Health systems around the world are facing the same pressures: aging populations, workforce shortages, and the expectation to deliver more with less. At HIMSS European Health Conference & Exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark didn't come with all the answers. It came to share, learn, and build connections.
That framing set the tone for three days of Danish presence at one of the world's most influential gatherings on digital health.
"Digital transformation is not a technology project. It is a system transformation." – Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Chair, Healthcare Denmark – keynote at HIMSS, May 19.
In his keynote, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen traced what makes Denmark's digital health journey distinctive – not the tools, but the decades of trust, governance, and collaboration that allow data to flow across the entire system. From a HIMSS TV booth interview (soon to be shared), he put it plainly:
"Many countries have strong digital tools. What makes the difference is whether those tools are part of a coherent system."
From infrastructure to applied reality
The day after, May 20, we launched the new publication "Digitalization in Danish Healthcare". A piece documenting 30+ years of strategic investment, public-private collaboration, and measurable outcomes. Not a blueprint, but a foundation for shared learning.
At the launch reception on the Danish Pavilion, three leaders took the floor and brought the publication to life:
"Over seven years, our scalable automation approach has released more than 180,000 clinical working hours." Anders Vedsted, Head of Data & Automation, Aarhus University Hospital.
"The new data platform now enables real-time patient data across the entire system – something we have spent decades building the infrastructure to make possible." – Peter Munch Jensen, Head of Department, Danish Health Data Authority.
"We built the Digital Health Centre around one simple idea: using digital solutions to keep people healthier, before they need the hospital." – Kurt Espersen, COO, Region of Southern Denmark.
One of the world's most digitalized healthcare systems wasn't built alone. It took decades of collaboration to make it happen – and the conversation continues.
See the days in pictures in the gallery below or watch it in video here.
