’s organisation, the value of honest and open dialogue, and the importance of personal connection for long-term collaboration.
The two-day format was widely praised for striking the right balance between structured work and informal exchange. The bilateral 1:1 sessions on the first day gave partners dedicated space to discuss their individual workstreams in depth, while the full-day plenary on the second day offered a broader forum where progress, delays, and risks were discussed openly and constructively. Participants valued that both achievements and challenges were named candidly, which strengthened mutual understanding and trust across the consortium.
The collaborative workshops — particularly around technical progress, data governance, and business development — were seen as highly effective in surfacing shared priorities and helping the consortium define a more aligned course of action for the months ahead. Several partners noted that seeing the platform demonstrated live made it significantly easier to grasp how the different technological components interact.
The discussions also touched on the deeper potential of federated learning in healthcare: the paradigm of 4P medicine — predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory — provides a natural fit for such ecosystems, where personal privacy supports preventive and participatory care, while institutional privacy enables more personalized, data-driven treatment.
Perhaps most consistently, partners emphasised the irreplaceable value of meeting in person. Getting to know each other as people — not just as project roles — was seen as a genuine catalyst for better communication, more effective coordination, and deeper trust. For a consortium spread across multiple countries and disciplines, Budapest offered exactly the kind of human connection that sustains ambitious, long-term collaboration.
Looking ahead with confidence
The Budapest General Assembly leaves the HeliX consortium energised and better aligned than ever. With a robust platform taking shape, a shared understanding of challenges and opportunities, and a network of partners strengthened by genuine human connection, the project is well-positioned to deliver on its promise — unlocking the potential of health data across Europe while keeping privacy at its core.
The next General Assembly will take place in six months. Until then, the work continues — and Budapest will be remembered as the meeting where the HeliX vision came into sharper focus.
