The transfer of study and health data between the Nordic and Baltic countries will be intensified
For a long time, The Nordic and Baltic countries have worked hard to ensure that information that is important for living in another country flows smoothly between countries. Such information includes courses and health-related information.
The aim is to facilitate mobility between countries. Challenges to data mobility include different legislation, interoperability of information systems and conceptual differences between countries.
This is evident from the current farm survey of the project led by the Digital and Population Information Agency, which will be published today, November 30, 2021. The project is part of the activities of the Finnish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021. The aim of the project is to streamline the daily life and mobility of people and companies across borders by promoting the exchange of information between authorities and other relevant actors in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
“The Nordic and Baltic countries are in many ways leading countries in digitalisation. People are also actively moving across national borders, for example to study and work. In these situations, everyday life is facilitated if key information is shared between national authorities and other actors. Such information includes academic performance, essential health and prescription information. Finding the legal information of another country is also important so that we can operate in that country, for example, as an entrepreneur. The presidency project focuses on these three entities, says the municipal minister Sirpa Paatero, which will chair the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021.
The current state survey highlights that there is already an exchange of information between some countries on, for example, population, health and study data. Examples of this are the Nordic Migration Agreement, the exchange of prescription information between Finland and Estonia, and the transfer of access to studies between Finland, Sweden and Norway. “The information exchange does not yet cover all the Nordic and Baltic countries, and we want to be involved in this project,” he says. Torbjörn Sandell, project manager from the Digital and Population Information Service Agency.
“The challenge is often that even though the necessary digital infrastructure is in place, the information systems in different countries are not yet working together enough. The language and vocabulary of the systems are not consistent and the information is filled in differently. Some of the challenges are also related to the different legislation in the countries. Resolving these issues requires determined cooperation between the countries and a clear common goal and strong will, ”Sandell continues.
Common study, health and legal information makes everyday life easier
At present, for example, the exchange of study performance data is more digital in universities than in secondary education. Finland, Sweden and Norway participate in the EU-based EMREX system and exchange information on university studies completed in another country.
“Most of the study performance data is in machine-readable form, which facilitates further development. However, so-called descriptive data is often missing from study data, which makes it difficult to compare their content, says Riikka Rissanen and Petteri Pulli From the Board of Education. “We hope to extend the EMREX system to all the Nordic and Baltic countries and to make it available for secondary education,” Rissanen continues.
Another thing that facilitates the mobility of people is the transfer of key health and prescription information between countries. It improves patient safety, for example, if a person suddenly needs treatment in another country or needs more prescription medicines.
“Some European countries are in a situation where medicines prescribed in one country can be delivered to another. In addition to Finland and Estonia, the exchange of prescription data is already in use between Finland and Croatia and between Finland and Portugal. The main challenges for the transfer of health information relate to legislation, information system interoperability and semantic interoperability. These can also be challenging within a single country with multiple different information systems in place, ”says Minna Sinkkonen From the Department of Health and Welfare.
The most common challenge in finding information about legislation is that obtaining information on legislation in other Nordic and Baltic countries now requires extensive language skills due to the lack of translations of legislative texts. “One of the goals of the project is to produce a legal information retrieval tool that people who speak in their mother tongue are, for example, working, studying or traveling in different Nordic and Baltic countries,” says the Director of Development. Aki Hietanen from the Ministry of Justice.
The current situation mapping published now brings together the current state of data mobility and serves as a starting point for further work on the project and finding a common direction.
Read the current status survey “Basic research on cross-border information exchange in the Nordic and Baltic countries”
What is the project about?
Finland will hold the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021. At the beginning of the year, the presidency project “The world’s smoothest cross-border mobility and everyday life through digitalisation” was launched. It aims to streamline the daily lives and mobility of people and companies across borders by promoting the exchange of information between authorities in the Nordic countries. The project will create an operating model and good practices to strengthen and enhance cross-border information exchange. The project will run for three years and will run from 2021 to 2023.
The Digital and Population Information Agency has a key role in implementing the project. The Agency leads the implementation of the Presidency project and coordinates the work of the project working groups. At the beginning of the project, a report will be prepared on the current state of people’s lives across borders. The main product of the project is a common operating model and good practices to strengthen and enhance cross-border information exchange.
The Ministry of Finance owns the project and directs its implementation. The administrative branches of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Justice are also involved in the implementation.
Source: Digital and Population Information Service Agency