Events

The Biomedical Alliance in Europe organises regular teleconferences in different formations and organises multiple face-to-face meetings.

There are two annual meetings for all members; the Spring Meeting and at the end of the year the General Assembly. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss activities and relevant policy developments, take important internal decisions and to network.

In addition, the Committee, Taskforces and Working Group organise regular meetings depending on the activities and availability of their members. During these meetings, members exchange information and jointly work on common projects.

The BioMed Alliance also contributes to the organisation of ad-hoq events on topics that are relevant to its members.

Upcoming events

The BioMed Alliance will organise its Spring Meeting on 10 and 11 May 2023 online and the General Assembly will take place on 23 and 24 November 2023. The Spring Meeting and General Assembly provide a good opportunity to discuss important policy developments, BioMed Alliance activities, and decide on governance related matters.

Past events

EIT Health Summit

BioMed Alliance Past President Wilfried Ellmeier spoke at the EIT Health Summit, that took place from 24-25 May in Stockholm and online. The 2-day summit included a broad range of sessions on health policy and facilitating innovation in health. Prof Ellmeier presented his views on life sciences in transition on the second day of the Summit.

Roundtable on leveraging private investment in health and life sciences

Prof. Wilfried Ellmeier also spoke in a Business at OECD Business event on 1 June on leveraging private investment in health and life sciences, where a new report was launched on European life science and health investment attractiveness that the BioMed Alliance contributed to. During the event, key stakeholder representatives discussed how we can move towards an enabling life science ecosystem, and how we can leverage the nexus between investment and health.

Stakeholders and regulators discussed implementation HTA Regulation

The European Commission organised a Conference on the new Regulation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for stakeholders on 22 June and several BioMed Alliance members were present to learn about the new regulation and share the views of medical societies and healthcare professionals.

The new regulation on HTA will facilitate cooperation in HTA, and has the potential to ensure an efficient use of resources, reduce duplication and enhance the quality of HTA.

During the conference there was a session on healthcare professional and patient involvement in HTA, where Robin Doeswijk from EHA and Prof. Piotr Szymanski from ESC shared their views. The panellists highlighted that clinician involvement is essential as they are involved throughout the process from the development of new health technologies, to providing clinical expertise and evidence for the assessment to the use of the technologies in patient care. HTA is only as good as the evidence that clinicians provide, and it is important that we find the right experts to contribute. But there are some challenges that must be addressed including in relation to identifying experts, provision of training, rigid conflict of interest policies, the scattering of expertise and busy agendas of clinicians.

The EU Health Coalition organised its 3rd EU Health Summit on 15 November to map the future of the European Health Union.

The BioMed Alliance actively contributed to the organisation of this event which built on the lessons learned from COVID-19 and discussed how to go beyond the status-quo in health, seizing opportunities to make positive changes. The event was well attended both on site and by online participants and the BioMed Alliance successfully co-organised the Boosting Research & Innovation session, which was led by Prof. Chantal Mathieu and brought together high-level panellists from the research field.

eu health coalition ri 2

GA 2022

The BioMed Alliance was excited to invite members back to Brussels for its 2022 General Assembly, which was organised in a hybrid format on 30 November and 1 December.

This year we had an exciting new programme filled with discussions on EU policy, CME, BioMed Alliance activities, governance and the future of our Alliance. Because we did not have the chance to celebrate our 10 years existence face-to-face in 2020, we also invited members for a celebratory networking cocktail and walking dinner on the 30th.

 

 

eit health summit

EIT Health Summit

BioMed Alliance Past President Wilfried Ellmeier spoke at the EIT Health Summit, that took place from 24-25 May in Stockholm and online. The 2-day summit included a broad range of sessions on health policy and facilitating innovation in health. Prof Ellmeier presented his views on life sciences in transition on the second day of the Summit.

Roundtable on leveraging private investment in health and life sciences

Prof. Wilfried Ellmeier also spoke in a Business at OECD Business event on 1 June on leveraging private investment in health and life sciences, where a new report was launched on European life science and health investment attractiveness that the BioMed Alliance contributed to. During the event, key stakeholder representatives discussed how we can move towards an enabling life science ecosystem, and how we can leverage the nexus between investment and health.

Stakeholders and regulators discussed implementation HTA Regulation

The European Commission organised a Conference on the new Regulation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for stakeholders on 22 June and several BioMed Alliance members were present to learn about the new regulation and share the views of medical societies and healthcare professionals.


The new regulation on HTA will facilitate cooperation in HTA, and has the potential to ensure an efficient use of resources, reduce duplication and enhance the quality of HTA.


During the conference there was a session on healthcare professional and patient involvement in HTA, where Robin Doeswijk from EHA and Prof. Piotr Szymanski from ESC shared their views. The panellists highlighted that clinician involvement is essential as they are involved throughout the process from the development of new health technologies, to providing clinical expertise and evidence for the assessment to the use of the technologies in patient care. HTA is only as good as the evidence that clinicians provide, and it is important that we find the right experts to contribute. But there are some challenges that must be addressed including in relation to identifying experts, provision of training, rigid conflict of interest policies, the scattering of expertise and busy agendas of clinicians.

 

18 May 2022 | Brussels & Online

joint hybrid workshop 18 05 2022

The European Health Data Space (EHDS) can have a very positive effect on health research, care and innovation but it is necessary that certain barriers are addressed to maximise related opportunities. The EU Health Coalition, with the support of BioMed Alliance, EAU, EFPIA and COCIR organised a hybrid workshop with stakeholders and policy makers on 18 May to 'Maximise EHDS impact on better health data sharing'.

We started the meeting by listening to the Commission who presented the main elements of the proposal, then we continued with two case studies with practical examples of health data sharing. We finished with a panel discussion on health data sharing with a range of panelists from the EMA, Sciensano/TEHDAS, EPF, COCIR, BioMed Alliance/EAU and the Danish Health Data Authority. Discussions showed that facilitating health data sharing can contribute to better healthcare and research, and that there are numerous best practices that can be incorporated in the development of EHDS. The different stakeholders also welcomed the proposal, but have some recommendations on how EHDS should be best realised in practice.

A short report on the event and the recording are available here.

 

Poster AI session

AI & Healthcare: a match made in heaven? The use of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare is significantly increasing, with promising new developments that are transforming healthcare. AI has enormous potential to enhance patient care and facilitate health research, but there are also challenges and risks ahead.

Join us on 29 November from 13.30-15.00 for an online discussion on the future of healthcare and the integration of AI in clinical practice and health research. At the occasion of the BioMed Alliance General Assembly, a series of interesting speakers will share their experience and knowledge on the use of AI & the regulatory framework that intends to facilitate the development and use of AI technologies, while mitigating risks. There will also be time for questions and reflection on what the future will look like, and how we can ensure that clinicians, healthcare professionals and patients are part of the transition.

Speakers:

  • Dr. Angela Spatharou (EMEA Lead for Healthcare & Life Sciences, IBM, and EIT Health Supervisory Board member)
  • Dr. Gerard R. Dawson (CEO & CSO P1vital LTD and ECNP)
  • Salvatore Scalzo (Policy and Legal Officer AI Policy, DG CNECT, European Commission)
  • Prof. Frank Rademakers (Emeritus Professor Cardiology KU Leuven and CORE-MD)

The session is open to all upon registration here. More information is available on the agenda.

2021

The BioMed Alliance will organise its annual General Assembly from 29-30 November 2021 online. The event will combine a thematic session on Artificial Intelligence in health with an update on BioMed Alliance activities and decisions on governance matters. For more information please keep track of our newsletter or contact the office.

World Health Summit

On 24 October from 11.00-12.30 CET the BioMed Alliance is organising a session entitled 'Europe: Follower or Leader in Health Research and Innovation?' with prominent speakers. The session moderated by our president Wilfried Ellmeier features  Dr. Özlem Türeci (BioNTech Chief Medical Officer), Prof. Karin Sipido (KU Leuven), Jan Geissler (Patvocates) and more to be announced soon. The focus of the discussion will be on how EU research can remain competitive and how EU health research initiatives can help work towards reaching important health objectives.

More information is available here.

Gastein

BioMed Alliance President-Elect Gunhild Waldemar will feature in the session 'the Heartbeat of Health Innovation' organised by EIT Health on 28 September at 11.00 during the European Health Forum Gastein. The session will focus on how networks & collective action can help us cope with crises and lead the way to a more resilient future.

More information is available here.

The annual BioMed Alliance Spring Meeting took place on 20 May via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stirred new discussions on BioMed Alliance activities. This year the meeting was organised in two separate well-attended sessions, one in the morning on our activities and one in the afternoon on EU health data sharing during which we looked into the recent developments at EU level in the field of health data sharing, a topic currently high on the EU agenda, with initiatives like the European Health Data Space and discussions on the application of the General Data Protection Regulation in relation to health data sharing.

You can read more about the 2021 Spring Meeting in our May Update.

The European Parliament Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) is organising a workshop on 22 April 2021 from 14.00-16.00 CET on the new IVD Regulation and the need more evidence-based EU health related policies, in cooperation with the BioMed Alliance, ESC, EFLM and EHA.

The meeting will be chaired by MEP Alexandra Geese, member of the STOA Panel, and will gather prominent experts on the questions related to medical devices and in-vitro diagnostics, health data and evidence-based health policies to discuss the implementation of the new IVDR and its consequences for the health system.

Registration to the workshop is open to the public and possible here until 21 April.

STOA banner 4

The EORTC and the BioMed Alliance, together with MEP Maria da Graça Carvalho and MEP Dolors Montserrat, will organise an interactive webinar on 3 February 2021 from 15:00-17:00 CET on the issue of treatment optimisation.

The online event will bring together important health stakeholders and policy makers with the purpose to analyse how the current policy initiatives can facilitate treatment optimisation studies in the health systems across Europe.

The agenda is available here.

You can register to the event here.

Treatment Optimisation picture n1

The next General Assembly will take place on 26 November 2020, depending on COVID-19 restrictions it will either take place online or in the BioMed Alliance’s office in Brussels. The programme will include discussions on policy topics and internal affairs and the agenda will be published in due time.

2020

spring meeting 2020

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the BioMed Alliance leadership decided to host the 2020 version of the Spring Meeting online. During the virtual meeting discussed the latest developments at EU level, the activities of the BioMed Alliance and its different taskforces and decided on internal affairs. There were two break-out sessions as well, on the future of medical societies and the future of health research.

activities 1

On 31 January, the BioMed Alliance organised a joint event with the Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM) in the European Parliament. The event was attended by around 80 participants and was hosted by MEP Cristian Bușoi (EPP), MEP Maria da Graça Carvalho (EPP) and MEP Petra De Sutter (Greens/EFA). There were speakers from the European Commission, the European Patients Forum, Academia and EFPIA and our President Wilfried Ellmeier chaired the panel discussion.

With the increasing disease burden and challenges faced by European healthcare systems, health research is more important than ever. This was highlighted by the speakers and they also reflected on the barriers that should be overcome in the health research field. Discussions showed that there are interesting developments in biomedical research at policy level. In the coming years, policy makers will work e.g. on the implementation of Horizon Europe, several partnerships in health and the development of the European Health Data Space. The key word of the day was partnerships, it is vital that the European Institutions, Member States, academia, patients, industry and other stakeholders work together to ensure innovative ideas get the right support and can be translated into concrete solutions for European patients.

The report of the workshop is available here

activities 2

During the Berlin Science Week 2019, the Berlin Institute of Health organised in partnership with “Der Tagesspiegel” (Germany’s leading capital newspaper) the 4th Future Medicine Science Match on 7 Nov attracting up to 800 participants. Within this framework, the Biomedical Alliance in Europe in partnership with the Berlin Institute of Health organised an afternoon session to promote the value of health research and explore ways to bridge the gaps between basic and translational approaches. The session was well attended and included a panel of leading scientists and European and National Policy Makers.

activities 3

The BioMed Alliance and the European Association of Urology (EAU) organised a workshop on Horizon Europe and the EU research funding landscape in Europe. The workshop entitled ‘Navigating EU health research funding. Looking ahead to Horizon Europe 2021-2027’ took place on 19 November 2019.

The workshop took an in-depth look at funding opportunities within the new framework programme, particularly for biomedical and health research. The event was divided into four parts: an introduction, an overview of EU funding opportunities for health research, a panel discussion on strategic approaches and an exchange on tips for success.

On 14 May, the BioMed Alliance organised its 2019 Spring Meeting bringing together around 60 participants for discussions on the European Elections, Plan S and BioMed Alliance activities.

spring meeting photo

The Biomed Alliance opened its doors to representatives of member organisations and external speakers. The day began with a presentation by Richard Steel from Interel on the stakes in the European Elections. Afterwards, speakers from Wellcome Trust, the European Commission and the European Heart Journal exchanged expertise and positions on Plan S and its consequences for health research and medical societies. The afternoon session was dedicated to ongoing BioMed Alliance activities and work in the Committee and Taskforces.

For more information, see the agenda and the minutes.