Cities@Heart joins IHI Forum 2026 panel on preparing health systems for innovation

Cities@Heart Director Prof Dipak Kotecha was a panellist at the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) Forum in Brussels this week, joining a discussion on how health systems can get ready to adopt innovation.

The IHI Forum 2026 took place on 20–21 October at The Egg in Brussels, under the theme “Translating research into long-term impact”. Over two days, speakers from the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency, industry, academia, patient organisations, and research bodies looked at how public-private partnerships and collaboration between different stakeholders can turn research into lasting benefits for patients and health systems.

On the first afternoon, Prof Kotecha, Professor of Cardiology at the University of Birmingham and UMC Utrecht and Director of Cities@Heart, took part in Workshop 2: “Enhancing healthcare readiness: how to prepare health systems for innovation”. Prof Linus Jonsson of Karolinska Institutet set the scene, and Prof Maroeska Rovers, Director of Health Innovation Netherlands, moderated. Prof Kotecha was joined on the panel by Angela Bradshaw (Alzheimer Europe), Stefan Schlichting (Dräger), and Prof Tanja Stamm (Medical University of Vienna).

The discussion focused on how to make sure health systems are ready to adopt innovative, integrated solutions that add value to prevention, diagnosis, and personalised treatment at a time of fast-paced change. The panellists also explored new care pathways to support patients’ transition from hospital to home.

Reflecting on the Forum, Prof Kotecha said:

“The Innovative Health Initiative Forum ... gave a fantastic view of the potential for public-private partnerships to have real impact on healthcare and to embed innovation in our usual practice. This is mirrored in Cities@Heart, where our teams are working to tackle health inequalities by addressing the key drivers of cardiovascular disease and improve community health.”

A public-private partnership for urban heart health

Cities@Heart is itself funded by the IHI Joint Undertaking. It brings together partners from academia, industry, municipalities, and professional organisations. The project aims to develop, pilot, and evaluate city-level strategies that reduce both the burden of cardiovascular disease and health inequalities. It focuses on obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and diabetes as key drivers of cardiovascular disease.

This work is taking place with seven pilot cities: Belfast, Birmingham, Cork, Izmir, Łódź, Udine, and Utrecht. Each brings its own communities and health challenges, along with experience of working across different sectors to improve health.

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