Andy Bleaden shares key takeaways from DHWS25 at 4YFN, where ECHAlliance brought members together, showcased ecosystem innovations, and turned conversations into action
We are back from an action-packed week at 4YFN/Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where we hosted our 12th Digital Health and Wellness Summit. It was great to reconnect with so many of our ECHAlliance members and dive into the latest in digital health innovation. Here are my four key highlights:
We kicked off with an exciting member connector session, bringing together industry leaders to foster direct networking and collaboration. It was fantastic to see members like Light IT Global, OnaWave Medical, Ulster University, Tehnopol HealthTech, WeMind Cluster, Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya (AQuAS), Carl, and Schiltron.io. together to exchange ideas and explore potential partnerships. This session truly showcased our ability to connect the dots and drive action within our ecosystem.
During the summit, we were proud to feature key contributions from our ecosystems. One of the standout sessions was Scaling Digital Health: Estonia’s National Digital Strategy as a Model for Success, where Merilin Varsamaa from Tehnopol HealthTech shared Estonia’s vision for scaling digital health services. Another session, Digital Health Innovation and Opportunities in ECHAlliance Ecosystems, highlighted groundbreaking work in women’s and mental health from ecosystems across Northern Ireland (Ulster University), North Sweden (Umea University), Finland (BusinessOulu), Spain (AQuAS), and Estonia (Tehnopol HealthTech). It was inspiring to see how our ecosystems are driving forward solutions in these critical areas.
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On Thursday, I had the privilege of co-hosting the Health Procurement Thematic Innovation Ecosystem, in collaboration with our Catalan Ecosystem. The event focused on the procurement of AI-driven healthcare innovations and featured input from Tehnopol, AQuAS, and TicBiomed. The session sparked crucial discussions on the role of strategic procurement in advancing healthcare transformation. It was great to see how EU-funded projects like InnoMatch and HIPSS are enabling collaboration and accelerating AI adoption in healthcare systems across Europe.
Beyond the sessions, one of the most rewarding aspects of DHWS25 was the opportunity to have face-to-face conversations with our members. These are the moments where real action happens. Instead of just talking about doing things, we were able to connect members directly and plan to DO things together.
It was an incredible week of networking, innovation, collaboration and action and I am already looking forward to the Summit next year.
