Belgium awards 263,364 euros to AI health-data projects

The Belgian federal government has awarded a total of 263,364 euros in subsidies to three organisations for artificial-intelligence and health-data projects, under three royal decrees signed on 20 July 2026 and published in the Moniteur Belge of 25 August 2026. The grants are issued by the FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment (SPF Santé publique) and are charged to budget allocation AB 25 51 91 32 00 02 for the 2026 budget year.

The three decrees, referenced C-2026/006293, C-2026/006295 and C-2026/006307, were proposed by the Minister of Public Health, F. Vandenbroucke, and signed by King Philippe in Brussels. Each grant covers the period from 15 June 2026 to 1 December 2026 and is paid in two tranches: a first payment of up to 80% after publication of the decree, and a final payment of up to 20% against an activity report and financial statement, due by 31 December 2026.

Three beneficiaries, three projects

The subsidies support innovation in the secondary use of health data, in line with the strategic objectives of the Health Data Agency (Agence des données de (soins de) santé), established by the law of 14 March 2023, and with the requirements of the European EHDS Regulation.

• Amaron Bv (Kapellestraat 13, 8755 Wingene) receives 93,364 euros for the project “Een ziekenhuis-datagovernance framework dat aantoonbaar werkt in de praktijk” (a hospital data-governance framework that demonstrably works in practice), reference C-2026/006293, p. 46338.
• Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc ASBL (Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200 Brussels) receives 70,000 euros for the project “Outil de validation de l’anonymisation du texte en langage naturel par intelligence artificielle” (a tool to validate the anonymisation of natural-language text by AI), reference C-2026/006295, p. 46339.
• Algemeen ziekenhuis Delta (AZ Delta, Deltalaan 1, 8800 Roeselare) receives 100,000 euros for the project “A Multi-LLM (Large Language Model) Approach towards a Clinically Accurate Text Coding System to Augment FHIN Databases”, reference C-2026/006307, p. 46341.

Conditions attached to the grants

Each decree restricts the use of the subsidy to the execution of the named project and requires the beneficiary to justify spending at least annually through an activity report. The report must describe the project’s philosophy and objectives, its achievements, the personnel involved and a financial balance of staff and other costs.

Any unused portion of the grant must be reimbursed to the SPF Santé publique, in accordance with article 123 of the law of 22 May 2003 on the organisation of the federal budget and accounts. Payments are made through the service’s budget and management control unit, via the address invoice@health.fgov.be or through the PEPPOL network.

What this means for patients and the sector

The three projects illustrate how Belgian hospitals and technology companies are preparing for the reuse of health data under the EHDS framework, combining artificial intelligence with data-governance and anonymisation safeguards. For patients, the emphasis on anonymisation and responsible data use points to a future in which clinical data can be shared for research and innovation without compromising privacy, while hospitals gain tools to make their coding and data-management systems more accurate and interoperable.

Source: Moniteur Belge, 25 August 2026, Lois, décrets, ordonnances et règlements, pp. 46338–46341 (official references: C-2026/006293, C-2026/006295, C-2026/006307).