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About
The European Testing & Experimentation Facility for AI in health.

What is TEF-Health?

Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) are specialised large-scale reference sites, open to all technology providers across Europe, for testing state-of-the-art AI-based software and hardware solutions in real-world environments.

TEF-Health is the European TEF dedicated to health. It combines physical and virtual facilities to support full integration, testing, experimentation, validation and demonstration of AI-based products and services in clinical and care settings.

  • 9 Nodes
  • 52 Partners
  • 10 Countries
  • €60M Budget

Partners and Nodes

TEF-Health brings together 52 partners across 10 European countries, hosted at 32 sites — leading hospitals, universities, clinical research institutions and state-designated testing organisations (e.g. TÜV, LNE, PTB).

Click a marker to see the institutions at that location and open their full page.

TEF-Health Hospital Network

Your gateway to real-world hospital testing across Europe

Ready to take your health AI solution beyond the lab?

The TEF-Health Hospital Network connects SMEs and innovators with hospitals across Europe, providing access to real clinical environments, healthcare expertise and testing services.

Test in real-world settings. Get feedback from healthcare professionals. Build stronger evidence. Prepare your solution to scale.

Meet representatives from the TEF-Health Hospital Network for a 15-minute online conversation. Introduce your AI healthcare solution, tell us what you need to test, and explore which services and expertise across the network could support you.

Get in touch with the Hospital Network Explore how we can support you

Next SME pitching sessions

This conversation focuses on finding testing support for your solution. The participating hospitals offer services and expertise; the session is not a purchasing or investment pitch.

From promising technology to real-world impact

A solution that works in one environment may face very different challenges in another.

  • Different workflows.
  • Different patient populations.
  • Different IT systems.
  • Different organisational realities.

The TEF-Health Hospital Network helps you address these challenges earlier by giving you access to multiple hospital environments across Europe.

What can the network help you with?

Test in real-world environments

See how your solution performs beyond controlled or simulated settings.

Get direct clinical feedback

Engage with healthcare professionals and better understand real needs, workflows and constraints.

Validate across multiple settings

Build evidence across different clinical and organisational contexts — not just one hospital.

Make your solution more scalable

Identify adaptation and integration needs early and strengthen your readiness for wider European market uptake.

Your challenge could match expertise already in our network

Our hospitals provide a broad range of services and expertise — from clinical research and data provision to usability testing, systems integration, IT infrastructure, clinical feedback and real-world validation.

Instead of trying to find the right hospital yourself, start by telling the network what you need.

You know your solution. We know our hospitals.

Our monthly online SME pitching sessions are a simple way to find out how the TEF-Health Hospital Network can support your next step.

Bring us your AI solution and your needs. Representatives from our hospital network will listen, ask questions and help identify the TEF-Health expertise and services that could be relevant to you.

15 minutes. One direct conversation.

  1. 5 minutes Introduce your solution Tell us what your solution does and what you would like to test.
  2. 10 minutes Explore the possibilities together Hospital representatives ask questions and help identify potentially relevant testing services and expertise.

Afterwards, we can help you connect with relevant services and partners within TEF-Health.

Let's talk about your solution

SME pitching sessions take place online, on the first Friday of every month.

Next SME pitching sessions

Get in touch with the Hospital Network
A robot arm holding a surgical instrument over a training torso

TEF-Health Robotics

Test. Validate. Accelerate.

Healthcare robotics, ready for the real world.

From prototype testing to clinical evidence, access a cross-European network of hospitals, research laboratories and robotics experts.

Tell us about your technology, intended use and development stage. TEF-Health Robotics will identify the most relevant expertise, facilities and evaluation pathway across the network.

Tell us about your robotics project Explore the TEF-Health robotics services

Picture: Berthet-Rayne et al., 2018, CC BY 4.0, cropped and tinted

From technology to evidence: testing robotics in healthcare.

Healthcare robotics face challenges that cannot be solved in the lab alone. Safety, clinical performance, human–robot interaction, usability, workflow integration and regulatory compliance all need to be addressed in the complexity of healthcare environments.

TEF-Health helps robotics SMEs test and validate their solutions in real and simulated hospital environments — physical and in-silico — combining technical, clinical, ergonomic and organisational perspectives.

One network. The expertise you need.

Access complementary European capabilities through one coordinated robotics network. Our partners bring together university hospitals, robotics and AI research, human factors, simulation, clinical research and regulatory expertise.

Challenge What we help you do Evidence you can build
Does it work in a hospital? Test performance, reliability, safety and workflow integration in representative environments. Technical and operational performance data
Will people use it? Involve surgeons, nurses, clinicians, patients or caregivers in design and evaluation. Usability, acceptance and human-factors evidence
Can it demonstrate clinical value? Design and support clinical investigations and clinical evaluation. Structured clinical evidence
Is it ready for market access? Support alignment with European regulatory requirements and relevant standards. Regulatory and quality documentation

Choose the pathway and services that fit your robot

  • Ergonomic testing
  • Clinical and safety assessment
  • Integration of end-user and medical-staff feedback
  • Regulatory support
  • Biomechanics and human–robot interaction expertise

Healthcare robotics: examples and use cases

  • HCLMobile logistics robot

    From simulated hospital to real deployment

    A robotised logistics system for surgical instruments was first evaluated through defined use cases, test scenarios and quantitative performance indicators. At Station H, testing reproduced hospital constraints such as corridors, doors, obstacles and human presence. The solution was then evaluated in real hospital conditions with healthcare professionals, combining engineering and ergonomics.

  • CHUGASurgical robotics

    Building multicentre clinical evidence

    After CE marking, Imactis sought broader evidence of clinical benefit for its electromagnetic-navigation solution for CT-guided interventional radiology. CHUGA supported a multicentre study across eight university hospitals, involving 450 patients and junior and senior radiologists. The results demonstrated significant clinical benefit.

  • IPN & CHUCTelemedicine robot / RoboH

    Generating clinical data for CE marking

    RoboH enables remote ultrasound examinations through robotic stations connecting clinician and patient. Its clinical investigation assesses diagnostic agreement, image quality, completeness of anatomical views, procedure time, technical success, usability, workload, participant experience and safety. The study is intended to generate clinical data supporting clinical evaluation and completion of CE marking.

  • POLIMISocial robot in nursing homes

    Adapting robotics to the realities of care

    An SME worked with POLIMI to adapt an existing robotic solution to healthcare. Nursing homes and expert panels helped identify user needs, relevant tasks and potential risks. The robot was then adapted and tested with particular attention to interaction with frail users and personal information.

  • CEAEMY exoskeleton + WIMAGINE BCI

    From TRL4 to clinical evaluation

    CEA integrated the EMY four-limb exoskeleton with the WIMAGINE brain-computer interface and carried out clinical evaluation with tetraplegic participants. The use case illustrates a pathway from early-stage technology through regulatory qualification and clinical evaluation, from TRL4 to TRL6.

Why work with TEF-Health?

  • Access a coordinated European network rather than a single testing site.
  • Combine clinical insight with robotics engineering, human factors, AI, simulation and regulatory expertise.
  • Test earlier in realistic or simulated environments before exposure to routine clinical workflows.
  • Generate structured evidence on safety, performance, usability, acceptance and workflow impact.
  • Support the pathway from prototype development through clinical evaluation and market readiness.

Have a robotics project to test or validate?

Tell us about your technology, intended use and development stage. TEF-Health Robotics will identify the most relevant expertise, facilities and evaluation pathway across the network.

Tell us about your robotics project Explore the TEF-Health robotics services

What it has delivered

125 Contracted service provisions
104 Organisations served
88% of them SMEs of 98 with a recorded size
+0.9 Average TRL gain per completed provision

Contracted means a signed contract or later, one delivery to one organisation. The SME share is measured against the EU definition, over the organisations whose size is recorded. All impact figures

Coordination

Portrait of Prof. Dr. Petra Ritter

Prof. Dr. Petra Ritter

TEF-Health Coordinator

Director for Brain Simulation Section, Berlin Institute of Health.

Director International Affairs, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Advisory Board

Independent experts who advise TEF-Health on patient perspectives, clinical practice, technical innovation, digital governance and medical-device regulation.

  • Portrait of Alexandra von Korff

    Alexandra von Korff

    Senior Project Manager

    Patients Today

  • Portrait of Luis Marti-Bonmati

    Luis Marti-Bonmati

    Scientific Coordinator

    EUCAIM – European Federation for Cancer Images

  • Portrait of Remke Burie

    Remke Burie

    Managing Director, Technical Medical Centre

    University of Twente

  • Portrait of Katharina von Knop

    Katharina von Knop

    Expert in Digital Trust & AI Governance

    Independent advisor

  • Portrait of Aureli Soria-Frisch

    Aureli Soria-Frisch

    Director of Neuroscience

    Starlab Barcelona S.L.

  • Portrait of Stephen Gilbert

    Stephen Gilbert

    Professor of Medical Device Regulatory Science

    Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Technische Universität Dresden

Roadmap

From market analysis in 2023 through agile certification pilots and long-term standards for AI in medical devices, the TEF-Health work plan moves the consortium from scoping to sustained pan-European operations.

  1. 2023

    Foundations

    • Market analysis — Neurotec, Cancer, CardioVascular, Intensive Care
    • Data Management Plan aligned with FAIR principles
    • Consortium governance and node onboarding
  2. 2024

    Catalogues

    • Virtual Testing Services catalogue v1
    • Catalogue of physical and virtual testing centres
    • Cross-European digital testing platform and TEF dataspace
  3. 2025 – 2026

    Quality & pricing

    • Quality criteria and reference metrics for data and algorithms
    • Per-node price lists with SME reductions (GBER-compliant)
    • Open services available to applicants across the EU
  4. 2026 – 2027

    Pilots & certification

    • Exemplary agile certification process aligned with the MDR
    • Links established with notified bodies
    • Demonstrator use cases with active SME participation
  5. 2028 →

    Standards & operations

    • Published standards for AI in medical devices
    • Sustained pan-European operations beyond the project term
    • Continuous trust framework for AI healthcare technologies

Q&A

The concept of Testing and Experimentation Facilities — the highlights. See the full FAQ for everything else.

A Testing and Experimentation Facility (TEF) is a specialised, large-scale reference site that gives European technology providers a place to test state-of-the-art AI-based software and hardware — including robotics — in real-world conditions. TEFs combine physical and virtual facilities so that products and services can be integrated, validated and demonstrated end-to-end before they reach the market.

TEF-Health is open to any technology provider — from SMEs and start-ups to larger companies and research organisations — developing AI-based solutions for healthcare. Service pricing follows state-aid rules with reductions for SMEs; larger companies pay market rates.

TEFs do not exist to collect or harvest data. Data handling within TEF-Health follows the project’s Data Management Plan, FAIR principles and applicable ethical, GDPR and confidentiality requirements. Data used for testing remains under the control of its original holders.

See the full FAQ →