Local cloud provider Scaleway will host France’s national Health Data Hub, replacing Microsoft Azure early in 2027.

Following a highly competitive process including 350 technical criteria, Health Data Hub and Scaleway have entered into a partnership to provide stakeholders in health research and innovation with a secure environment capable of hosting health databases, including a copy of the main database of the National Health Data System (SNDS).

This platform will significantly streamline access to this data and accelerate the secondary use of health data in France and across Europe.

Scaleway offered an infrastructure operated in Europe, capable of handling critical workloads and high volumes. It also holds HDS certification (a mandatory French certification for hosting health data).

The selection comes just a few days after Scaleway was selected as one of a handful of cloud providers as part of the European Commission’s €180 million ‘sovereign cloud’ tender, confirming its ability to meet high standards in terms of compliance, technological autonomy and innovation.

At the same time, Scaleway says it is strengthening its presence in the healthcare sector through its partnership with Paris Santé Campus and its involvement in the Alliance Santé IA programme, jointly led by Montpellier University Hospital and Adlin Science, which aims to leverage hospital data to create one of the first fully AI-powered hospital environments.

Scaleway CEO Damien Lucas said, “We are proud to have been selected by the Health Data Hub following an extremely competitive selection process, and we look forward to writing this new chapter in HDH’s history together.

“I am fully aware of the responsibility we now bear to support the Health Data Hub in this migration. Far more than a public procurement contract, this decision represents a genuine technological partnership. It is also a symbol — to the entire healthcare sector and, more broadly, to all those who still see the cloud in a certain way: a credible and competitive European alternative does exist. Let’s reinforce our strategic autonomy!”