Allied for Startups hosted its second annual DTx Startup Congress in Brussels on January 25th, 2023. The hybrid event brought together startups, policy makers, and ecosystem builders to exchange views on the current state of digital health in Europe and beyond!

The first segment of the event featured a panel discussion comparing & contrasting different European and global digital health innovation landscapes. Panellists shared their thoughts on key topics from healthtech reimbursement, access to funding and grants, and regulatory harmonisation across the bloc. This also featured the launch of the French Fitness Check, a HealthTech Charter initiative that zooms into reimbursement pathways for digital health innovators in the French ecosystem. In order to move towards a more digital-health friendly Europe, speakers urged for startups to be included as key stakeholders in the policy conversation and for their perspectives to be heard. 

We learned from success stories of startups developing disruptive patient-oriented solutions as we gave the floor to the European Patient Digital Health Award winners, Fidelio Medical and Klinka Digjitale. It’s always inspiring to hear from innovators that place patients’ needs and well-being at the core of their mission!

The second panel dived into how we can build a European Health Data Space (EHDS) that fully unleashes the potential of digital health startups. This interactive debate brought entrepreneurs and policy makers directly to the table, where speakers from the European Commission and European Parliament deliberated on the scope and opportunities of the EHDS and startup representatives responded with how this may impact innovation on the ground. To ensure the EHDS fulfils its promise for startups, speakers emphasised the importance of collaboration amongst stakeholders, harmonisation across European nations, and regulatory clarity with other key legislations such as the GDPR and Data Act. 

The DTx Startup Congress served as a platform through which to connect the startup community with the policy making landscape – and a pathway to discuss how best to boost healthtech innovation across borders. We’re thankful to Microsoft for hosting us and to the speakers and guests that joined online and in person for sharing their valuable insights and building on the conversation. We’re looking forward to the next edition!