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Medical data is generally stored in separate locations, and is not always easily accessible to patients and research institutions. It can be vulnerable to security breaches and identity theft – and at the same time scientists do not always have access to data for biomedical research and the development of new treatments. My Health My Data (MHMD) aims to use blockchain technology to enable medical data to be stored and transmitted safely and effectively.

DECODE is a project exploring and piloting new technologies that give people more control over how they store, manage and use personal data generated online. It will use blockchain technology to create tools that will give people ownership of the data which they and the devices they own generate.

On Tuesday 10 April, the Commission brought Ministers and representatives of EU countries together to encourage cooperation in artificial intelligence, blockchain, ehealth and innovation, building on progress made towards a Digital Single Market.

The EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum is issuing a call for contributors to participate in 2 working groups.

The European Commission has just unveiled an Action Plan on how to harness the opportunities presented by technology-enabled innovation in financial services (FinTech).

EBAN, the pan-European representative of the early-stage investor community, and Startup Europe, the initiative of the European Commission designed to connect startups, investors, accelerators, entrepreneurs, corporate networks, universities and the media have just announced at the European Parliament their cooperation for the "EurInvest Nation of Investors Roadshow".

The Commission has just launched the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum with the support of the European Parliament, represented by Jakob von Weizsäcker responsible for the recent report on virtual currencies.

Blockchain is the best known distributed ledger technology. A ledger keeps a final and definitive record of transactions. Transactions on a blockchain are not centrally stored but instead identical copies of all transactions are kept on decentralised ledgers at the same time. These data are moreover encrypted. Records, once stored, cannot therefore be tampered with on one of these ledgers without leaving a track. This is an essential difference to databases that are managed by a central operator.

The European Commission has organised an H2020 Information Day on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies topics on 19 December 2017. The presentations and recording of the Information Day are now available.