The programme

10:00 - 10:45
Plenary programme | Podium zaal

4TU.Health – Looking Back to Move Forward

During the plenary opening, the 4TU collaboration and 4TU.Health, welcome you to the 4TU.Health Event: Bridging Health and Engineering. 4TU.Health Chair Noortje Bax will present an overview of what 4TU.Health stands for and does, and will highlight its achievements over the past six years. Interactively, we invite you to join us in the co-development of a new 4TU.Health strategy during the rest of the day.

11:00 - 12:30
Parallel programme

Parallel sessions

1:	AI with purpose in healthcare Artificial Intelligence offers promising possibilities in health and care, from clinical decision support to the acceleration of research. In this session, we explore when AI genuinely adds value, with attention to strategic, ethical, and practical considerations for responsible adoption. Location: Podium Zaal Read more about this session
2:	Risk-based lifestyle change: daily-lifE moNiToring and Recommendations (RECENTRE): Collaborative Pathways for Cancer and Obesity Care This session, hosted by the 4TU.RECENTRE programme presents current initiatives in remote health monitoring for individuals living with cancer or obesity, integrating technology, data, and patient-centred design. Through interactive discussions, participants will explore how multidisciplinary collaboration can drive responsible innovation and improve long-term health outcomes. Location: Spectre Read more about this session
3:	The care journey as the missing link between technology and practice Every technological innovation must find its place within a complex care environment, shaped by established workflows, limited budgets, and changing professional routines. In this session, participants explore healthcare technology implementation from the perspective of everyday practice, co-creating a care journey centred on the needs of healthcare organisations. Location: Quantum 1 Read more about this session
4:	Strengthening support structures for HealthTech innovators Strong support structures for researchers, spin-offs, and start-ups are essential to translating health technologies into real-world impact. This session explores how Technical Universities facilitate HealthTech innovation and how these efforts can better connect to national and regional structures to strengthen the wider ecosystem. Location: Quantum 2 Read more about this session
5:	Turning Health Challenges into Opportunities with Creathons This interactive workshop demonstrates how creathons can connect universities, healthcare, industry, and public partners in tackling real-world health challenges. Participants will experience challenge-based learning first-hand, using the Lean Business Model Canvas to transform ideas into promising opportunities. Location: Quantum 3 Read more about this session

12:30 - 14:00
Meet & Connect | Foyer

Networking lunch

The networking lunch provides a moment to pause and connect in an informal setting. Participants are invited to meet colleagues from across disciplines and institutions, exchange perspectives, and continue discussions inspired by the morning sessions.

1:	Mapping the landscape: Towards a shared language Across healthcare and innovation, terms such as MedTech, HealthTech, Digital Technology, and Tech4Health are widely used. While each concept refers to specific domains, in practice, these terms are often used interchangeably, leading to ambiguity and confusion. 4TU.Health recognises the need to bring greater clarity to this landscape. Establishing a shared understanding is essential to effectively discuss and advance solutions in healthcare, as well as to support education, innovation, implementation, and scaling. During the event, we invite you to actively contribute to this exploration. Researchers will be presented with a range of examples and asked to indicate which category or categories they believe best apply. Through this collective input, an initial mapping will emerge, offering insight into how these concepts are currently understood within the community and forming a foundation for further alignment.
2:	Health Across 4TU Health functions as an integrative societal challenge at the intersection of technology, education, data and impact; calling for ideas, methods and perspectives from across disciplines and networks. Because of this, health plays a central role across many parts of 4TU. This poster exhibition brings together contributions from multiple 4TU networks; their activities, projects and approaches related to health and care. Together, these posters offer a snapshot of the rich and diverse landscape of health‑related work within 4TU.By putting these activities side by side, the exhibition creates space for new conversations, unexpected connections and shared inspiration. Visitors are invited to explore how different networks approach health and care, to recognize common ground, and to imagine how collaboration across networks can further strengthen 4TU’s impact in this domain.

Mapping the landscape: Towards a shared language

Across healthcare and innovation, terms such as MedTech, HealthTech, Digital Technology, and Tech4Health are widely used. While each concept refers to specific domains, in practice, these terms are often used interchangeably, leading to ambiguity and confusion. 4TU.Health recognises the need to bring greater clarity to this landscape. Establishing a shared understanding is essential to effectively discuss and advance solutions in healthcare, as well as to support education, innovation, implementation, and scaling.

During the event, we invite you to actively contribute to this exploration. Researchers will be presented with a range of examples and asked to indicate which category or categories they believe best apply. Through this collective input, an initial mapping will emerge, offering insight into how these concepts are currently understood within the community and forming a foundation for further alignment.

Health Across 4TU

Health functions as an integrative societal challenge at the intersection of technology, education, data and impact; calling for ideas, methods and perspectives from across disciplines and networks. Because of this, health plays a central role across many parts of 4TU.

This poster exhibition brings together contributions from multiple 4TU networks; their activities, projects and approaches related to health and care. Together, these posters offer a snapshot of the rich and diverse landscape of health‑related work within 4TU.By putting these activities side by side, the exhibition creates space for new conversations, unexpected connections and shared inspiration. Visitors are invited to explore how different networks approach health and care, to recognize common ground, and to imagine how collaboration across networks can further strengthen 4TU’s impact in this domain.

14:00 - 15:30
Parallel programme

Parallel sessions

6:	Shaping Tomorrow’s Imaging Breakthroughs in modular imaging systems, multispectral hybrid technologies, and image-guided interventions are transforming healthcare and accelerating personalised care. This session shares insights from the National Technology Strategy on Imaging and the Precision Medicine project, exploring how knowledge and strategy can be translated into real-world solutions. Location: Podium Zaal Read more about this session
7:	Monitoring of bioengineered systems: challenges and innovations Bioengineered systems such as organs-on-chip and advanced cellular bioreactors offer remarkable potential for studying human physiology and developing next-generation therapies, yet require robust real-time monitoring to ensure reproducibility and meaningful biological data. This session explores emerging innovations in sensor integration and detection strategies, from electrical and optical to biochemical and mechanical approaches, envisioning the future of integrated monitoring solutions for bioengineered platforms. Location: Quantum 1 Read more about this session
8:	Implementation and Scaling in MedTech Technological innovation alone is not enough to transform healthcare, as the MedTech sector faces unique implementation and scaling challenges that set it apart from other industries. This session examines key hurdles along the MedTech innovation journey and fosters shared responsibility across the stakeholder ecosystem to turn innovation into sustainable healthcare impact. Location: Spectre Read more about this session
9:	How Technology Transforms the Professional Technology is reshaping healthcare professions at a pace, and Technical Universities are investing in innovative education to train future-ready professionals who can engineer technology in practice. This session brings together participants from clinical practice, academia, and professional associations to discuss collaboration in shaping new educational programmes for healthcare transformation. Location: Quantum 2 Read more about this session

15:45 - 16:30
Plenary programme | Podium zaal
Language: Dutch (translation tool to English available)

Panel discussion: Bridging Health & Technology Together

The closing plenary session brings together diverse stakeholder perspectives to reflect on the role of technology in shaping the future of health and care. Building on insights from the parallel sessions, this panel discussion explores how technological innovation can contribute to sustainable, accessible, and impactful healthcare.

The session addresses key questions around the opportunities and limitations of technology in health and care, the conditions required for responsible and effective implementation, and the implications for research, education, and collaboration. Particular attention is given to the evolving role of the Dutch technical universities and the strategic position of the 4TU.Health Centre in setting priorities for the years ahead. By connecting perspectives from across the ecosystem, this plenary aims to provide shared direction and inform the next steps in strengthening the bridge between health and technology.

Panel members:

16:30 - 16:45
Plenary programme | Podium zaal

Wrap-up & Closing words

The event concludes with a concise wrap-up reflecting on the concrete ideas and directions that emerged during the parallel sessions. These insights highlight opportunities for joint initiatives and collaborative proposals across the identified thematic areas. The closing looks ahead to how these ideas can be further developed within the 4TU.Health community, providing a shared starting point for future collaboration in health and technology.

The programme

Registration & Coffee

4TU.Health – Looking Back to Move Forward

Parallel sessions

Networking lunch

Parallel sessions

Panel discussion: Bridging Health & Technology Together

Panel members:

Wrap-up & Closing words

Informal drinks