On 11th and 12th of January, we had our kick off meeting of COMPAR-EU in Barcelona. 26 researchers from 7 organisations located in 5 European countries attended the meeting. The project aims to identify, compare, and rank the most effective and cost-effective self-management interventions (SMIs) for adults in Europe suffering from one of the four high-priority chronic conditions: type 2 diabetes, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and heart failure. We will provide support for policy-makers, guideline developers and professionals to make informed decisions on the adoption of the most suitable self-management interventions through an IT platform, featuring decision-making tools adapted to the needs of a wide range of end users (including researchers, patients, and industry). During the meetings we discussed the project plan and advanced our scientific approach. Most exciting about the meeting was the mix of disciplines and research groups, including health services researchers, health economists, mathematicians, business developers and representatives of patient organisations, all working together to ensure patients gain access to effective self-management interventions.