Programme time: 13-Oct | 11:00 | 60 min
Room: D. Luis Room (Industry 5.0)

Moderator: TBC
Speakers
•    TBC

Full description and objectives

Europe has established a powerful ecosystem to accelerate the adoption of AI and Robotics through initiatives such as AI Factories, European Digital Innovation Hubs (DigiHealthPT), Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEF-Health), Regulatory Sandboxes and the European Health Data Space (EHDS). Yet, for many SMEs, the challenge is no longer the lack of support, but knowing how to navigate this increasingly complex landscape.
This workshop will showcase the use case of the Portuguese innovation ecosystem acts as a trusted entry point and innovation orchestrator for European SMEs developing Robotics and AI-enabled Medical Devices and Digital Health solutions. Rather than offering isolated services, organisations such as IPN, INESC TEC and Health Cluster Portugal work together—and within European initiatives and partners such as Charité Berlin—to co-design tailored innovation roadmaps, connecting companies with the right expertise, infrastructures and partners at each stage of development. Three ingredients will be examined in depth:
• Trusted data foundations for health AI: privacy-preserving analytics, federated learning and synthetic data as enablers of the EHDS.
• Validation and regulatory readiness for AI-enabled medical devices: MDR, AI Act and access to TEF-Health services.
• Cross-border clinical and market validation, drawing on live projects and SME testimonials.
Participants will discover how integrated support can span technology development, access to validation infrastructures, regulatory guidance and clinical validation opportunities across Europe, including through networks such as TEF-Health. The session will also highlight why data governance, interoperability and regulatory requirements should be considered from the earliest stages of innovation to accelerate certification, market adoption and trustworthy AI deployment.
Ultimately, the workshop aims to demonstrate how coordinated national ecosystems, fully embedded in European initiatives, can become effective gateways for scaling trusted AI innovation across Europe with the testimonial of SMEs.

Why you want to join?

This workshop directly addresses Theme 3: From Lab to Deployment: Transfer and Validation.
Europe has built a rich portfolio of instruments to accelerate AI and robotics in healthcare, including AI Factories, European Digital Innovation Hubs, Testing and Experimentation Facilities, Regulatory Sandboxes and the European Health Data Space. Yet a large share of promising healthcare innovations still stall between prototype and certified product. For most SMEs and clinical research teams, the bottleneck is no longer the availability of support, but the difficulty of combining these instruments into a coherent, regulator-ready pathway, that also handles the specificities of health data (sensitivity, fragmentation, interoperability, secondary use).
Rather than showcasing individual support instruments, the session will demonstrate how these complementary initiatives can be orchestrated into a seamless innovation journey, including access to cross-border validation environments, clinical research networks and specialised testing facilities across Europe, such as those available through TEF-Health.
Through concrete use cases and SME testimonials, the workshop will conclude with recommendations on how stronger ecosystem coordination can reduce fragmentation, improve SME access to European infrastructures, and accelerate the deployment of trustworthy AI and robotics solutions in healthcare.

Running agenda