From an interactive opening in the Atrium to the Experience Centre, inspiring sessions and a closing keynote, the TechMed Event brings together healthcare, science, industry and government. Browse the full day's programme below, and click on any session for more details on speakers, content and location.
Healthcare is under pressure, and no one can hold that back alone. A dynamic, theatrical opening brings that urgency to life, with the entire audience taking part, as knowledge, business, clinical practice and government start building the hospital of the future.
Curious what the future of healthcare looks like? The Experience Centre is no ordinary exhibition floor—it's where interaction takes centre stage. Explore live demos, working prototypes and hands-on experiences, and talk directly with the innovators behind them. Discover how research ideas are shaping real hospitals and care settings, up close.
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Step into hands-on innovation. Five interactive workshops by TechMed Academy let you learn, experiment and collaborate: not by watching, but by doing. Covering upscaling, regulation (like MDR), production and talent development, the Innovation Labs tackle practical questions facing the hospital of the future, where learning never stops.
At the TechMed Talent Area: Research in Progress, young researchers take centre stage, presenting their concepts and posters. Discover how the next generation envisions the hospital of the future. Driven by research, creativity, and innovation, their ideas offer fresh perspectives on healthcare. Meet the minds behind the work and exchange ideas freely.
What does the hospital of the future actually look like? Prototypes built during an earlier think tank fill this area, offering a first glimpse. Now it's your turn: extend them with LEGO, sketch new ideas on flipovers, or reshape what's already there. Through hands-on building and small-group dialogue, visitors don't just imagine the future of healthcare; they help construct it.
By 2050, nearly 70% of people will live in cities, facing climate change, isolation, ageing, and rising healthcare demand. This session introduces Thriving Future Cities, urban environments strengthening resilience for people, places, and systems. A multidisciplinary panel from government, healthcare, industry and academia explores climate adaptation, healthy design, and social cohesion, engaging the audience on cross-sector collaboration for sustainable, wellbeing-focused cities.
Healthcare faces workforce shortages, rising demand, and complex care needs. Medical robotics could reshape delivery by empowering professionals, not replacing them. Building on the Hospital of the Future, aiming for tenfold productivity growth by 2050, five experts from healthcare, robotics, policy and industry explore whether robotics can boost productivity while improving care, examining breakthroughs needed beyond today's technologies.
Early detection often improves outcomes, which is why populations are already screened for cancers like breast cancer using medical imaging. Extending this approach to other diseases could improve outcomes further, but would undeniably increase workload in the health sector, as more imaging data needs to be acquired, processed, and screened by professionals, adding to the burden of an ageing population. Solutions may lie in AI image interpretation, scanners requiring less human assistance, or private screening settings. Speakers from clinic, science, industry, and government will share their perspectives and discuss future directions.
The Hospital of the Future depends on AI to deliver care beyond hospital walls, from diagnostics to workflow support. Yet the real challenge isn't whether AI adds value, but how we move it from promising pilots to structural impact at scale. Bringing together clinical, scientific, business and policy perspectives, this session explores what's still missing: data, infrastructure, funding, regulation, and how regional and national initiatives can reinforce each other.
Innovation in MedTech knows no borders. International partner ecosystems share their regional strengths through short pitches, showcasing expertise, capabilities, and startups. A panel then explores why cross-border collaboration matters and what's needed to move from good intentions to real, shared impact, offering candid perspectives and space for audience input to shape the conversation.
Oncology care has transformed dramatically in decades. In this interactive session, a patient, clinician, researcher, and innovator trace oncology's past, present, and future through a continuous narrative, from today's care experience to emerging technologies like lab-on-a-chip diagnostics. Each speaker passes the story forward, inviting reflection on what transformations we're willing to imagine and implement next.
Healthcare is moving beyond hospital walls through wearables, implantables, and "invisible" connected systems. From lessons in wearables transforming Parkinson's care, to emerging technologies redefining prevention, diagnosis and treatment, to a connected artificial pancreas automating glucose regulation for people with type 1 diabetes: this session offers a glimpse of a continuous, personalised, proactive future of healthcare.
The future of healthcare isn't waiting, nor are these founders. Four MedTech startups pitch transformative innovations at the NextGen Award Final, facing a Dragon's Den-style jury from healthcare, tech, entrepreneurship and investment after months of coaching and selection. The winner receives €10,000 to accelerate their journey. Come witness the next generation of healthcare innovation.
Military personnel operate under demanding conditions. Advances in sensors, wearables, AI, and digital phenotyping enable continuous monitoring of physical, cognitive, and psychological readiness. This session brings together Defence, healthcare, psychology, and data science experts to explore predictive, data-driven approaches for personalised training, timely interventions, and sustained performance, moving from measuring to predicting and optimising military readiness.
The day closes with a keynote unlike any other. Hendrik van Zwol, one of the Netherlands' leading AI voices and an award-winning AI filmmaker, brings AI to life through live demonstrations rather than slides. Turning his lens on healthcare, he explores what the hospital of the future can learn from AI's impact across industries, opportunities, risks, and ethical questions.