TEF-Health – Testing and Experimentation Facility for Health AI and Robotics

Call for projects from January 22 to April 30, 2026 

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Under the Digital Europe Programme, the European Commission, in collaboration with several Member States, is co-financing a 5-year project, that started in January 2023 under the name “Testing and Experimentation Facility for Health AI and Robotics" (TEF-Health). 

TEF-Health is coordinated by Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and comprises 52 partners from 9 European Union countries – each of which forms a so-called “Node”. 

TEF-Health is co-financed by national funding provided by the following participating countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden. 

 

TEF-Health establishes a network of testing facilities. These facilities offer a range of services, including access to physical and digital infrastructure, consulting, access to data, and computational resources, living labs, laboratory testing facilities and real-world testing environments. 

They provide healthcare innovators with the opportunity to conduct extensive tests and experiments on their AI and robotics solutions within real or realistic environments and to obtain support by experts for making their solutions compliant with the EU AI-Act and other regulations.

Via the call SMEs can access novel validation and experimentation services that are not yet established in the market at discounted prices.


Sponsor 

  • Health Data Hub

    The Health Data Hub, created on November 30th, 2019, is part of the French node of TEF-Health. Their range of services for those seeking access to health data covers the following activities :
    • A single gateway facilitating access to the necessary health data for projects contributing to public interest, while respecting patients' rights and ensuring transparency towards civil society.
    • A documented data catalog, built up progressively to make priority data available to the community (historical SNDS, cohorts, registers, hospital data, etc.).
    • A secure, state-of-the-art platform offering data storage, calculation, matching and analysis capabilities, enabling innovative projects sometimes considered impossible today.
    • A range of tools to help bring together key actors within the ecosystem.


Objectives of the call

The objective of this call is to provide access to testing facilities that enable healthcare innovators to validate, and scale up their Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics solutions in realistic large-scale environments. These facilities aim to bridge the gap between innovation and market deployment by offering a safe, sustainable, and ethically supervised environment for testing new technologies.

 

Eligibility Criteria

  • The SME is legally incorporated and established in one of the EU or EEA member states. The ownership or shares of the SME must not be held by individuals or entities outside the EU/EEA. The fulfilment of these requirements shall be confirmed through an official declaration issued by the legal representative of the SME.
  • Company is an SME according to the EU definition (Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC). The fulfilment of this requirement shall be confirmed with an official declaration issued by the legal representative of the SME.
  • According to EU Regulation 2023/2831 (de-minimis) of the European Commission, the company must present evidence in the form of a formal declaration by the legal representative of the SME that the SME has not received over 300,000 EUR in state aid support during the previous 3 fiscal years.
  • AI and robotics solutions must be at a minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5 (self- declared by the SME).


Selection Criteria

  • Expertise of project teams and project maturity : 
    • The applicant presents a clear and feasible timeline for the solution
    • The applicant demonstrates prior experience with health data reuse projects
    • Alignment between project team composition and project’s vision.
       
  • Solution
    • The applicant presents a novel solution that is innovative and promotes clear advancement beyond the current state of the art. 
    • The solution addresses a significant unmet medical need.
    • Soundness and consistency of the AI or robotics system and core technology used.
       
  • Fit to TEF-Health
    • The applicant’s needs may be supported by the HDH service offerings provided in the current TEF-Health Service Catalogue.
    • The solution can increase TRL after implementation of the TEF-Health services.
       
  • User centricity
    • The applicant involves Medical Practitioners and/ or Patients in co-design, testing, or feedback activities.
    • The applicant ensures the solution is accessible and inclusive, addressing issues such as age, disability, digital literacy, and language.
    • The applicant demonstrates a plan to measure the impact of the solution on Medical Practitioners and/or Patients experience or satisfaction using relevant indicators.
    • The applicant ensures transparency and adherence to AI ethics, in compliance with the AI Act and/or MDR.
       
  • Commitment & Resources
    • The applicant demonstrates the necessary internal commitment, staffing, and resources to fully benefit from the Health Data Hub services.


Selection Process

The application process is divided in three phases:

  1. Phase 1 – Application to TEF-Health through the current call coordinated by the HDH

  2. Phase 2 – Eligibility Assessment : Upon closure of the application period, each submitted research proposal will be reviewed for eligibility

  3. Phase 3 – Selection of eligible projects : Eligible projects will then be reviewed by a jury as per selection criteria. Members of the jury will convene a selection committee to rank eligible projects. This list will be submitted to the management of the HDH for final decision.
     

Timeframe

  • Opening of applications : January 22, 2026
  • Closing of applications : April 30, 2026 
     

End-to-end guidance provided by the Health Data Hub

Selected projects will benefit from the full range of services offered by the HDH at no cost: project scoping, regulatory support, networking with institutional stakeholders, assistance with data access procedures, analysis support, and the provision of a secure processing environment.

Depending on their needs, SMEs may receive support in designing or reviewing protocols, utilizing the National Health Data System (SNDS), or cross-referencing multiple data sources.

The HDH also provides access to databases from its catalog—such as MEMENTO, UroCCR, BNDMR, or e-MUST—enabling robust validation studies based on high-quality data.

This support aims to facilitate TRL (Technology Readiness Level) advancement, improve model performance, and ensure readiness for market demands and future European regulatory frameworks.
 

Further Information

Check the Terms of Reference (ToR)


Apply for TEF-Health funding

To apply for TEF-Health funding, please fill in the application webform on the TEF-Health Platform (https://tef.charite.de) as described here: https://tef.charite.de/docs/applicants/ 

For questions related to the application process, please use the offered TEF-Health platform communication channels accessible upon registration (chatters, helpdesk) or contact info@tefhealth.eu.