Consortium

https://www.ont.es  

ONT is an agency of the Spanish Ministry of Health responsible for coordinating, organizing and overseeing the donation and clinical use of organs, tissues and cells at national level, in coordination with regional authorities. ONT coordinates all activities regarding the donation, allocation and transplantation of organs, and the management of national waiting lists. It manages national IT systems necessary for its coordinating role, defines guidelines, protocols and procedures to maximize the availability of organs, tissues and cells, and ensure its quality, safety and effectiveness. It fixes parameters for transplant quality assessment, promotes information campaigns for the public and develops training courses for professionals of the donation and transplantation Spanish network. ONT has a vast experience in the coordination of national and international initiatives in the field of transplantation (ONT is Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization and President of the Iberoamerican Network-Council of Donation and Transplantation). ONT has developed one of the most robust KEPs in Europe. Moreover, ONT is member of the SAT and participates in the international KEP developed under the framework of this transnational alliance (KEP-SAT), where ONT is responsible for managing the IT platform, performing the international matching runs and organizing the logistics to perform LDKTs. ONT is or has been participating as coordinator or partner of several EU-funded projects and Joint Actions in transplantation, among others, ALLIANCE-O, DOPKI, FOEDUS, ACCORD, EQSTB, EUSTITE, EUROCET, SOHOV&S, EURO-GTP II, EFRETOS, TRANSPOSE, EGALITE and EUROTRACTOR.

www.scandiatransplant.org 

Scandiatransplant (SCTP) is the organ exchange organization for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Estonia, covering  a population of approximately 29.3 million.
It is owned by the member hospitals performing organ transplantation in these countries. Its supreme authority is the Council of Representatives, who are clinically active professionals appointed by the member hospitals. The number of representatives of each hospital depends on the number of organ transplants carried out in the hospital. The Board of the association is responsible for the day-to-day operations. It consists of one person from each participating country plus a chairman. 
The SCTP Office, located  at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, develops and maintains the SCTP IT-system, YASWA, which serves as the common platform form allocation and donation to transplantation and follow up. Moreover the office provides service to the association, the general public, cooperating partners and authorities. 
SCTP serves as a collaborative platform through specialized working groups and advisory groups in order to facilitate best practice recommendations and policies optimizing retrieval, allocation and transplantation of organs, and to form a collaborative network for the member hospitals to promote research and development related to organ donation, allocation and transplantation. 
Since SCTP was founded in 1969, organ exchange from deceased donors between the member hospitals has been a key element. In 2019, SCTP launched the Scandiatransplant Exchange Program (STEP), one of the three international KEPs that been established in Europe. STEP allows kidneys from living donors to be exchanged between participating transplant hospitals in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. STEP is the only European transnational KEP that performs all matching runs with a merged donor-recipient pool including all participating countries, where no national program exists in parallel. The expertise of SCTP in running this complex international KEP is seen as pivotal for the development of EURO-KEP. 

https://www.agencebiomedecine.fr/

The French ABM is the Competent Authority for organ, tissue and cell transplantation, medically assisted reproduction, human genetics and embryo and stem cell research. Among its missions are the management of waiting lists, rules of allocation, procurements and allocation in France/abroad and evaluation of transplantation activities. It advises on inspection and licensing and is responsible for vigilance in its fields. ABM has a long history of supporting transplantation systems in Maghreb and in Eastern Europe, and was the coordinator of “Alliance-O”, the first EU funded transplantation project. Since then, ABM has participated in numerous European projects, contributing to the harmonisation of European practices.

https://www.isep.ipp.pt 

One of the top schools of technology in Portugal, ISEP, the School of Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto (P. Porto), has been pioneering education and research in Engineering since 1852. It offers a wide range of programmes in different fields of Engineering for more than 6000 students. Along with renowned institutions, such as MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), ISEP is a member of the international consortium CDIO (Conceive - Design - Implement - Operate) and has more than a hundred partnerships within the European Space of Higher Education. ISEP strongly invests in R&D in order to create and share applied scientific knowledge. In recent years, ISEP researchers have been consistently winning national and international awards for the products and solutions they design. Their continual thrive for answers to society’s needs turned our campus into a home for innovation and technology. ISEP houses several research groups recognized as National Research Centres by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT). ISEP is among the top 12 scientific institutions nationwide and some of its units are worldwide leaders in their field. Its cooperation policy also sponsors international networks with major R&D consortiums and the participation in several state-of-the art projects. ISEP´s focus is to ensure that students benefit from its expertise in research and turn it into an advantage, encouraging them to participate, to experiment and to be part of research activities.

https://www.gla.ac.uk  

Founded in 1451, the UG has a tradition of excellence as the UK’s fourth oldest university. It is a member of the elite Russell Group of leading UK research universities, a founding member of Universitas21 and the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities and an Associate member of CIVIS – an alliance of European Universities from eleven countries. UG has fostered the talents of seven Nobel laureates, Scotland’s first female medical graduates, and includes among its alumni, some of the world’s most renowned innovators, from scientist Lord Kelvin, economist Adam Smith, to the pioneer of television John Logie Baird. Ranked 76 (QS World Rankings 2023) and 82 (Times Higher Education 2022) in the world, UG is a world-leading research-intensive institution, attracting scholars from more than 130 countries worldwide each year. In recognition of employment practices that support the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) in higher education, UG has been awarded an Athena SWAN Institutional Bronze Award as well as the European Commission’s ‘HR excellence in research’ award. The UG was awarded some 200 Horizon 2020 projects with a total value of more than EUR 100m, placing us in the top 50 most successful Higher Education Institutions in H2020.

https://www.trapianti.sal  
ute.gov.it/trapianti/home  

The National Institute of Health (ISS) is a public technical and scientific body of the Italian National Health System, under the control of the Ministry of Health. ISS major activities include the management and coordination of research activities and it acts as consultant for the Ministry of Health, for the government and Italian regions. The Italian National Transplant Centre (ISS-CNT) is a technical body of the Ministry of Health set up under the Law 91 of 1999 and located at the ISS, where it performs its activities as a department of the same body. ISS-CNT, as National Competent Authority, coordinates all activities regarding procurement, donation, allocation and transplantation of organs; procurement, donation, banking and transplantation of tissues and cells, including medically assisted reproduction; waiting lists of patients. It manages the Transplant Information System, which collects data regarding donation, allocation and transplantation of organs, including organ quality, defines protocols about safety and security of organ donation and criteria for operational protocols for organ and tissue allocation, allocation of organs for urgencies and national programs. It fixes parameters for transplant quality assessment, promotes information campaigns for the public, in collaboration with the Italian Health Ministry and patients’ Associations and promotes and develops training courses regarding organ donation. Both ISS as a whole and CNT have a vast experience in national and international project coordination and participation. Moreover, ISS-CNT is member of the South Alliance for Transplant (SAT) and it participates actively in its international Kidney Exchange Program (KEP-SAT).

https://esot.org

The European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) has been at the forefront of organ transplantation for over 40 years, dedicated to advancing science, education, and policy to improve patient outcomes. As a highly influential international organisation, ESOT fosters an inclusive and collaborative environment, ensuring that fairness, equality, and social responsibility remain at the core of its mission. Through groun breaking research initiatives and multidisciplinary collaborations, ESOT is committed to expanding access to high-quality transplantation care for all, regardless of background or geography. The society actively works to shape policies that promote ethical practices, equitable organ allocation, and patient-centred a proaches. ESOT is also the driving force behind the biennial ESOT Congress (The International Transplant Congress^®), bringing together approximately 3,500 global experts to exchange knowledge and discuss the latest scientific advancements. 

Beyond its role in research and education, ESOT remains a champion of social responsibility, advocating for fair access to transplantation and striving to reduce disparities in healthcare. By working closely with leading experts, policymakers, and healthcare professionals, ESOT continues to lead the way in transplantation with fairness, integrity and inclusivity.

www.eom.gr 

Hellenic Transplant Organization (HTO) is a non-profit organization, which comprises a sector of the Greek Ministry of Health. HTO is the competent authority and is in charge of the whole process of donation and transplantation of organs, tissues and cells in Greece as well as organ sharing between Greece and other European countries.

www.ovsz.hu

OVSZ serves as the national centralized provider of blood component products to the hospital sector in Hungary and is responsible for strategic planning, management, training and advisory activities in health policy decision-making for the field of preparative and clinical transfusiology. The organization consists of 5 regional and 19 local institutions.
The Transplantation Directorate builds up from 4 departments:
- The Organ Coordination Office is the national organ procurement organization and responsible for the central coordination of the organ donation process, in accordance with Governmental Decree 323/2006 (XII.23) by operating three levels of the transplant donor coordination network (national, procurement and hospital coordinators). OVSZ is the Hungarian contracing partner of the Eurotransplant International Foundation.
- Central Organ and Stem Cell Transplant Waiting List Office
- Hungarian Bone Marrow Registry
- Hungarian National Organ and Tissue Donation Opting-out Registry
OVSZ is also entitled by the Ministerial Decree 18/1998. 1/B. § as National Competent Authority in the field of organ donation and transplantation. OVSZ operates the EFI accredited Transplant Immunology Laboratory, with full national resposibility. OVSZ has participated in several EU co-funded projects in the field of organ donation and transplantation: DOPKI, MODE, COORENOR, ACCORD, FOEDUS, EDITH, BRAVEST. In four projects (MODE, COORENOR, FOEDUS and EDITH), OVSZ led the Dissemination WP: webpage design, creation and hosting, logo design, editing of publications: Layman’s brochure, Newsletters, distribution of publications, Deliverables.
 

https://krtk.hun-ren.hu/en/homepage/

KRTK consists of three institutes, the Institute of Economics, the Institute for Regional Studies and the Institute of World Economics. It is a leading centre of Hungarian economic and regional research. KRTK operates as an independent research community characterized by intellectual curiosity, the pursuit of a deeper perception of the world and of impartial treatment of facts. Its mission is to gain a better understanding of economic, social and spatial processes in Hungary and elsewhere through state-of-the- art scientific analysis which, in turn, can contribute to policy decisions in an innovative way. It strives for achieving outstanding research results and for further improving its position as an internationally recognized centre of excellence. It is an essential pillar of KRTK policy that the research fellows of the Centre rigorously adhere to ethical principles of scientific work.

www.transplantatiestichting.nl 

Competent Bodies of The Netherlands.

www.ipst.pt

IPST is a national body working under the Ministry of Health and is responsible to ensure and regulate,
at a national level, the activity of transfusion medicine and transplantation and also to ensure the donation, collection, analysis, processing, preservation, storage and distribution of human blood, blood components, organs, tissues and cells of human origin. IPST comprises the National Transplant Coordination which is responsible for:

a) Dynamize, regulate, normalize, control and supervise the activity developed by the National Collection and Transplantation Coordination Network;
b) Establish and maintain a register of services that handle and apply organs, tissues and cells of human origin;
c) Information exchange process with international entities in the field of transplantation, in the scope of its competences;
d) Ensure the implementation of an adequate system which guarantees the traceability of organs, tissues and cells of human origin whose purpose is transplantation;
e) Coordinate, at a national level, the activity of services that apply organs, tissues and cells of human origin, as well as the Collection and Transplantation Coordinator Cabinets (GCCT), define their number and areas of influence, and propose to the board of directors of IPST, measures that ensure better coordination between them;
f) Ensure the performance of biovigilance activities, as well as its development with a view to improving transplant processes;
g) Guarantee the coordination of GCCTs among themselves and with the collection and transplanting units as considered best suited to achieve national transplantation objectives;
h) Ensure initial and continuing professional training for the performance of hospital coordination.

https://www.erasmusmc.nl
nl/nlnl/transplantatieinstituut

The Erasmus MC has one of the largest kidney transplant centers in Europe and is a pioneer in LDKT. Twenty years ago, the Erasmus MC launched the first national and centralized KEP. In recent years, it has pioneered CIAT (computerized integration of alternative transplant programs), allowing ABOincompatible transplantation for long waiting and low level HLA-incompatible transplantation for highly immunized patients, including priority and privileges for specified participant groups. This CIAT is currently being implemented in The Netherlands as the new KEP. In 2006 Erasmus MS started the ABO-incompatible program in The Netherlands, and is the national referral center for HLA-incompatible kidney transplantation.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl
https://etrl.eurotransplant.org

The Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) is dedicated to academic patient care, education and research and contains the medical faculty of the Leiden University. The department of Immunology, founded by Prof. dr. Jon. van Rood, is internationally well recognized for its work in the field of immunogenetics and transplantation immunology. The department also contains the Eurotransplant Reference laboratory (ETRL). The ETRL has played a pivotal role in the design of the way immunological data is processed for the virtual crossmatch, which was recently introduced in Eurotransplant.

https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk

NHSBT provides a blood and transplantation service to the National Health Service (NHS), looking after blood donation services in England and transplant services across the UK. This includes managing the donation, storage and transplantation of blood and blood components, organs, tissues, bone marrow and stem cells, and researching new treatments and processes. In organ donation and transplantation, NHSBT:

1. Facilitates development and implementation of UK strategies for donation and transplantation.
2. Delivers deceased donation and National Organ Retrieval Service (NORS).
3. Administers the Organ Donor Register (ODR).
4. Develops and administers organ offering schemes for deceased donation and for living
donation via the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme (UKLKSS).
5. Holds the UK Transplant and Donation Registries.
6. Publishes annual activity and outcome reports.
7. Provides donor and recipient promotional and educational materials.
8. Provides decision-making tools and professional educational resources.

https://uai.cl

The UAI is a private, non-profit institution, established as such in 1988. Originally from the Valparaíso Business School, which was established in 1953 by the Adolfo Ibáñez Foundation, custodian of the businessman's legacy and public man Don Adolfo Ibáñez Boggiano, its main mission is to provide an education that, based on freedom and personal responsibility, allows its students to develop their full intellectual and human potential. To achieve this, the UAI assumes the commitment to provide professional training with high academic standards, contribute to expanding the frontiers of knowledge through high-level research, and transfer this knowledge for the benefit of society.

UAI is among the top three ranked universities in Chile and the highest ranked non-traditional university. The business school (Escuela de Negocios) is among the highest ranked business schools in Latin America and the first to have triple crown accreditation.

https://www.inesctec.pt/en 

INESC TEC is an Associate Laboratory with 35 years of experience in R&D and technology transfer, having as associates the University of Porto, INESC, the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, the University of Minho and the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. INESC TEC is a private non-profit research institution, dedicated to scientific research and technological development, technology transfer, advanced consulting and training, and pre-incubation of new technology-based companies.

As an institution operating at the interface of the academic and business worlds, bringing closer together academia, companies, public administration, and society, INESC TEC typically applies the knowledge and results generated as part of its research in technology transfer projects, seeking value creation and immediate social relevance. Present in six sites in the cities of Porto, Braga and Vila Real, INESC TEC incorporates 13 R&D Centres, structured in eight scientific domains – Artificial Intelligence, Bioengineering, Communications, Computer Science and Engineering, Photonics, Power and Energy Systems, Robotics and Systems Engineering and Management. INESC TEC hosts over 750 integrated researchers (about 350 PhDs), including staff researchers, researchers from Higher Education Institutions, grant holders and affiliated researchers. INESC TEC’s team also includes trainees, and technical and administrative support staff.

https://uni-obuda.hu/en

Obuda University was established 15 years ago as the successor to Budapest College of Technology. In 2024, it was accredited for another 5 years by the Hungarian Accreditation Committee. The University is characterised by stability, calm, predictable growth, and autonomous operations. In addition, it has developed faster than ever since the 2021 model change thanks to cooperation with the Rudolf Kalman Foundation for Obuda University. Not only has Obuda University gained visibility, but it has burst onto the international scene in many ways. According to the newest Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rakings, Obuda University is in the prestigious 601–800 range for 2025.

With 7 faculties (Alba Regia Technical Faculty, Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering, Kandó Kálmán Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Keleti Károly Faculty of Business and Management, John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Rejtő Sándor Faculty of Light Industry and Environmental Engineering, Ybl Miklós Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering), more than 13,000 students, and more than 1000 employees with 580 teaching staff, Obuda University (OU) is one of the largest technical universities in Hungary.

OU has 20 practice-oriented Bachelor, 24 theory and practice-based Master, and 5 application-focused PhD programs. Runs high-level vocational training, distant learning, professional extension courses, and offers a wide spectrum of other educational opportunities: various levels of national and international courses, dual and cooperative education, soft skill and language skill development trainings, practical knowledge coaching, open days, job fairs, etc. OU runs 5 Doctoral Schools (Applied Informatics and Applied Mathematics, Materials Sciences and Technologies, Safety and Security Sciences, Innovation Management, Architecture, Design, and Technology).

OU launches general technical higher-level vocational training, where specialisation in mechanical engineering, electrotechnics and electronics, light industry, printing, environmental engineering, water management can be attained. In order to strengthen the practice-oriented education and cooperation with the industry (involving company representatives into the education, closer industrial collaborations, common courses, open days, job fairs, dual and cooperative education), OU has implemented curriculum development in numerous fields for the last years (blended, MOOC, etc.). Regional education centres were launched, and the development of students’ entrepreneurial skills is put in focus, also foster the employability of our students. We offer our institutional partners STEM, HEI development, international education development, soft skill development and engineering teacher development.

OU maintains international relations with around 270 higher education institutions and research institutes in 90 countries, and coordinates several student, academic, and staff exchange programs.