During the last 20 years, ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies), have been introduced into manufacturing, commerce and business systems, but they are not yet fully integrated into the services industry and especially in the services of public interest such as the health, social care and public administrations.

The proper use of ICTs for data collection, processing and transfer, is the corner stone of productivity gain and re-engineering of all sectors that are information intensive. Health is an information intensive sector. The potential benefit of a fully integrated ICTs based re-organisation is significant, since it will enable not only more efficiency in information processing but also impact on access and quality of care.

The European Union has, over the past 15 years, allocated more than 450 Million Euro through its various Research Framework Programmes, for supporting research in areas of medical informatics, health telematics and eHealth. Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, this research is bearing fruit and the European market is seeing a growth in eHealth products and services.

The eEurope initiative has facilitated two high level eHealth conferences and exhibitions. The eHealth Ministerial Conference in 2003, organised by the European Commission under the Greek Presidency, and the eHealth conference 2004 organised by the Irish presidency in collaboration with the European Commission marked milestones of achievement in eHealth in Europe. The two conferences provided an opportunity to demonstrate a wide range of eHealth solutions in daily use in Europe and to show clear examples of benefits in access and quality of care as well as clear costs benefits. While eHealth is still a growing research and development field, there are many mature results that can be used immediately as key instruments by healthcare authorities, professionals, patients and citizens.

The European Union has now demonstrated a clear commitment to beneficial deployment of eHealth systems and services at all levels. The Ministerial Declaration adopted on the occasion of the eHealth 2003 conference has in turn led to the elaboration and adoption by the European Commission of a Communication on eHealth: Making healthcare better for European citizens: An action plan for a European e-Health Area COM (2004) 356 final, which includes an Action Plan aimed at accelerating the beneficial uptake of eHealth solutions.

It is my pleasure to recommend to you the exciting examples and best practices of eHealth solutions contained in this book, and to recommend that we all continue to share our European experiences in order to support healthcare systems that respond to all the demands and challenges facing the health sector in the twenty-first century.

F. Colasanti, Director General, European Commission, Directorate-General Information Society