A journey toward the transformation of Health

A journey toward the transformation of Health

June 3, 2026

Joan Cornet Prat, President of InnoHealth Academy 

I have spent decades working in the world of health innovation, and I had never seen such an intense combination of challenges, nor such a clear opportunity to redesign a new way of understanding and delivering health. That is why, if you will allow me the frankness, I want to share with you what I think is at stake.

Europe has built health systems that are a source of pride: record life expectancy, universal access, clinical excellence. But the figures I have on the table give me an unease I cannot hide. The European dependency ratio estimates a shift from where we were a few years ago (2019), from 4:1 toward 2:1 by 2050. Chronic diseases already account for between 70% and 80% of health spending. Europe has a shortfall of 1.6 million health and social care professionals, which will climb to 4 million by 2030. And the gap in life expectancy between socioeconomic groups exceeds 8 years in certain populations in some countries. (1)(2)(3)(4)

My conviction is clear: we will not get through this with incremental reforms alone. And we no longer have the luxury of time.

“There is a risk that the preventive revolution ends up a missed opportunity if governments do not act with courage and a radical plan that reaches beyond short political cycles.” 

Jennifer Dixon, The Health Foundation

Why the current model has become obsolete

At InnoHealth Academy’s first symposium, in 2024, Dr Josep M. Piqué reached for a metaphor that struck me: the Choluteca Bridge. A solid, well-built bridge, but ill-adapted. When Hurricane Mitch came, the river changed course and the bridge was left intact, spanning dry land. That is how I feel, each day more clearly, about our care system. Robust, but designed for a social, economic and technological reality that has evolved very quickly over time.

The technological revolution based on big data, artificial intelligence, genomics, biotechnology and robotics opens a historic window to rethink the architecture of the health ecosystem. The question I ask myself, and ask you, is this: will we know how to seize it ourselves, or will we leave it in the hands of the big technology corporations?

The four premises of our Model for the Future

At InnoHealth Academy, modestly, we have worked to articulate a response that does not merely seek to add technology to existing processes, but to redesign the entire architecture around the patient. Our Model for the Future is part of the international current of Population Health Management and is built around four interdependent premises:

• Anticipation and prevention as the central axis. We need a system that prioritizes prevention and identifies risk before the pathology appears, integrating clinical, environmental, behavioural and social data.
• Digitalization and AI as systemic levers, always with governance, strict ethics and alignment with the European AI Regulation.
• The life course as a structuring axis. We must organize the health system around life trajectories (0–20, 20–70, 70–100) rather than around devices or specialties.
• Citizen co-responsibility as a connecting thread. Linking community bodies and neighbourhood, sports and volunteer associations as prescribers of health across the territory.

The outcome we pursue: an anticipatory, personalized, sustainable and, above all, people-centred system.

From model to reality: the Pirineus Project

A theoretical model only has value if it can be demonstrated in practice. That is why we have committed to the Pirineus Project, a health Living Lab, in consortium with the TicSalutSocial Foundation and the Sol/Solei Cluster, which will act as a territorial proof of concept in the Cerdanya, the Alt Urgell, the Pallars and the Berguedà.

It is not a traditional pilot. It is an open innovation environment where citizens actively take part in the co-design, testing and validation of the solutions. Each person will have an advanced Personal Health Folder and a Digital Twin that will integrate the data needed to support prediction, prevention and decision-making, both personal and clinical.

And we do it under a framework of ethical AI governance built on four principles I consider non-negotiable: algorithmic transparency, data sovereignty, professional oversight and equity. We are convinced that AI must be a support, without replacing the indispensable work of health professionals.

A knowledge infrastructure, not just projects

Transforming the system also requires transforming how we generate, validate and transfer knowledge. This is the role of the InnoHealth Knowledge Hub, which we have built on four pillars that feed one another:

• Think Tank. A tool to foster analysis, debate and strategic recommendations and precise actions, organized in cycles by thematic line.
• Health Transformation Journal. Our peer-reviewed scientific publication, to transfer knowledge and good practice, focused not only on novelty but also on the change management that makes an innovation work within a complex system.
• Health Innovation Learning. A flexible training ecosystem (masterclasses, specialized courses, 10–12 minute capsules) for professionals, managers and citizens.
• InnoHealth Library. An editorial curation system that selects, contextualizes and organizes key knowledge.

2026: the year of consolidation

After four years of collective construction, with 145 members, two founding symposia, several working and discussion groups, more than a hundred participating experts and professionals and a growing strategic consultancy area, we are entering a stage I consider decisive. Our 2026 Action Plan has four clear objectives:

• Deploy the Living Lab Pirineus with the first 200+ participants and the Digital Twin operational.
• Create the data and AI architecture with validated interoperability and ethical governance.
• Activate the Knowledge Hub with two complete thematic lines and the launch of the Journal.
• Prepare the international outreach with the 3rd IHA Symposium and the preliminary design of a 2027 Convention with organizations and experts from here and abroad.

Our call: let’s build the future of health together.

Over the years I have learned that no organization, however large and well-intentioned, can respond on its own to the complexity of the changes the health system needs. The transformation will be collective or it will not happen. That is why we make a direct call:

• To health professionals, as protagonists in embedding innovation into clinical practice.
• To managers and health institutions, as leaders and drivers of change.
• To citizens, as active participants in their own health cycle and in defining a closer, more participatory system.
• To the technology and business sector, as key partners, aligned with the objectives we have set ourselves.
• To investors and funding bodies, as drivers of innovation in models where sustainability and impact advance together.

In short, the real challenge is not only to identify what needs to be done, it is how we set in motion a real strategy of change for a transformation of the health system, in a shared, agreed way, with a systemic vision, for the health and wellbeing of citizens.

The future begins now… Are you in?

Sources:

1. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/SEPDF/cache/80393.pdf
2. https://www.efpia.eu/about-medicines/use-of-medicines/healthcare-systems/introduction/
3. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/health-at-a-glance-europe-2024_b3704e14-en.html
4. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/agenda/plenary-news/2025-02-10/14/healthcare-sector-addressing-labour-shortages-and-working-conditions