2023 has been a remarkable year for the WorkInHealth Foundation, filled with impactful events and milestones that brought the European healthcare community closer together in tackling the talent shortage. From hosting career fairs that connected aspiring professionals with key recruiters to engaging in critical discussions at conferences, we’ve made strides in addressing the sector’s challenges. As we reflect on these achievements, we’re more motivated than ever to continue our mission. A heartfelt thank you to our supporters, and team.
Here are some key highlights and figures from this year:
May – 3rd Career Fair
A pan-EU online event connecting talents to recruiters to remediate the healthcare sector talent crunch.
EIT Health has been selected as the coordinator of the Skills Partnership for the European Health Industry, and in doing so, will collaborate closely with DG GROW and DG EMPL to bring about positive changes and boost skills development in the healthcare industry.
Following commitments in other industrial ecosystems, this Partnership is a concrete implementation of the Pact for Skills, one of the flagship initiatives under the European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience.
The Partnership’s aim is to work together to respond to the needs and challenges faced by the health industry and establish a shared model for skills development in Europe, pooling knowledge, experiences and resources. The overall goal is to attract new talent and support the existing workforce through reskilling and upskilling initiatives, promoting learning opportunities and ‘on-the-job’ training that strengthen the sector’s resilience and equip professionals with the skills they need.
Skills challenge facing the health industry
COVID 19 exposed the overwhelming need for a resilient and responsive healthcare system, and in response, the European Union’s industrial strategy upgraded healthcare to one of the key industrial ecosystems.
As one of the biggest and fastest growing industries globally, the healthcare sector is currently undergoing a rapid transformation fuelled by technological advancements, digital and green transition, economic changes, and societal shifts. These changes will enable innovation and high competitiveness of the EU in global markets and ensure the availability of medicines and devices for a good functioning and resilient healthcare system that is ready to respond in case of future public health threats.
Research by our WorkInHealth Foundation shows the sector is also facing a major skills challenge as it prepares for the future. With nearly 8 million jobs affected by the skills shift, the challenges of making the health industry attractive to young talent, especially those with data skills, are enormous.
And with the number of chronic patients expected to increase by 67% by 2050 and an ageing population in Europe that will increase the need of health industry products, the need to address this skills shortage has become even more crucial.
Skills Partnership objectives
The Partnership has produced a series of long-term objectives to realise its vision that encompass various aspects of the health industry ecosystem and aim to address the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead:
Understanding the current skills need in the health industry ecosystem
Bridging the skills gap
Enhancing health industry and university collaboration
Facilitating cross-border mobility and recognition of qualifications
Promoting lifelong learning and continuous professional development
Strengthening public-private partnerships
Pooling available funding opportunities
Enhancing the attractiveness of the sector
These objectives collectively form a comprehensive framework to address the skills challenges in the health industry. By pursuing these objectives, the Partnership will enhance the skills landscape, foster collaboration, support professional development, and ultimately strengthen the industry’s competitiveness and impact.
Skills Partnership initial actions
Initially, the Partnership will focus on enhancing the health industry’s skills intelligence, monitoring of new training programmes aligned with both the current and future industry skills requirements, and draft a skills strategy for European health industry. An upcoming priority is to build a strong Consortia that can apply for EU funding under the Erasmus+ programme and continue to explore other funding opportunities.
Given the complexity of the health industry sector, including its regulatory and quality requirements, the Partnership will also aim to address the needs related to rapid technological advancements, regulatory compliance, quality assurance, as well as supply chain, stockpiling or distribution management.
The WorkInHealth Donors Seminar Bridging the Skills and Talent Gap in the EU Healthcare Innovation Sector event was organized in Brussels on the 18th of September 2023.
In the video above, discover the key insights of our moderator Giedrė Peseckytė during the panel discussion on the topic of fostering innovation and closing the skills gap in EU healthcare.
Key insights from our panels of speakers can also be found below:
Giacomo Mattino’, DG GROW, European Commission
Jeanne TIEU-BENICHOU, Director of the Institute, Future4Care
Anaïs Le Corvec – Managing – Director Council of European BioRegions – CEBR
Sonia de Melo Xavier, Policy Officer, DG EMPL, European Commission
On the 28th and 29th of November 2023 from 9am to 6 pm, the WorkInHealth Foundation will hold the fourth edition of its Career Fair, a pan-european online event connecting talents to recruiters to remediate the healtcare sector talent crunch.
The first three editions of this event has already bring together :
750 + talents from all over Europe.
40 + companies actively recruiting from Digital Health, MedTech and Biotech and from big industrial groups to start-up.
300+ 1to1 meetings between talents and recruiters.
180 + position opened.
This career fair was created based on the idea that the future sustainability and growth of the sector is highly dependent on the ability to attract, upskill, retain and reskill talent. Although talent shortages exist across the board, there are particular skillsets where new and emerging roles are leading to exponential demand such as in digital, commercial, and innovation settings.
Why attend as a talent ?
Be aware of the opportunities the healthcare sector can provide to a talent like you.
Build up your network with strong and leading European healthcare actors.
Find an internship, a first job, your next career move
Get a better understanding of your role in the sector.
Plan One to One Meeting (30 minutes) with recruiters.
Why attend as a recruiter ?
Increase your presence as a leading recruiter among the European talent community.
Connect with academic institutions and their students and alumni.
Plan One to One Meeting.
Meet talents & Alumni from EIT Health and WorkInHealth community from all over Europe.
Organise 30 minutes meetings with any other stakeholder to promote your internships, graduate programme, work culture, corporate brand, etc.
Our 3rd Career Fair took place on 24, 25, 28 & 29 November 2022.
In the video above Gabrièle Breda, Research & Innovation Director at ProductLife Group, gives us a testimony and her experience at the Third Edition of the WorkInHealth Foundation Career Fair.
More insights from our participants can be found below:
Alexander Dmoch, Co-founder of Noctua Care
Céline Efaiki, Community Manager and QARA Consultant at Axeme
Deboleena Sadhukhan, Postdoctoral Researcher at Institut Langevin
The health start-up MiMARK has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Agnès Guerraz Prize for Women Entrepreneurship by the WorkInHealth Foundation, for their transformative work in gynaecological cancer care.
This award, named after the late pioneer in health innovation, Agnès Guerraz, seeks to honour her memory and support exceptional women entrepreneurs in the health sector. The award ceremony occurred during the Bits & Pretzels Healthtech event in Munich on June 20th and 21st. MiMARK received Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits, a cash prize of €10,000 from prize partners, along with valuable mentoring from Dr Florence Allouche, President of MyrPharm, a highly experienced entrepreneur and godmother of this first edition.
“Through the Agnès Guerraz Prize, EIT Health continues to shine a light on the incredible work being done by women entrepreneurs in health innovation. We’re thrilled to award MiMARK for its transformative strides in gynaecological cancer care. This prize not only honours the memory of Agnès Guerraz, but it also fuels the innovative spirit she embodied and inspires a new generation of women leaders in health innovation.” said Céline Carrera, Chair, WorkInHealth Foundation and Director of Education, EIT Health.
MiMARK is revolutionising gynaecological cancer care by developing a novel approach for the early detection of endometrial cancer. Their pioneering in vitro diagnostic test, WomEC, utilises a panel of protein biomarkers found in uterine fluids to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and comfort of endometrial cancer diagnosis, thereby offering an alternative to invasive hysteroscopies.
“Our solution has the potential to transform the way we provide endometrial cancer care. Not only does our innovation accurately detect endometrial cancer in its early stages, but it does so in a way that improves women’s care experience – by providing an effective, objective, and non-invasive alternative to hysteroscopies,” said Marina Rigau, CEO and co-founder of MiMARK.
The WorkInHealth Foundation is organising the Prize in collaboration with the Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp to promote career opportunities in the health sector. Along with partners and sponsors like Université Grenoble Alpes, INRIA, and Amazon Web Services, we have established this initiative to acknowledge and honour the dedicated women who are relentlessly working towards developing novel health innovations. The Prize also commemorates the legacy of Agnès Guerraz and serves as an inspiration for future women entrepreneurs.
Agnès Guerraz was a prominent figure in the field of health innovation, known for her exceptional research in AI and her pioneering work at INRIA and the University of Grenoble Alpes. Her unwavering entrepreneurial drive inspired her to establish the company SKOPAI, and her valuable contributions to EIT Health played a vital role in the establishment of the Venture Centre of Excellence. The Venture Centre of Excellence (VCOE) is a pioneering EIT Health and European Investment Fund (EIF) initiative, providing a unique co-investment programme and AI-powered platform connecting investors and European health SMEs to catalyse their growth from Series A to pre-IPO rounds.
Agnès Guerraz’s legacy continues through the Prize, encouraging women’s entrepreneurship, raising awareness, and promoting innovation in AI and health sectors. By recognising and celebrating the vital contributions of women such as Marina Rigau and her team at MiMARK, we keep Agnès’s spirit of innovation and dedication to women in science alive.
From May 23 – 25, between 9 am and 6 pm, the WorkInHealth Foundation will hold its third online career fair that will bring together more than 20 recruiters from Digital Health, MedTech and Biotech, with more than 200 talents (students, young graduates, in career transition).
This career fair was created based on the idea that the future sustainability and growth of the sector is highly dependent on the ability to attract, upskill, retain and reskill talent. Although talent shortages exist across the board, there are particular skillsets where new and emerging roles are leading to exponential demand such as in digital, commercial, and innovation settings.
This career fair aims to showcase positions and roles open in start-ups and companies and to create a connection between offer and demand.
The event will take place from 9am to 6 pm, 100% online and include:
Webinars sessions where recruiters will present their company and job opportunities.
Virtual booths where recruiters will display their open positions.
Opportunities for one-to-one meetings to find talent/jobs
The launch of EIT Health’s WorkInHealth Foundation took place on November 23 and is now available to watch, thanks to our event video recording.
The welcome speech by Celine Carrera, MBA, Director Of Education at EIT Health and Chairperson of the WorkInHealth Foundation can be seen above. You can also rewatch all round tables and the closing speech below.
EIT Health is setting up the WorkInHealth Foundation to support all stakeholders of the health sector to attract, recruit, train and retrain talent in healthcare innovation, to boost the attractiveness of the sector for new talent, and to support its transformation.
The event was supported by:
Council of European BioRegions – CEBR
Cap Digital
Biomedical Alliance in Europe
AI for Health
Round Table 1: “How to avoid the talent bottleneck in health tech start-ups”
This round table gathered start-ups, clusters and venture capital to look at challenges growing start-ups face in talent attraction and retention.
Moderator: Anaïs Le Corvec, Council of European BioRegions – CEBR Network Manager
Speakers:
Rowan Gardner, Co-founder PrecisionLife
Dr. John Bethell MBChB, Director & Co-Founder at LUKA BIO
The session featured the EIT Health Alumni Network, a community of over 2200 European members in health innovation. They shared their perspectives on the health sector, its attractiveness, its competitivity.
Moderator: Timo Uustal, EIT Health Alumni Network Board member et CEO Nursebeam
Speakers:
Jean-Baptiste MICHEL, Healthcare business developer and Podcast “Entreprendre dans la santé”
Sara A. Pedraz, Innovation Lead at GSK
Nick Xifaras, Past President, European Medical Students’ Association (EMSA)
Round Table 3: “High Value Care : Closing The Training Gap in Healthcare Professionals”
With clinicians and industry, in this round table, we looked at the knowledge gap to close to move to high value care models in Europe.
Moderator: Christina Rångemark Åkerman, Chairperson at Advisory Board High Value Care Forum EIT Health
Speakers:
Ania Henley, Adviser to EIT Health on Citizen and Patient Engagement, High Value Care Forum Advisory Board Member
Jan A. Hazelzet, MD PhD, Consultant and Prof Em Healthcare Quality & Outcome, Erasmus MC & Member EIT Health High Value Care Forum
Thomas Allvin, Executive Director for Strategy and Healthcare Systems & High Value Care Forum Advisory Board Member, EFPIA – European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations & EIT Health
Round Table 4: “BioManufacturing Skills Gap in Europe”
In this round table, we discussed the talent shortage in the biomanufacturing sector and highlighted solutions to upskill the workforce and sustain the industrial redeployment in the EU.
Moderator: Karim Vissandjee – Campus Biotech Digital Speakers
Speakers:
Cédric Volanti, Vice President & General Manager Viral Vector Services EU at Thermo Fisher Scientific
Nirlipta Panda Altran, Capgemini
Didier Malherbe, EU Biotech School & Chairman of the Board BCI PHARMA – We take care of your health
The shortage of talent in the biomanufacturing field was one of the key learning from the European Landscape on Biomanufacturing by EIT Health co-conducted with EIT Manufacturing coordinated by Council of European BioRegions – CEBR unveiled last October during HTID event.
