Twelve independent biobanks, fragmented and incompatible - unified into Hungary's first national federated biobank network

The Semmelweis Biobank Network holds data on approximately 100,000 individuals - one of Hungary's most significant genomic and clinical data assets. This data was managed across 12 diverse, fragmented, non-interoperable collection systems. Researchers could not analyse it jointly. Cross-institution queries were impractical. The potential for population-level health insight and participation in international research was blocked by infrastructure never designed for federation.

E-Group worked with Semmelweis University to build a federated biobank network using its Smart Data / DLX platform. The architecture creates interoperability between the 12 biobank databases at the institutional level without centralising the underlying data. A unified data model standardises sample and dataset representation across the network, making the data FAIR - findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable - while preserving data protection guarantees and enabling cross-border interoperability with international health data repositories.

The federated biobank network makes the Semmelweis data asset jointly analysable across institutions without moving a single record. Hungarian biomedical research can now participate in international studies that previously required data centralisation. The network provides an unbiased population-level picture of Hungarian health status, enabling estimates of future health challenges and supporting clinical research at unprecedented scale.