Health Tech Forward 2025 concluded in Barcelona, cementing its reputation as a critical anchor for the European digital health ecosystem.
Held on December 3-4, 2025, the event brought together over 1,000 attendees, including investors, entrepreneurs, and C-suite executives, to move beyond high-level trend forecasting and tackle the practical realities of scaling health technology.
In a sector often crowded with sprawling trade shows, Health Tech Forward distinguished itself with a structure designed for business outcomes.
The organisers, Futurae Media, prioritised curated connections over foot traffic, facilitating over 3,000 scheduled 1:1 meetings between startups and industry buyers.
This “quality over quantity” approach was evident throughout the two-day agenda, which featured more than 150 speakers and a distinct lack of generic sales pitches.
For those who missed the gathering, here is a detailed recap of the key themes, sessions, and market signals from Health Tech Forward 2025.
The “3Cs”: Cybersecurity, Compliance, Collaboration
With health data increasingly targeted by cyber threats, the “3Cs” emerged as a critical theme.
In sessions like “Health data under attack,” experts argued that cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue but a patient safety imperative.
Speakers highlighted that fragmented security strategies are no longer viable. Protecting health infrastructure now requires payers, providers, and technology vendors to operate as a single defence network.
A unified defence strategy is the need of the hour. No company can secure healthcare alone. Collaboration is foundational.
Value-based care: The European context
Value‑based care remains an ambition across markets, but Health Tech Forward told the hard truth: US models don’t simply translate to Europe.
In “Value‑based care but make it European”, Guillem Masferrer (Asabys Partners) and fellow panellists unpacked why American reimbursement frameworks often collapse under Europe’s fragmented public‑private systems.
They concluded that Europe needs its own playbook. One that reflects local regulation, payer complexity, and national health priorities instead of importing frameworks from the US, which are designed for a very different system.
AI: Moving from power to ethics
While AI remained a dominant topic, the focus shifted to governance.
Rather than focusing on what AI can do, sessions like “AI’s got power but not ethics” and “The AI health gap” asked who does AI actually work for?
Speakers warned that without strict ethical guidelines, the explosion of “Health Intelligence” could widen healthcare inequalities instead of reducing them.
“Currently, 16% of the global population accounts for 80% of AI‑trained data. When that happens, most patients are misdiagnosed or diagnosed late.”
-Dr. Manasi A., CEO & Co‑Founder of PAICON.
At the same time, the upside was hard to ignore. When governed correctly, AI can significantly enhance clinical workflows.
Jorge Pérez Hermilla, Country Manager (Spain) at Tandem Health, offered a grounded example of where AI does deliver value:
“Doctors spend well above 10 minutes just to catch up with a patient. With AI summaries, that could become 20 seconds.”
The takeaway: The technology is ready. Governance, liability frameworks, and clear human‑in‑the‑loop models still need to catch up with the speed of innovation.
FemTech and investment gaps
Women’s health took centre stage in “Can FemTech finally go mainstream?”, where investors and founders spoke candidly about the gap between market potential and capital allocation.
Annie Theriault (Cross‑Border Impact Ventures) and Patricia Ripoll Ros (Fundación VISIBLE) highlighted that despite strong demand, many investors remain hesitant because of unclear reimbursement pathways.
One of the standout moments of the track was the official launch of FemTech Spain, led by founder Lucia Orozco Lopez. The unveiling of the FemTech Spain Market Map v2, developed with Co‑Salud and Digital Health Connector, offered a much‑needed snapshot of the ecosystem.
The sessions that followed leaned into what’s changing. Speakers, including Carina Roth (Fund F), Paolo Pio (Exceptional Ventures), and Yahel Halamish (Nina Capital), alongside operators from DOMMA, Innitius, and Hologic, pointed to a clear shift:
FemTech’s next growth phase will be driven less by DTC models and more by B2B partnerships with employers and insurers.
Startup spotlight: What innovation looks like on the ground
Startups were at the heart of Health Tech Forward, with the Health Tech Challengers competition featuring 80 early‑ and growth‑stage companies across TechBio, diagnostics, and chronic care.
The Ultimate Challenger title went to Adora Digital Health, recognised for its evidence‑based platform supporting women through perimenopause and menopause with personalised care plans and specialist access.
Other finalists showcased just how diverse and ambitious the ecosystem has become:
- Elixion Medical: An IoT and AI system automating real-time patient monitoring in hospitals to replace manual tasks like fluid-line tracking.
- Kardi AI: A wearable chest strap and AI app for long-term heart monitoring that allows for continuous home tracking of arrhythmias.
- WHYZE Health: An AI-powered platform connecting patients and researchers using real-world evidence to help doctors choose personalised treatments.
- LightHearted AI: A non-contact medical device using laser sensing to assess heart function remotely, extracting ECG and blood pressure data without physical electrodes.
- Metyos: A wearable microneedle-patch that continuously monitors biomarkers like potassium through the skin without blood draws.
- Poppins: A digital parenting-support platform offering on-demand coaching and 24/7 pediatric care for families.
- Plas-Free: An Israeli biotech company with a blood-filtration device, ClearPlasma, that removes fibrinolytic proteins to stop severe bleeding.
Healsens received the Next Generation Healthcare Award for its AI-driven preventive health platform that helps detect disease risks early and guide personalised screening.
The award was introduced by 3xP Global, Inveniam Group, and 2b labs. As the award winner, Healsens will now present at the Ignite Investment Committee, opening doors to potential funding and strategic partnerships.
Investors: cautious, but still very much in the game
A major highlight of the investment track was the release of “The Power Players: The Top Investors Shaping Digital Health in Europe and Beyond,” the 2025 report by Galen Growth in collaboration with Health Tech Forward.
Powered by HealthTech Alpha data, the report pointed to a market entering a “Resilience Phase.” Capital deployment in 2025 is expected to exceed 2024 levels, with a clear preference for:
- Strategic partnerships (growing at a 14.4% CAGR since 2021)
- Growth‑stage companies with proven traction
- Clear clinical validation and ROI
The report found 26% of the world’s active digital health investors are based in Europe.
Despite tighter conditions, investor presence at Health Tech Forward was strong, with firms including Nina Capital, Heal Capital, Eurazeo, Serendipity Partners, and Debiopharm Innovation Fund in attendance.
Investors provided insights into the changing risk appetite for 2026. Sebastian Anastassiou of Nina Capital on the panel “How much risk is too much?” addressed the friction between payers and providers in adopting new technologies.
The general outlook suggested that while capital is available, funds are prioritising companies with clear clinical validation and proven ROI over those with purely speculative growth models.
Wrapping up
Health Tech Forward 2025 showed that the European healthtech sector is now focusing on real results, not just new ideas.
The event confirmed that success depends on getting solid proof (clinical evidence) that new technologies work, and then making sure health systems will pay for them (realistic reimbursement pathways).
The future of healthcare isn’t about building more tech. It’s about building systems that are secure, compliant, collaborative, and designed to work across Europe’s complex healthcare landscape.
For a sector often accused of moving too fast, that felt like real progress.
-By Rohini Kundu and the AHT Team
