Quality and expenditure control in healthcare have become key objectives for authorities in both developed and developing countries. The digital transformation of the sector has shown great promise in responding to these objectives and addressing the challenges of health services, particularly those related to the ageing of the population, the increase in chronic diseases and the personalisation of medicine. Indeed, the rapid proliferation of mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and the presence of the digital network anywhere and anytime, will enable quality improvements in healthcare services, often at short notice, providing personalized patient care, reducing the number and duration of hospital stays, enabling continuous patient monitoring and designing efficient and safe home care.

The recent development and use of artificial intelligence and analytics techniques to use big data in healthcare to develop new and improved methods of disease surveillance, improve diagnosis and early detection of disease, discover new treatments, uncover new drug side effects or interactions, and design and study the use of decision-making methods and IT solutions in order to improve the performance and safety of the patient pathway management, both, in and out of hospital. The recent challenges presented by COVID-19 are examples of the need to maximise the optimisation of healthcare functions and services. Digital transformation, including the development of new IT innovations and disruptive approaches and the use of e-health services, is a key solution to address these challenges.

Digital transformation, which is already underway in many countries, is defined for a health organisation as a process of fully integrating digital technologies into all of its activities in order to improve its performance. It is characterised not only by technical development, but also by the establishment of a new way of working, an attitude, and a commitment to networked, global thinking, to improve healthcare through the use of ICT. Consequently, it profoundly alters the regulations and methodologies employed in the administration of the healthcare system, thereby striving to devise novel and innovative informatics solutions to facilitate, reinforce, and utilise this transformation. As the digital transformation of the healthcare brings significant advances to the care system, it also requires significant changes in the behaviour of healthcare stakeholders. Like any major change in norms and practices, this transition would also face resistance, barriers and fears it can generate. As such, it presents hospital organisations with a real problem in driving the change amongst their staff. Many employees may feel disoriented and overwhelmed by the new ways and practices. They may see digital transformation as a risk rather than an opportunity. In order for them to become engaged actors in this process, rather than being subjected to it, it is essential that health institutions involve their staff and provide them with the means to manage and drive this change.

To that purpose, both the development of IT innovations and disruptive approaches, and as well as the adoption and deployment of IT solutions in healthcare environments, combined with education and training in digital health, are fundamental prerequisites, not only for the widespread adoption but also for the effective use of e-health solutions and a key to the success of digital transformation in healthcare. Digital health education and training, based on health informatics, should be targeted at all types of stakeholders involved in the health ecosystem and should be based on innovative educational methods and adapted to the profiles of these stakeholders.

The workshop will provide a research-rich environment to address the challenges and support the development of new novel and disruptive approaches that pave the way for improved public health and personalised medicine. As COVID-19 is one of the most challenging communicable and infectious diseases in many countries, research related to the development of innovative solutions to improve early surveillance, detection, diagnosis or treatment of infectious diseases will be supported. It’s in this context that this workshop has been designed to bring together researchers and practitioners to share research results, advances and practical related experiences in this field.