March 2026 summit to bring Europe’s health innovation community together in Basel.
MCH Group, the Swiss-based global experience marketing leader, and Bits & Pretzels, Europe’s premier founder platform, today announced a strategic joint venture to relaunch the health.tech event on 3-5 March 2026.
The event, to be held in Basel, Switzerland, will bring together the most influential voices across the European and UK healthcare value chain—startups, scale-ups, industry leaders, policymakers, researchers, and investors—to confront the sector’s most pressing challenges and capitalise on opportunities to improve healthcare for all.
The joint venture forms a new company, health.tech Events AG, equally owned by MCH Group and Bits & Pretzels. Building on the strong heritage and positive feedback from previous health.tech editions, the 2026 event signals a bold repositioning. With over 5,000 attendees expected, the global summit promises to be Europe’s most connected platform for meaningful innovation in healthcare, supported by a new home at the epicentre of European life sciences.
“health.tech is not just being revived—it’s being reimagined,” said Andrea Zappia, Interim CEO of MCH Group. “We are combining the visionary energy of Bits & Pretzels with our global expertise in experience-led platforms. Our goal is to create a dynamic international ecosystem where health innovation is more than hype—it’s a driver of tangible, scalable impact.”
The relaunch of health.tech comes at an important moment for the European and UK health industries. In Europe health tech is facing increasing complexity, fragmented regulations, and a critical need for collaboration between innovators and operators. In the UK, the sector is eagerly anticipating the release of the NHS ten-year plan, which promises a greater focus on data and technology to enable preventative care and enhanced productivity. The 2026 health.tech global summit will lean into these challenges and embrace the difficult but vital conversations, with a focus on uniting stakeholders across the full healthcare journey—from prevention and diagnostics to treatment and care delivery.
“Over the past few years, health.tech has built an impressive reputation as a high-quality startup event,” said Tom Hill, Managing Director of health.tech global summit. “Now we’re evolving. This is about moving from showcasing the art of the possible to having grown-up conversations about operationalising innovation. We want the people who build great technologies to meet the people who implement them. That’s where impact happens.”
The stimulating agenda will include panels, debates, matchmaking formats, and curated content hubs, focusing on solving real-world healthcare system inefficiencies—not just showcasing great ideas.
“This isn’t about showcasing tech for the sake of it,” continued Hill. “We’re talking about building a global summit and an international meeting point where technologies are companions to therapies—solutions that are truly embedded in care pathways and make a difference to patients.”
Basel, already home to over 1,000 research groups and 800 life sciences companies including Roche, Novartis, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson, is uniquely positioned as the nexus of Europe’s health and life sciences sectors. Its location—at the tri-border of Switzerland, France, and Germany—makes it a strategic gateway for international attendees, while offering unparalleled proximity to global health leaders.
The 2026 relaunch will be supported by a series of lead-up events across Europe and a presence at the 2025 Bits & Pretzels festival in Munich this October.
“We’re injecting startup energy into Europe’s health transformation,” said Felix Haas, Chairman and Co-Host of Bits & Pretzels. “By merging our founder-first ethos with the depth of MCH’s global platform, we’re building the go-to event for anyone serious about scaling healthcare innovation across borders.”
With an ambition to match the innovation in the region, health.tech aims to become the global summit where Europe’s most forward-thinking health leaders convene, collaborate, and create the future of care.
Stay updated, and register for health.tech global summit via its website, www.health.tech.
