Prof. Fiona Watt, EMBO Director, and Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos, Director of Bioengineering, Helmholtz Munich and TU-Munich, agreed to organize a policy workshop on Biomedical Engineering jointly organized by EMBO and the Helmholtz Biomedical Engineering Initiative. The workshop will be held at EMBO in Heidelberg, Germany, on March 3 and 4, 2026. 

The workshop will bring together leading international scientists, entrepreneurs, European funders, policy makers and other stakeholders to identify challenges and define actions to establish Biomedical Engineering as transformative force for healthcare innovations and economic growth in Europe. Our aim is to propose actions to shape a European Biomedical Engineering agenda that addresses current gaps and challenges for academic entrepreneurs. 

The expected outputs of the workshop include a white paper targeted to decision makers at the European Commission and an article in a scientific journal targeted at the scientific community.

The workshop’s international, collaborative and interdisciplinary setting will enable to identify high-impact measures, ensure visibility with decision-makers and facilitate new partnerships and alliances to transcend boundaries between disciplines, institutions and sectors – readily aligned with the priorities to innovate and scale startups and businesses for competitiveness, tech leadership and economic prosperity in Europe, and will be effectively communicated to politicians and policymakers at the European Commission and representatives from national governments, respectively.