From Hospital Corridors to EU Policy: BluSpecs at the TechConnect Stakeholder Conference
On 15–16 April, BluSpecs took part in the TechConnect Stakeholder Conference in Utrecht, a two‑day event that brought together policymakers, healthcare professionals, industry partners and researchers to explore a central question: how can humans and technology genuinely complement each other in European healthcare?
Over the two days, the programme combined plenary sessions, roundtables, interactive workshops and a site visit to UMC Utrecht, creating a rare space where frontline experiences, research insights and policy perspectives could meet.
This visit allowed participants to see digital technologies in action and to witness first‑hand how UMC Utrecht tackles the very real challenge of introducing new tools into a complex hospital environment, from early‑stage ideas to clinical testing and full‑scale implementation. It also showcased how industry, academia and clinical teams co‑develop solutions, a theme that sits at the heart of TechConnect’s work on human–tech skill complementarity.
Setting the scene with cases and the TechConnect Index
The conference opened with an overview of the work done so far, revisiting TechConnect’s ambition: to help organisations assess and strengthen human–technology skill complementarity through a conceptual framework, the TechConnect Index and a practical Toolkit.
From there, the focus moved into the case study and Index work, where partners presented how they are observing the introduction of advanced digital technologies across 13 cases in 5 hospital sites in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland. These cases look at real situations, from new clinical decision‑support tools to digital workflows – highlighting how teams either adapt smoothly to new technologies or struggle with misalignment, workload and trust.
This shows where the human–tech relationship is working, where it is strained, and what needs to change. This evidence is what will ultimately feed into both the TechConnect Index, which measures the gap between expected and actual use of technology, and the Toolkit, which will guide organisations on how to respond.
From cases to business as usual
We facilitated the workshop “From cases to business as usual”, by Brendan Rowan, Managing Consultant at BluSpecs and lead for stakeholder engagement and toolkit development within TechConnect.
The workshop started from a simple premise: successful pilots are not enough. If digital transformation is to make a real difference in healthcare, it has to become part of everyday practice. Together with hospital partners, Advisory Board members and researchers, we explored:
- How insights from the 13 cases can be translated into reusable patterns that other hospitals and sectors can adopt.
- Which enablers, from leadership and governance to skills, data infrastructure and incentives, need to be in place for new technologies to stick.
- What practical steps teams can take in the next 6–12 months to move from “project mode” to embedded, sustainable practice.
Using collaborative tools, participants mapped out short‑ and medium‑term actions, from appointing “digital stewards” on wards, to integrating the TechConnect Index into regular review cycles, to building communities of practice around shared challenges. These inputs now form a key part of the design of the TechConnect Toolkit, ensuring it is grounded in real operational needs rather than top‑down assumptions.
Human–tech complementarity and the bigger policy picture
Day 2 shifted the focus from individual hospital experiences to the wider innovation and policy landscape. Keynotes and sessions explored what human–technology complementarity means for the future of work in healthcare.
Building on TechConnect’s central concept, speakers stressed that humans and technologies should mutually enhance each other’s capabilities, rather than compete, with technology taking over tasks that machines do best, and people focusing on relational, ethical and complex decision‑making.
A presentation by Prof. Cornelis van den Berg sharing Cooperative development for digitalisation of healthcare and a keynote from Prof. Chris Ivory (Mälardalen University) explored TechConnect’s central concept: that humans and technologies must mutually enhance each other’s capabilities, rather than one replacing or undermining the other.
In a world where AI tools are increasingly embedded in clinical decision-making, radiology, administration and patient communication, this framing matters more than ever.
These discussions reinforced the need for tools, language and stories that connect very different user levels:
- The nurse grappling with multiple log‑ins and fragmented systems.
- The hospital manager deciding how to invest limited budgets in training and technology.
- The policymaker designing programmes for advanced digital skills at regional or EU level.
Keeping humans at the centre of Europe’s digitalisation
During the afternoon, we led a policy-focused workshop exploring how regulation, funding instrument and labour-market policies currently shape the way technologies and skills interact across Europe and where the gaps lie.
- Where do current policies help, and where do they unintentionally hinder human-centred digital adoption?
- How can evidence from TechConnect’s Index, surveys and case studies be translated into actionable policy levers?
- What role should stakeholders, professional associations, trade unions, patient groups and employers, play in shaping this policy envelope?
The outputs from this session will feed directly into TechConnect’s forthcoming policy recommendations, ensuring that the Toolkit speaks not only to hospitals and technology companies, but also to the policymakers, funders and regulators who ultimately frame the choices organisations face. In a moment when the EU is actively reshaping its approach to digital skills, AI governance and the future of work, this kind of evidence-based policy input matters enormously.
Europe’s digital future in healthcare will be shaped as much by how we design work, develop skills and build relationships as by the technologies themselves. The TechConnect Stakeholder Conference in Utrecht was a vivid reminder of that, and a strong confirmation that the project is generating exactly the kind of evidence, tools and conversations that Europe needs right now.