WHO/Europe is committed to driving positive change and revolutionizing health promotion, prevention, and delivery through innovation. The Innovation Initiative aims to harness the power of emerging technologies and cutting-edge ideas to accelerate inclusive, equitable, and sustainable health impact in the WHO European Region.

Our work involves:

• prioritizing the development and adoption of health innovations that have long-lasting and sustainable impacts on health systems, preventive services, environmental sustainability, healthy behaviours, and societal well-being;
• ensuring that innovation for health and emerging technologies are accessible, affordable, and available to all, regardless of their socioeconomic status, geographic location or other demographic factors;
• ensuring that ethical principles are embedded in the development, deployment, and use of health innovation and emerging technologies, thereby upholding respect for autonomy, privacy, and human rights;
• ensuring our work is evidence-based and guided by rigorous scientific research and promoting the use of evidence-based practices to inform the development and implementation of health innovation and emerging technologies;
• fostering an environment of knowledge sharing, best practices, and collective problem-solving by collaborating with a diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, health-care providers, youth representatives, academia, industry, and civil society;
• advocating for robust regulatory frameworks that prioritize patient safety, data protection, and quality standards to ensure the safe, effective, and responsible use of innovation;
• promoting interoperability and responsible data sharing to enable seamless integration and coordination of health-care services and innovations;
• building public trust and engagement through actively prioritizing user needs and preferences, and fostering public awareness, engagement and dialogue regarding the benefits, risks, and ethical implications of health innovation and emerging technologies;
• driving the sustainability of innovations by providing training and capacity-building programmes to health-care providers and policy-makers, equipping them with the skills needed to manage and scale health innovations;
• supporting the integration of innovations into existing national health systems and broader preventive services, ensuring accessibility for all, including marginalized and hard-to-reach populations; and
• establishing robust monitoring and evaluation systems to assess the impact of health innovations and identifying areas for improvement, promoting a continuous learning approach.

WHO/Europe is proud to be at the forefront of innovation, working tirelessly to transform the health landscape in the WHO European Region.