Reimagining Europe’s Health Systems: prevention, innovation and crossborder cooperation in an age of permanent pressure

Europe’s health systems are often discussed through the lens of costs and pressures. Yet their performance directly shapes labour markets, productivity, social cohesion and crisis preparedness. As the EU seeks to strengthen its competitiveness and resilience in an extremely volatile geopolitical environment, this session will explore how health systems should be understood and governed as strategic infrastructure for Europe, in the same way that energy grids and defence are.

The discussion will examine how health fits into broader debates on preparedness, industrial policy and long-term investment, and what political choices are required to ensure systems remain capable of supporting innovation while delivering equitable care.

• Why should health systems be treated as critical infrastructure for Europe’s economy and resilience?
• How can health be better integrated into debates on preparedness and strategic autonomy?
• What political and budgetary trade-offs will be unavoidable in the coming decade?

Looking ahead, Europe faces a fundamental question: what kind of health systems will be able to cope with rising demand, ageing, repeated shocks and rapid innovation?

This session moves beyond short-term fixes to examine how responsibilities, governance and system design need to evolve. Participants will explore which core functions must be protected at all costs, which can be reorganised, and how roles should be shared between public authorities, providers, payers and private actors. The aim is to move from abstract calls for resilience to concrete choices about how systems should function in practice.

• What core functions must health systems safeguard to remain resilient in the long term?
• How should responsibilities be shared across public authorities, providers and private actors?
• What governance reforms are needed to allow systems to absorb innovation without destabilisation?

Digital tools, data and AI are often presented as solutions to Europe’s health challenges, yet many remain stuck in pilot mode. This session focuses on the practical conditions required for technology to become part of how health systems actually work, rather than an add-on.

Through concrete examples and interactive exchanges, participants will examine how care pathways, workflows and professional roles need to change when innovation is embedded from the outset. The discussion will also address procurement, data governance, skills and reimbursement as key enablers or barriers.

• What changes when digital tools and AI are built into care pathways by design?
• Why do many innovations fail to scale, and how can governance and incentives be adjusted?
• How can trust, data protection and accountability be maintained while accelerating uptake?

Chronic diseases are a major driver of health system strain and a critical vulnerability during crises. Prevention remains underused as a policy lever, often treated as a communication exercise rather than a structural function of resilient health systems.

Current models focus on treating illness once people enter the system, instead of embedding early detection, risk management, community-based care and population health approaches into routine care and preparedness planning. Making prevention a core service will require a shift in incentives, financing and governance, as well as a stronger economic case that links better health outcomes with productivity, affordability and long-term system sustainability.

From a policy perspective, this means prioritising community-based preventive care that keeps people out of hospitals; investing in digital solutions that support people at home and in remote areas; scaling up the use of AI and data to track outcomes, detect risk earlier and strengthen the feedback loop between innovation and delivery; and exploring the creation of a pan-European prevention fund that connects health and digital funding streams to support community care, digital tools and health education.

• Why is prevention central to preparedness and health system resilience?
• How can digital, AI and data-driven tools enable earlier intervention at scale and
  keep people out of hospitals?
• What policy, governance and financing changes are needed to make prevention a
  core health service?
• Does the EU’s Safe Hearts plan to tackle cardiovascular disease go far enough?