European Health Law and Technology

Unipi Team Leader: Valentina Calderai, Department of Law

The proposed action addresses the interplay of regulation and technology in the health sector from the vantage point of European law. It identifies key principles, concepts, objectives of health law, seen as a wider, more complex field than medical law; considers how the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE) approaches to the matter differ, and what they add to national legislations; analyses the interaction of law, science and technology in the assessment and management of health risks; discusses the perspectives of the law of health-related technologies beyond risk-management, as the EU morphs from a chiefly economic into a full-fledged political enterprise.To avail itself of an array of perspectives and tools, the action will bring legal experts from different backgrounds together with philosophers, economists, bioengineers, biologists and data scientists. We aim to promote innovative teaching, research, technological transfer, laying the foundations of a European Center of Health Law and Technology studies, active also beyond the expiration of the Action.Teaching activities include a course open to Law and Bioengineering students; a seminar series addressed to PhD researchers and Master students; a crash course on technological transfer for University spinoffs, legal professionals, biotech SME. Each activity will be repeated over the three-year length of the Action, and teaching methods will vary along with activities and audiences. An international conference will mark the conclusion of the Module, with the aim to disseminate its results and set the agenda for future initiatives.These activities, brought to the public through a website and a blog, educational materials, research articles, a reference book and a dedicated issue in an international journal—all in modality open access—will ensure the enduring impact of European HL&T studies at the host institution (HI), leading to further actions and possibly similar initiatives across Europe.

Start date: 13-11-2020 

End date: 12-11-2023

EU Grant: 30.000 €

Project website: https://elate.jus.unipi.it