The innovation wave of recent years shows no signs of slowing down, as evidenced by ongoing advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and the transformative rise of large language models (LLMs), and the potential of these technologies to enhance healthcare has been widely demonstrated in recent literature. At the same time, these developments have been accompanied by new legislative efforts at a European level. For example, the European Health Data Space (EHDS) aims to establish a common framework for health data across the EU, the AI Act sets out regulations for the responsible development and deployment of AI applications, and the NIS2 Directive provides guidance on protecting critical infrastructure against emerging cyber threats. The successful transition of medicine and healthcare into the digital era will require a careful balance between these aspects.

Since 2007, the dHealth conference has provided an annual platform for scientists, healthcare professionals, stakeholders and decision makers to present, discuss and develop their ideas on digital health innovations, attracting around 300 participants each year. Staying true to its interdisciplinary mission, dHealth welcomes not only established experts from academia, industry, government, and healthcare organizations, but also students and young entrepreneurs with fresh ideas who might bring new perspectives and bold initiatives to the dHealth space.

This year’s 19th edition of the dHealth proceedings offers a diverse snapshot of ongoing research trends in health IT across Europe. The topics addressed at the 2025 conference placed a particularly strong emphasis on software, covering areas such as the adoption of emerging technologies like AI and LLMs, predictive analytics, virtual reality, interoperability, and standardization, while several papers also explored the ethical, legal, social, and economic implications of digital health. Together, these contributions form a valuable mosaic of the current state of eHealth and health IT research – one that may offer insights for the future transformation of medicine and healthcare systems.

Graz, Hall in Tyrol, Vienna, May 2025

Martin Baumgartner (AIT)

Dieter Hayn (AIT)

Bernhard Pfeifer (UMIT)

Günter Schreier (AIT)