UNITE Open Call: A unique, €4M opportunity to build a borderless digital health future

Europe’s healthcare systems are at a crossroads. As populations age and healthcare demands rise, innovation is essential. The newly launched UNITE Open Call, offering €4 million in financial support, invites digital health innovators across seven European regions to join a movement that could redefine the future of healthcare.

The UNITE project, an initiative under the European Commission’s Regional Innovation Valleys umbrella, aims to build a borderless European digital health ecosystem. Its mission: to bridge gaps between regional innovation systems and accelerate the development of digital deep-tech solutions that respond to the demographic challenges of the 21st century.

The first Open Call for innovative digital health solutions launched on 15 October, 2025. Additional calls will follow, providing multiple opportunities to secure funding and support.

Applicants from the UNITE regions — Zealand (Denmark), Northern Netherlands, Central Macedonia (Greece), Lombardy (Italy), Extremadura (Spain), Scotland (UK), and Romania — can apply for up to €1 million per project. Each proposal must unite at least three organisations from three different regions, ensuring a balanced collaboration between strong and emerging innovation hubs.

The UNITE Open Call focuses on two major innovation challenges. The first seeks digital solutions that advance more personalised and human-centric remote care, empowering patients with the tools and knowledge to manage their own health, expanding access to care in remote or underserved areas, and ensuring continuity of care while reducing the need for in-person visits. The second challenge centres on advancing European Health Data Spaces, with a goal of improving data accessibility, interoperability and understanding, to enhance patient care, facilitate research, and simplify the regulatory landscape across borders.

Time is already ticking for innovators ready to take part in this transformative journey. Proposals must be submitted by January 15, 2026, marking the first milestone in a competitive selection process designed to bring the most promising ideas to life.

The selected projects will begin their collaborative work in April 2026, embarking on an eighteen-month journey of innovation, testing, and impact that will run through September 2027. Over that period, the UNITE ecosystem will provide not only financial backing, but also hands-on guidance. Through its dedicated matchmaking platform, participants gain access to a growing community of more than one hundred organisations spanning the private and public sectors, academia, and civil society.

This ecosystem provides tailored matchmaking, networking opportunities, and support to help innovators transform bold ideas into viable cross-border projects.

The transformation of European healthcare won’t happen in isolation. It will be built through collaboration, innovation, and shared purpose — exactly what the UNITE Open Call was designed to achieve.

Join the movement, connect with partners, and help shape a healthier, smarter Europe.