This report captures the momentum behind Clinnova Basel (Switzerland). To make this vision a reality we have dismantled silos not only between disciplines but between institutions, countries, and systems. At the core of Clinnova is a simple but profound belief: data should work for people. In multiple sclerosis (MS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), all chronic diseases where patients deserve more than fragmented care and generalized treatment paths. They deserve precise answers, grounded in the richness of their own clinical, biological, and digital data. They deserve systems that learn with them, and for them, in short, personalized medicine.

Clinnova means embracing a new technological architecture where data remains protected and private, yet becomes part of a collective intelligence.

This is the power of federated learning, an approach that allows us to build shared AI models while data never leaves its home institution. In Basel, we are proud to be at the heart of this transformation. Together with our partners, we are proving that cross-border, privacy-preserving research can be a working reality.

All of this started with the trust and support from Canton Basel-Stadt, with an investment of CHF 4 million, which was pivotal in making this vision real. This critical support enabled us to lead the technical infrastructure for federated learning across the entire Clinnova consortium, launch Clinnova-MS and expand into Clinnova-IBD.

Equally essential has been the support of Basel University Hospital and the unwavering dedication of Prof. Andrea Schenker-Wicki, Rector of the University of Basel, whose steadfast commitment to pioneering research and international collaboration has been a cornerstone of Clinnova’s success. The coordination and program leadership of Dr Bebeka Cosandey has further ensured that the ambitious vision of Clinnova Basel is translated into concrete, measurable progress and impact.

Basel stands today as one of the top global life science and innovation hubs, and top-notch research, healthcare, and infrastructure support the whole consortium. Here in Basel, we are leading the way in the MS use case and have implemented the Neurostatus tool (EDSS), recognized internationally as the gold standard for clinical data quality collection in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Additionally, the dreaMS app, developed in Basel by the Research Center for Clinical Neuroimmunology and Neuroscience Basel (RC2NB) and the medical technology company “INDIVI”, turns smartphones into clinical monitoring tools. It captures digital biomarkers of balance, motor skills, vision, and cognition, enabling precise, real-world tracking of MS progression with minimal patient burden. dreaMS is poised to become a core digital tool across the consortium, shaping the future of remote monitoring in the MS use case.

Dr Bram Stieltjes, Dr Francesco Santini, and the IT team in Basel are now spearheading Clinnova’s Federated Learning efforts, building a secure, cross-border AI framework where patient data stays local, but knowledge is shared.Their pioneering work on the Federated Data Catalogue and Data Integration Centres is laying the foundation for privacy-preserving, scalable, and clinically meaningful AI models. Clinnova-MS is progressing steadily with patient recruitment, while Clinnova-IBD Basel, led by Prof Jan Niess, has just completed site initiation and is ready to enroll its first participants.

Clinnova Basel today stands as a frontrunner in driving data-powered, patient-centered research, having achieved major milestones in clinical recruitment, digital health, and federated data infrastructure.

We are proudly leading the way for other sites as we now scale, expand, and accelerate towards truly personalized healthcare, not just in Switzerland, but across Europe.