In a new interview with ICT&health Global, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Chair of Healthcare Denmark, discusses Europe’s competitiveness, AI, health data and healthcare transformation with Artur Olesch, Digital Health Journalist and Editor at ICT&health Global.

A central message in the interview is that Europe’s challenge is not a lack of scientific excellence - but the ability to translate innovation into implementation and scale.

“In life sciences, competitiveness is no longer only about discovery. It is about the ability to move from discovery to development, from development to clinical validation, and from clinical validation to implementation at scale.”

The interview explores how Europe can strengthen competitiveness through healthcare transformation, AI, data and stronger innovation ecosystems.

Topics include:

• AI and healthcare transformation 

• European competitiveness 

• health data and the European Health Data Space (EHDS) 

• public-private collaboration 

• implementation capacity and innovation ecosystems 

• resilience and trust in healthcare systems 

A recurring theme throughout the interview is that Europe’s strength may not lie in copying either the US or China - but in building on its own foundations of trust, strong public institutions and collaboration across sectors.

According to Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Denmark’s international position in life science is closely tied to its ability to connect healthcare systems, research environments, companies and public authorities around shared challenges and implementation:

“For a small country, you cannot compete on size. You compete on coherence, quality and the ability to bring actors together around common challenges.”