The Congrex AI & Digital Immersion Programme convened leaders from European medical and scientific associations for a curated two-day immersion at the health.tech | Global Summit in March in Basel. The programme offered insights into AI across drug development, clinical trials, hospital implementation, patient care, and governance, alongside opportunities to engage with more than 120 health technology solution providers.
If Basel as the Summit’s host city was only natural given its long-standing role as one of Europe’s leading life sciences hubs, the journey for Congrex’s association guests concluded with an inspiring roundtable. The objective was clear: demystify artificial intelligence, identify practical implications for associations, and begin mapping how professional communities might collectively respond to this AI acceleration everybody is witnessing.
What emerged from the discussion was a shared realisation: AI is no longer a distant topic for research labs or tech companies. It is already reshaping healthcare, research, and the professional ecosystems that associations serve.
“We’ve been through a very rapid pace of awareness and education,” Noureddine M’ghari, Congress & Events Manager at EAACI, reflected. “It feels like we’re now arriving at a place where there’s a foundational understanding of AI… and now we know the questions we need to ask.”
Moving from Curiosity to Strategy
The Global HealthTech Summit provided a powerful backdrop for the conversation. With startups presenting new solutions, hospitals exploring AI-enabled diagnostics, and investors looking for the next breakthrough, the speed of innovation was a lot to take.
Many association leaders noted that their organisations often sit at the intersection of multiple stakeholders – from clinicians to researchers, from industry to policymakers – and therefore have a unique vantage point. At the same time, many challenges discussed during the roundtable, participants noted, are shared across disciplines: how to evaluate AI tools, how to evaluate AI start-ups, how to educate members, and how to integrate new technologies into professional practice.
As AI will impact, or is actually already impacting healthcare professions, the question is how associations should position themselves to respond. “In the lens of all this happening – and knowing we can’t control it – it’s going to impact our associations and our communities,” noted Michèle Schaub Jackson, Executive Manager of the European Stroke Organisation (ESO). “So now the question becomes: how do we respond?”
For many, the first step is simply building a shared understanding. AI terminology, tools, and applications sometimes remain difficult to grasp, particularly for professionals who are not directly involved in technical development. Participants repeatedly emphasised the need for clearer language and accessible explanations. As Gaston Chauchard, Financial & Administration Director at the European Renal Association, remarked. “If we want some of the solutions we were introduced to during the Summit to be adopted, the storytelling needs to improve. Not everyone listening is an IT specialist.”
Associations as the “Voice of Authority”
If one theme dominated the roundtable, it was credibility.
Healthcare professionals are increasingly surrounded by AI solutions – many promising transformative outcomes, but not all backed by robust evidence. In this environment, associations may have a critical role to play.
“The scarcest resource right now is credibility,” said Prof. Bruno Stankoff, President of ECTRIMS, the European Committee for Research and Treatment on Multiple Sclerosis. “We’re surrounded by thousands of companies and individuals. It’s impossible to evaluate everything. Having a trusted source that can validate a solution is incredibly valuable.”
Several participants suggested that associations could adapt familiar mechanisms (such as peer review, conference abstract selection, or expert committee) to assess emerging AI technologies.
“If you apply the same discipline used for scientific abstracts to evaluating startups or solutions that can impact our members, that could be huge for the sector,” Stankoff continued. “It would help investors, clinicians, and researchers identify real signals in all the noise.”
This idea resonated strongly with the group. Associations, after all, are built on trust and expertise within specific disciplines.
“There are many questions specific to each association,” Antony Jean Mertens, Executive Manager of ECTRIMS, acknowledged. “But the methodology to address them might be largely the same.”
That insight led to the idea of creating cross-association task forces to develop shared frameworks and standards. “Maybe as a peer group we can become the authority holders of this knowledge,” Antony suggested. “We can help set standards.”
Strategic Opportunities for Associations Around AI
- AI authority: set standards, issue data quality guidelines, and provide certified education.
- Leverage congresses: showcase AI start-ups, evaluate them through abstract processes, and connect them with investors.
- Education & Continuous Professional Development: create programmes integrating clinicians and researchers using AI.
- Data stewardship: steward datasets and define quality standards.
- Co-creation & partnerships: collaborate with start-ups on research and innovation initiatives.
The Education Imperative
If credibility is one pillar of the association role, education is another.
Professional societies have long been responsible for training and continuing education in their fields. AI, participants argued, should now become part of that mandate.
“Our associations already focus on education,” Michèle Schaub Jackson said. “But what we need now is training on the limits of AI: what it can do, and where we should stop relying on it.”
In healthcare, where AI-driven modelling and digital twins are increasingly used in research and clinical trials, understanding these boundaries is essential. But education also needs to be accessible and practical. Participants pointed out a significant gap in current AI learning resources.
“Most AI education falls into two categories,” Noureddine M’ghari said. “Either it’s produced by vendors teaching you how to use their product, or it’s highly technical literature meant for developers. There’s very little in between.”
One solution could be integrating AI literacy into accredited continuing education programmes, ensuring that professionals have both an incentive and a structured pathway to develop these skills.
Data, Ethics, & the Foundations of Trust
The discussion also touched on the deeper infrastructure underpinning AI: data. AI systems are only as good as the data they are trained on, and several participants noted that associations may be uniquely positioned to help curate high-quality datasets.
“We’re connected to communities around the world,” explained Eric Dexter, Data Scientist at ESCMID, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. “That means we’re connected to datasets – and we can help ensure their quality.”
This raises important questions around governance, the ethical use of data, and standards for AI deployment. There may, indeed, be an opportunity for associations to become authoritative voices within their sectors by exploring how they can steward datasets and set quality standards, recognising that access to data currently often sits with individual members rather than the collective.
“Associations have a role to play in the ethical use of AI,” it was noted. “It’s something we’re still not talking about enough.”
No Longer an Option
Despite the complexity of the discussion, the final takeaway from the roundtable was remarkably simple: adaptation is unavoidable.
“We don’t really have a choice,” Michèle Schaub-Jackson concluded. “It’s past the point of asking whether we want to adapt. The real question is how.”
Learn more about how Congrex Switzerland is supporting associations on congrex.com