Meg Folcarelli is the MedTech Industry Marketing lead. Known for her thoughtful storytelling, Meg helps translate ideas into messages that resonate, making communication more practical, engaging, and impactful.
Leaders from across the European MedTech community gathered on March 5, 2026 in Berlin at PTC’s MedTech Exchange. The PTC MedTech Exchange event series is the premier gathering for MedTech leaders, innovators, and experts focused on driving innovation, efficiency, and impact on patient outcomes. This year's event, co-hosted by Microsoft, brought together the European MedTech community to collaborate, share best practices, and explore solutions to the industry's most pressing challenges, including regulatory complexity, cost pressures, and the urgent need for digital transformation powered by AI. Here are the five top takeaways from the event:
- A strong data foundation is the key to success.
- Compliance is essential, yet consistent
- Lead with a North Star
- Let your vision guide your AI strategy
- Small wins lead to big transformations
Whether it's for your AI implementation or to strengthen your documentation for regulators, without a data foundation, organizations struggle to keep up with requirements and changes. Across sessions, teams described the same familiar pain points: scattered systems, paper-based processes, parts, and documents that don't talk to each other. The path forward isn't to overhaul everything at once. It's to find the smallest, most manageable step to improve your data foundation and build from there. The longer-term goal is a true end-to-end intelligent product lifecycle that connects design, engineering, manufacturing, and regulatory requirements into a single coherent system.
Supply chain disruptions, shifting trade policies, and macroeconomic pressures are issues everyone is dealing with. The leaders who come out ahead focus on what they can control. For MedTech in Europe, that turns out to be a real advantage. Europe's regulatory environment is demanding, but it's also stable and consistent. Jesus Rueda-Rodriguez, the Director General of Industrial Affairs & Strategies for the MedTech Forum, noted that Europe has built more predictable, transparent pathways over time, ones that ultimately protect patients and create room for innovation. In a volatile global environment, that consistency is critical.
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Europe may also be sitting on another competitive advantage that's still taking shape: the European Health Data Space. If properly implemented, it could become the world's largest repository of medical data — unlocking new possibilities for R&D, real-world performance monitoring, and regulatory oversight. Jose Rueda Rodriguez cautioned that success isn't guaranteed; fragmentation, interoperability gaps, and data governance questions remain real hurdles. But the opportunity is significant. As he put it, the potential to transform healthcare research and delivery is within reach — as long as patient safety and confidentiality remain at the core.
Uncertainty isn't going away, so the advice from leaders was straightforward: get clear on your north star. Know your goals, your values, what you're trying to deliver, and hold onto that. It's easy to get pulled in different directions when priorities compete, regulations shift, and new technologies emerge every quarter. Agility still matters, but agility without direction doesn't get you anywhere. The leaders who navigate uncertainty well are the ones who stay anchored to where they're going, even as the path keeps changing.
AI is top of mind everywhere, and there's no shortage of enthusiasm for AI in MedTech. However, only around 5% of companies are seeing a measurable impact from their AI investments, according to Stefan Frank of McKinsey & Co. The gap between hype and results usually comes down to strategy. The message from the exchange was consistent: don't chase use cases for their own sake. Start with your vision, then figure out where AI can genuinely move things forward. Ayora Berry, VP of AI Product Management at PTC, noted that the most effective organizations will treat AI as a co-creator, something that amplifies human judgment and opens up new possibilities, rather than a shortcut or a checkbox. Looking further out, agentic AI systems capable of automating requirements, modifying designs, and closing development loops are on the horizon. The companies building the right foundation now will be best positioned to take advantage.
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Trying to tackle digital transformation or AI adoption all at once is one of the most reliable ways to stall out. The consistent advice from the exchange: start small. Pick a defined problem, get a quick win, build momentum. Don't operate in a silo, and make sure your data is clean and structured before you try to scale anything. The question to keep coming back to is simple: what am I actually solving for? Think big, start small, and keep moving.
Looking ahead
The conversations in Berlin pointed to an industry that is at a real inflection point. The companies that will lead the next decade will be the ones building strong data foundations, approaching AI with a clear strategy, and staying anchored to a vision despite shifting landscapes. The tools are there. The pathways are opening up. The question is where your north star points.
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