Scientific and professional organisations are important supporters of the IHE process and play an essential role in defining the requirements for IHE Integration Profiles. These organisations provide input to IHE at the European as well as the national and regional level.

Companies apply the technical specifications defined in the IHE Technical Frameworks into their respective medical IT products. IHE-Europe offers them the platform to develop and test the interoperability of their products against IHE specifications.

IHE-Europe’s sponsors are providing key (personnel) resources for the initiative and support the day-to-day activities as well as support the development of IHE-Europe’s platform for interoperability testing. At present, IHE-Europe is sponsored by COCIR and INRIA.

A non-profit trade association created in 1959, COCIR (European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry) encourages the use of advanced technology to support healthcare delivery worldwide. COCIR’s key objectives include promoting worldwide trade of medical devices and maintaining the competitiveness of the European health sector.

INRIA (National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control) is a French national research institution focusing both theoretical and applied research for computer science, control theory and applied mathematics.