Addressing Hospitals’ Challenges
The primary ambition of the event — which combined the Health on Stage.be event with the Hospitals.be 40th Annual Congress — was to narrow the gap between hospitals’ needs and the solutions offered by innovators, ultimately benefiting patients. Rather than following the traditional format in which companies present their latest developments, the initiative adopted a reverse approach: seven hospitals took the stage to outline their real-world challenges and invited the healthtech community to co-create relevant solutions.
“The Belgian healthcare market is structured around three distinct regions,” said Nora Harouchi, CEO of DECISIOS. “Being able to bring hospitals from all three together under one roof for a single day is a valuable opportunity. We came first and foremost to listen to their needs and support them in reflecting on their organization. Concretely, our technology enables them to evolve from a reactive to a predictive approach.”
The symposium also provided space to explore — through keynotes and expert panels — what the hospital of tomorrow promises and calls into question, covering themes such as artificial intelligence, home-based care and predictive medicine.
“In Belgium, Hospitals.be is redefining its role: Not above hospitals and not in their place,” said Dr. Wissam Bou Sleiman, President of Hospitals.be. “Hospitals.be acts as a connector, a platform, an accelerator, while always staying close to the realities experienced daily within hospitals.”
Innovation Awards Spotlight Tangible Collaborations
The event concluded with the presentation of the Innovation Awards, recognizing hospital/start-up partnerships with the most promising potential impact across two categories. Each winning duo received EUR 10,000 in direct funding to support prototyping and the project’s initial stages.
Winner of the “Patient Impact” Award (co-sponsored by Curewiki and the four organizers): Project Baby Detect, carried out by Klinik Sankt Jozef (Saint-Vith) & Thameus.
Baby Detect aims to complement traditional neonatal screening with a genomic test capable of identifying 165 treatable pediatric genetic conditions at birth that often go undetected today. The project addresses the challenge of late diagnosis and enables early treatment, thereby reducing mortality, disabilities, and inequalities in access to care.
Winner of the “Hospital Impact” Award (sponsored by Hospitals.be): Project SIM BLOOD, carried out by Cliniques de l’Europe & PLAY IT.
SIM BLOOD tackles the risk of transfusion errors through a serious game that trains hospital staff in best practices for blood transfusion. The solution enhances patient safety, standardizes procedures, and reduces incidents and waste in a context marked by blood product shortages.
A United Belgian Innovation Ecosystem
Health on Stage is driven by Belgium’s three regional healthcare innovation clusters: Biovia (Flanders), BioWin (Wallonia), and lifetech.brussels (by hub.brussels). These organizations focus on supporting the healthTech ecosystem, coordinating health innovation projects, and facilitating cross-sector collaboration. For this second edition, the organizers also welcomed another national stakeholder, Hospitals.be — the Belgian Hospital Association — which celebrated the 40th edition of its annual congress.
Header Image: Project SIM BLOOD (© Hadrien Duré)
Image in article: Project Baby Detect (© Hadrien Duré)
