For the healthcare ecosystem to function optimally, citizens and patients need timely access to innovative preventative, diagnostic and tailored healthcare solutions (e.g. for earlier detection or improved symptom management to reduce mortality and/or to increase healthy life expectancy). It is also essential that citizens and patients are more actively involved throughout the R&I process to ensure continued relevance, achieve user-centricity and promote literacy. To better understand the continuum between bench and bedside, healthcare professionals need advanced training in research approaches and researchers need exposure to the realities of healthcare.

Researchers in academia and industry need comprehensive access to state-of-the-art clinical and translational research infrastructures to develop their work. With a novel advancement in hand, innovators and entrepreneurs then need expert and continuous support to mature, protect and scale-up their innovations to become next-generation solutions, attractive for investment.
To ensure these solutions are tested effectively, clinical trials activity, in Portugal specifically, needs systemic reforms to remove key bottlenecks. To complete the cycle, health authorities and policymakers need access to the latest R&I results to inform policy and prioritize investment of public funds. Throughout this pipeline, all stakeholders need to be able to effectively communicate across sectors of the health ecosystem to build trust, co-create initiatives and source continued support.