At the recent DT4PH 2026 Symposium, hosted by KU Leuven, leading voices from academia, EU policy, industry, healthcare, patient organisations, and regulatory bodies came together to discuss how Digital Twins and AI can support the transition towards more precise, predictive, and personalised healthcare.
Digital Twins and AI are rapidly evolving from promising concepts into real-world tools with the potential to transform personalised healthcare. However, recent economic analyses highlighted a significant imbalance between the stakeholders bearing the costs of implementation and those benefiting from their adoption.
The symposium brought together the Belgian Digital Twin ecosystem to explore how these technologies can be responsibly implemented, scaled, and sustained while delivering measurable value for patients, healthcare providers, and society. Discussions covered the entire Digital Twin life cycle, from state-of-the-art technologies and clinical adoption to regulatory readiness, incentivisation, and long-term impact. Participants also examined the benefits, challenges, and open questions surrounding hospital uptake, opportunity costs, and the alignment of incentives. Throughout the day, attendees had the opportunity to engage with researchers and technology developers through live demonstrations and poster presentations.
Three key concepts emerged consistently throughout the event: need, share, and incentivise.
Need refers to identifying the needs of patients and clinicians, including unmet, obvious, and hidden needs, so that technology development is driven by societal demand rather than technology alone.
Share highlights the importance of exchanging data, resources, regulatory best practices, and knowledge through training and stakeholder engagement.
Incentivise reflects the need to ensure that all stakeholders clearly understand how they can benefit from the investments and efforts required to implement Digital Twins in healthcare.
By bringing together the entire ecosystem while technological developments, policies, and regulations are still evolving, the DT4PH 2026 Symposium provided an important opportunity to exchange knowledge, ask questions, and strengthen alignment across the initiatives shaping the future of Digital Twins in health and care.