the work addresses the following sub-questions: i) which is the emerging innovation paradigm in digital health research?; ii) how are health data pools addressed at European policy level?; iii) do European data protection and competition law promote health data-driven innovation objectives, and how?; iv) which are the limits posed by the two frameworks to the free pooling of health data? The underlying assumption of the work is that both branches of European Union law are key regulatory tools for the creation of a common European health data space as envisaged in the Commissions 2020 European strategy for data. It thus demonstrates that both European data protection law, as defined under the General Data Protection Regulation, and European competition law and policy set research enabling regimes regarding health data, provided specific normative conditions are met. From a further perspective, both regulatory frameworks place external limits to the freedom to share (or not share) research valuable data.