A new open data platform joins the ranks of openEHR Industry Partners, at the Platinum level: Cadasto, the Structured Data Foundation for Care. While Cadasto was officially launched at the beginning of 2026, its roots go much deeper. Cadasto’s founder, Sebastian Iancu, has been a well-known figure in the openEHR community for many years. So how deep do Cadasto’s roots truly go and what does it have to offer the community? Let’s dive in.
Once upon a time, in Alkmaar…
Those who know Sebastian may know him as co-chair of the SEC of openEHR International, as co-founder and board member or the openEHR Netherlands affiliate or even as co-founder and architect of CODE24, the first software vendor in the Netherlands to embrace openEHR. What few people knew, however, was that from its very beginning in 2010, the founders of CODE24 (Martin van der Meer, Alessandro Torrisi and Sebastian) dreamed of a future in which vendor lock-in would be a thing of the past. True data availability would improve care, accelerate research and drive innovation. The standardisation of data storage and data modelling would be the way to get there.
A big dream, but from 2010 until quite recently, the market was simply not there yet. So, CODE24 built their data layer based on openEHR and built their full modular EHR system, mConsole, on top of that. It was living proof that openEHR works in practice and that a separation between data and application is not just a theoretical thing: it can be done.
Fast forward to 2026…
Things have changed. Data availability, interoperability and data reusability are topics that are high on the healthcare IT world’s agenda. There is no question about it: to be compliant with new legislation and regulations such as the EHDS, to leverage the promise of AI and to accelerate innovation, we need data-availability and we need standardisation. Some years ago hardly anyone knew what openEHR was, but this has changed as well.
It was time for the data foundation of CODE24 to be made available to the market and stand on its own. And so, at the beginning of 2026, Cadasto was born.
With its solid, proven background as a data layer for a fully operational modular EHR, Cadasto benefits from years of experience with and knowledge of openEHR and standardisation – and with the intricacies of the care process.
And CODE24? CODE24 still builds its solutions on top of the Cadasto data layer and acts as a Value Added Reseller. “Considering the state of healthcare IT when we started and the conversations we are now finally having, I am very excited for the time to come”, enthuses Martin van der Meer. As co-founder and Manager Business Development at CODE24, he is now not only servicing CODE24’s customers, but also promoting Cadasto as a VAR and growing its network of international partners. “At CODE24, we’ve always embraced collaboration – with our customers, partners and even with our competitors. This is the attitude we also bring to our role as a Value Added Reseller for Cadasto. In healthcare IT, you are truly stronger together. I am keen to discuss possible partnerships with others who feel the same.”
And now we are here
After all these years, Cadasto now takes its place in the market as an open data platform, available to healthcare organisations, collectives, regions, vendors and researchers worldwide – and as an openEHR Platinum Partner.
“Cadasto has been on my mind for years”, says Sebastian. “Now that it is here, available to all, I hope to make the implementation of an openEHR data platform even more accessible and easy. I truly believe it is worth it and I think that for many organisations, this is the right time to do it. We want healthcare to benefit from technological advancements, we want to use AI to support the care process – but in order to do so, we need reliable, consistent data. We need openEHR. But we also need to work together. As a community, but also as software vendors. If we aim to change the very data fabric of healthcare, we truly need each other.”
Unique strengths
Cadasto believes that each open platform has its own merits and that there will be many scenarios in which an organisation will choose to use multiple platforms side by side. Cadasto differentiates itself on multiple levels:
- by its unique implementation of the openEHR Demographics Specifications, including the use of the AQL for queries (both separately and combined with care data);
- by providing a SMART Connector to use the innovative SMART-on-openEHR Specifications;
- by its data mapping engine that enables it to read/write data in a more simplified way (ideal for, for example, low-code integrations);
- and, most recently, by providing a federation layer that will support the aforementioned scenario of leveraging multiple platforms.
An invitation
Cadasto aims to make it accessible to try their platform by offering a free trial, which can be requested through their website: Get Started with Your Cadasto Trial | Cadasto
Sebastian is also keen to keep giving back to the community: “I have been working on an openEHR Assistant MCP Server, which will hopefully make it easier for newcomers to start using openEHR. It can be used for early-stage archetype or template design, all according to the openEHR Specifications. I have made it available open source so anyone can try it for themselves. Any feedback is much appreciated.”You can find Sebastians article on the openEHR Assistant MCP Server on the Cadasto blog, along with a link to check out the project on GitHub.
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