Spain is strengthening a common strategy to foster the adoption of artificial intelligence across its healthcare system. In a recent interview, Álvaro Alonso Zorita, Head of Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Project Coordination at the Directorate-General for Digital Health and Information Systems of the Spanish National Health System, highlighted Spain’s collaborative model as a benchmark for the development of the future European Health Data Space (EHDS).

According to Alonso Zorita, Spain has established a National Digital Health Strategy alongside dedicated initiatives such as the Primary Care Digital Transformation Plan and the IASNS programme, which promotes shared AI priorities across the country’s autonomous communities. Supported in part by FEDER funding until 2029, these initiatives aim to unlock the value of health data to deliver more coordinated, secure, and efficient healthcare.

Spain’s experience demonstrates that the success of AI in healthcare depends not only on technological innovation, but also on the ability to share high-quality data, establish robust governance frameworks, and foster collaboration between public administrations, healthcare professionals, and institutions.