Spain is advancing the creation of a national data hub for cancer research. The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III presented the Nodo Nacional de Datos en Cáncer on 23 September 2026. The aim is to securely pool clinical, epidemiological, genomic, multi-omics, imaging and pathology data, as well as information on treatment response, make them interoperable and enable their reuse for research.
The data hub is being developed as part of the IMPaCT precision medicine infrastructure and stems from the IMPaCT-Data programme. According to the ministry, the initiative is being jointly led, scientifically and technically, by the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, the cancer division of the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER-ISCIII) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación. The project is at an early stage; no firm timetable for its phased launch has yet been issued.
The guiding principle is the FAIR principle (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) for data and software. The data hub is intended to be compatible with the planned European Health Data Space. The concept draws on experience from the EU project EOSC4Cancer, coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and involving more than twenty European organisations. Research institutions, hospitals, national and international projects, public authorities and patient organisations are expected to integrate their data collections gradually.
The government expects coordinated access to data to shorten analysis times and speed up potential discoveries of new treatment approaches. It is also intended to create a secure environment for handling sensitive health data. On the day of the announcement, specialist media reported the named involvement of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, CIBER-ISCIII and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, as well as the hub’s integration into IMPaCT-Data.
The specific governance of the data hub remains undecided, including responsibilities and decision-making processes, as do detailed rules on data protection and the data sovereignty of participating institutions. Long-term funding and a roadmap with verifiable milestones, such as the number of datasets to be integrated initially or the connection of specific hospitals, are also unclear. These points are essential to the hub’s scientific usefulness and to the confidence of hospitals and patient organisations, and require precise provisions from the institutions involved.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).