Strengthening European Ties

In February, a delegation from GHGA visited the CSC, the IT Center for Science in Finland, which hosts the Finnish FEGA node. The three day workshop in Espoo revolved around database architecture, metadata and overarching political topics, such as the GDPR and contributions to the European Genomic Data Infrastructure (GDI). 

We exchanged insights on the differences and similarities in the German and Finnish health care and research systems and how GHGA and CSC deal with the challenges arising from their respective systems. Representatives from the workstreams Architecture and Metadata presented their current work as well as future visions. During the workshop and the networking discussions it became apparent that CSC and GHGA share similarities and we agreed on future alignment regarding different developments. 

The trip to Espoo was a great opportunity to further establish international connections and intensify collaborations with other nodes of the federated EGA.