The HTAi 2026 Annual Meeting was held in Istanbul, Türkiye, June 6-10, 2026. Over 780 delegates from more than 64 countries attended the 5-day event. The event included two days of pre-conference workshops and three days of the conference presentations.
Thank You
Thank you to all of our Annual Meeting delegates who joined us for five days of learning, collaboration, and meaningful discussion. Your enthusiastic engagement and thoughtful exchange of perspectives are what make the HTAi Annual Meeting a truly global gathering for the HTA community.
We extend our sincere gratitude to our Annual Meeting speakers, moderators, presenters, whose expertise and insights inspired thoughtful conversations throughout the week. Through their contributions, delegates explored new ideas, challenged assumptions, and advanced discussions on how HTA can shape the future of health systems around the world.
A special thank-you goes to our 2026 Annual Meeting volunteers, reviewers, and local organizing partners. From supporting the scientific program and reviewing abstracts to welcoming delegates and assisting behind the scenes, your dedication and hard work were instrumental in creating a successful and memorable event.
We would also like to thank our sponsors and exhibitors for their invaluable support. Your partnership helps make the Annual Meeting possible and contributes to a dynamic environment where learning, networking, and innovation can thrive.
Most importantly, thank you to the global HTA community for making HTAi 2026 such a remarkable experience. Together, we continue to strengthen the role of HTA in shaping tomorrow’s health systems and improving health outcomes worldwide.
Pre-conference Workshops
Workshops kicked off the 2026 Annual Meeting with a diverse program designed to build knowledge, strengthen practical skills, and support capacity building across the global HTA community.
Over the weekend, attendees explored topics spanning foundational HTA concepts, emerging methodologies, and real-world applications. Sessions were led by expert facilitators who shared practical insights and encouraged interactive discussion on themes, including:
- Health Equity & Patient-Centred HTA
- Artificial Intelligence & Evidence Generation
- Digital Health & Emerging Technologies
- Policy, Implementation & Health System Transformation
- HTA Foundations & Professional Skills
Reflecting this year’s emphasis on capacity building, the workshop program also included a dedicated beginner-level session on presenting with confidence, helping newer delegates develop effective communication skills they could apply throughout the Annual Meeting and beyond.
The Workshops provided valuable opportunities for participants to expand their expertise, exchange perspectives, and connect with colleagues from across the HTA community, including researchers, health system leaders, industry representatives, policymakers, patients, and clinicians.
Welcome Reception
The Annual Meeting Welcome Reception kicked off on Sunday evening on a stunning dockside venue outside Bahcesehir University, celebrating the completion of workshops and setting the tone for an exceptional week ahead. Guests enjoyed delicious food, lively conversation, and a warm atmosphere that showcased the spirit of the HTAi community.
The evening featured a warm welcome from local organizers, with a vibrant introduction to the region and remarks from Birol Tibet, HTAi member and Founding Director of BAU-HTA, Annual Meeting Workshop Venue host; and Prof. Tunç Bozbura, Vice Rector at Bahcesehir University. Their remarks welcomed delegates to the university and highlighted the importance of bringing the HTA community together for the week ahead. The celebration continued into the evening, offering delegates an opportunity to connect with colleagues, meet new participants, and enjoy the hospitality of the region.
The Welcome Reception marks the first social gathering of the HTAi Annual Meeting and offers an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and meet new participants at the start of the conference week.
Main Conference Events
Opening Ceremony and Keynote Address
The morning began with opening remarks from HTAi Executive Director George Valiotis, followed by a welcome on behalf of HTAi from President Ann Single. Their remarks set the stage for the Annual Meeting and highlighted the importance of bringing the global HTA community together to share knowledge, perspectives, and experience.
A regional welcome followed from Kemal Memişoğlu, Minister of Health of the Republic of Türkiye, who spoke about the progress taking place across the region and the opportunities emerging to advance health and healthcare. His remarks provided a timely look at the developments shaping the region and the potential for continued collaboration and innovation.
A highlight of the morning was the keynote presentation by Jennifer Goldsack, Founder and CEO of the Digital Medicine Society. In an empowering and deeply personal presentation, Jennifer took the audience through her own health journey, offering a thought-provoking perspective on the patient experience and the gaps and needs that remain in healthcare. She explored the role of evidence and data in understanding and addressing these gaps, while challenging the audience to consider what the future of health could look like when the experiences and needs of patients are placed at the centre.
Plenary One
The first plenary session explored how HTA can move beyond its traditional role of evaluating individual health technologies to become a more proactive force in shaping the health systems of tomorrow. Against a backdrop of climate change, rapidly evolving technologies, ageing populations, pandemics, economic pressures, and declining public trust, the discussion considered why HTA must evolve and what that evolution could look like.
The discussion explored:
- From assessment to system shaping: How HTA can influence prioritization, governance, and resource allocation across programs and technology lifecycles, rather than focusing solely on individual interventions.
- From reactive to proactive decision-making: How horizon scanning, foresight, and attention to upstream determinants can help health systems anticipate emerging pressures, strengthen resilience, and move from “sick care” toward genuine health care.
- Redefining value: How HTA can incorporate equity, trust, sustainability, and broader social, economic, and environmental considerations alongside traditional evidence to better reflect what matters to patients, citizens, communities, and health systems.
- Responsible innovation: How HTA can help guide technological progress toward outcomes that strengthen sustainability, equity, workforce stability, and accountability, while navigating real-world trade-offs such as speed of access versus evidentiary certainty and immediate budget impact versus long-term environmental impact.
- Shaping systems together: How collaboration across sectors, disciplines, countries, and income settings is essential to understanding the broader factors that influence health and ensuring that perspectives from both established HTA systems and low- and middle-income countries inform the future of HTA.
The session positioned HTA not as the end point of a decision-making process, but as a bridge between evidence and the public good. Panelists and participants considered how HTA can help shape more equitable, sustainable, and resilient health systems by anticipating change, connecting evidence with lived experience, and taking a broader view of value and impact.
Exhibition Hall
Throughout the meeting, delegates gathered in the Exhibition Hall to connect with exhibitors, catch up with colleagues, and continue conversations between sessions. Centrally located just outside the Plenary rooms, the Exhibition Hall remained a lively hub of activity throughout the 2026 Annual Meeting.
Plenary Two
The second plenary session explored how Health Technology Assessment (HTA) can move from generating evidence to driving measurable change in health systems. Building on the vision of HTA as a shaper of tomorrow’s health systems, the session focused on what happens when evidence is put into action, examining concrete examples of how HTA has influenced decisions, changed practices, and delivered results for patients, populations, and health systems.
The discussion explored:
- From evidence to action: How HTA can influence guidelines, priorities, budgets, access, prevention, service delivery, and sustainability, with a focus on what actually changes as a result.
- Measuring impact: How HTA can demonstrate its value through tangible outcomes, including faster decision-making, improved access for underserved populations, more effective resource allocation, and changes across the technology lifecycle.
- Implementation in practice: The practical barriers that can prevent HTA recommendations from being translated into real-world change, and approaches that can help anticipate and overcome those barriers.
- Collaboration as a catalyst: How regional partnerships, joint assessments, shared approaches, and global collaborations can help agencies build capacity, adapt evidence, and translate lessons across different health system contexts.
- Building trust and legitimacy: How meaningful engagement with policymakers, practitioners, patients, and the public can strengthen HTA decision-making, recognizing that legitimacy and trust are critical to turning evidence into action.
- Learning across contexts: How established HTA systems and emerging systems, including those in low- and middle-income settings, are demonstrating practical approaches to using evidence to influence health system decisions and outcomes.
Through real-world examples, the session highlighted that impact does not always require sweeping system reform. Meaningful change can also come from practical, replicable steps that shift how decisions are made and how resources are used. The cases demonstrated what is already possible, while offering lessons that participants can adapt to their own contexts.
The plenary reinforced HTA’s role as a catalyst for change, moving the conversation beyond what HTA could achieve toward what it is already achieving in practice. It also set the stage for the next conversation: how these results can be deepened, sustained, and scaled through the methods, tools, and institutional frameworks needed to support lasting impact.initial hype.
Conference Dinner
What a memorable evening on the Bosphorus! Delegates gathered at a beautiful waterfront venue in Istanbul’s Kuruçeşme district for an elegant evening of local cuisine and conversation. With stunning sunset views across the Bosphorus and the surrounding city, the setting provided a spectacular backdrop for the conference dinner.
The evening featured a four-course seated dinner showcasing local flavours and plenty of time to connect with colleagues beyond the conference program. Delegates had the chance to relax, celebrate the successes of the conference, and enjoy a beautiful evening together in Istanbul.
HTAi AGM
The day began with the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Members, providing an opportunity to review key organizational updates, achievements, financial reports, and plans for the year ahead. The AGM also provided a transparent forum for members to ask questions, share their perspectives, and participate in shaping HTAi’s future direction.
A key highlight was the sharing of HTAi’s approved Strategic Plan, outlining the organization’s priorities and direction for the years ahead. Members also heard about the work the Board of Directors has been undertaking to define HTAi’s Critical Outcomes. These outcomes will help guide the organization’s work and measure progress toward its strategic priorities, with more details to be shared with the membership in Autumn 2026.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to outgoing Board members Grace Huang and Ken Bond for their dedicated service and valuable contributions to HTAi. Their leadership and commitment have helped advance the organization and support its work around the world.
We are pleased to welcome new Board members Dalia Dawoud and Yingyao Chen, and to welcome Eva Turk back for another term following her re-election. We look forward to their leadership, expertise, and contributions as HTAi continues to advance its strategic priorities.
Plenary Three
The third plenary session focused on the practical “how” of turning HTA evidence and recommendations into meaningful, sustained change. Building on Plenary 1’s exploration of why HTA must evolve and Plenary 2’s focus on what impact looks like in practice, the session examined the methods, tools, institutional frameworks, and capacity needed to embed HTA more effectively within health system decision-making.
The discussion explored:
- From evidence to implementation: How methods, tools, and institutional processes can help translate HTA outputs into decisions, practice, and sustained system-level change.
- Innovating HTA methods: How HTA methodologies can remain rigorous while becoming more practical, adaptable, and fit for purpose across different technologies, including medicines, medical devices, diagnostics, and other emerging innovations.
- Sustainability by design: How “green HTA” approaches can incorporate environmental impacts into assessments, alongside strategies that strengthen the long-term resilience, credibility, and adaptability of HTA systems themselves.
- Building capacity that fits the context: How skills, knowledge, and institutional readiness can be strengthened across both established and developing HTA systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, through approaches that reflect local priorities and realities rather than simply replicating high-income models.
- Beyond HTA agencies: How capacity building must extend to policymakers, implementing organizations, health professionals, and other stakeholders whose understanding and use of HTA are essential to turning evidence into action.
- Making HTA resilient: How governance, sustainable financing, institutional arrangements, and cross-sector collaboration can help protect HTA processes from shifting political priorities, competing demands, and changes in leadership.
- Designing for real-world use: How HTA processes can be designed to be technically robust while remaining feasible for routine decision-making, ensuring that methods work not only in theory but in the environments where decisions are actually made.
The session emphasized that rigorous assessment is only the starting point. For HTA to shape health systems, the people, institutions, methods, and structures surrounding it must be equipped to act on evidence. By bringing together practical tools, methodological approaches, capacity-building strategies, and lessons from different contexts, the plenary offered delegates a roadmap for making HTA a more sustainable and enduring driver of policy, practice, and better health outcomes.
Awards
HTAi Awards recognize and celebrate excellence in Health Technology Assessment, highlighting outstanding contributions to scholarship, scientific research, patient involvement, capacity building, and leadership across the global HTA community. We are delighted to extend our congratulations to all the exceptional award recipients recognized at the 2026 HTAi Annual Meeting.
David Banta Distinguished Career Award
The David Banta Distinguished Career Award is the highest honour bestowed by Health Technology Assessment international. Named in honour of David Banta, one of the most influential figures in the development of HTA worldwide, the award recognizes an individual whose career has demonstrated outstanding and lasting international contributions to the advancement of HTA.
Through leadership roles with the US Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the Pan American Health Organization, and pioneering European initiatives such as EUR-ASSESS and HTA-Europe, David Banta helped establish the methods, networks, and international collaborations that shaped modern HTA. A founding member of the International Society for Technology Assessment in Health Care, the predecessor to HTAi, he also played a pivotal role in the creation and growth of HTAi. He served as editor of the Society’s newsletter for more than a decade and was a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care from its inception until his passing in 2022.
Because of its significance, the David Banta Distinguished Career Award is not presented every year.
The 2026 award recognized Dr. Laura Sampietro-Colom, Deputy Director of Innovation and Head of the Unit for Assessment of Innovations and New Technologies at Clinic Barcelona University Hospital, Spain. Her career has demonstrated extraordinary dedication to strengthening HTA internationally and supporting the continued growth of the field.
Watch Dr. Laura Sampietro-Colom’s introduction video below.
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care (IJTAHC) Awards
- Egon Jonsson Award
- Candidates
- Grutters JPC, Bouttell J, Abrishami P, et al. Defining early health technology assessment: building consensus using Delphi technique. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 2025;41(1):e34.
- Holtorf A-P, Pegg M, Mueller D, McMeekin N. Toward including environmental sustainability in Health Technology Assessment. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 2025;41(1):e70.
- Lehoux P, Ganache I, Demers-Payette O, Silva HP, Plamondon G, de Guise M. HTA responsiveness to today’s challenges to health systems: a responsible innovation in health perspective. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 2025;41(1):e16.
- Award recipient: Grutters JPC, Bouttell J, Abrishami P, et al. Defining early health technology assessment: building consensus using Delphi technique. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 2025;41(1):e34.
- Candidates
The 2026 Egon Jonsson Award Recipients have generously donated the prize money associated with this award. The group have selected all4small, a Dutch charitable foundation, founded by and at the initiative of pediatricians, neonatologists, and nurses to better support vulnerable and fragile preterm infants, and to raise awareness for important research that will improve the survival chances of newborn children.
- Top Reviewer Award
- Top Reviewer Candidates: Qunfei Chen, Linda Mundy, Melissa Pegg
- Award Recipient: Melissa Pegg
- Special Recognition of Editorial Board Members: Cliff Goodman, Wija Oortwijn, Janet Boutell
HTAi Scholarship Recognition
- Patient Involvement Recognition Award Recipient (special presentation): Veronica Lopez Gousset
- Educational Scholarship Recipients, 2025: Emad Almomani (Jordan), Hamed Beiramy Ansaroodi (Iran), Linel Barutwanayo (Burundi)
- Educational Scholarship Recipient, 2026: Gebeyehu Abate (Ethiopia)
- Jill Sanders Memorial Scholarship 2026 Award Recipients: Trudy Leong (South Africa), Luciana Silu Mduma (Tanzania)
HTAi Annual Meeting Presentation Awards
- Best Oral Presentation: Awarded to Chris Suharlim, OP01, “Early Health Technology Assessment of a Digital-Serology Triage Pathway Supporting Anticipatory System Design for Musculoskeletal Primary Care”.
- Best Student Oral Presentation: Awarded to Marcelo Correia, OP60, “Socioeconomic Inequities in Cancer Treatment Access and Mortality in Brazil Using Real-World Data”.
- Best Poster: Awarded to Aline Santos, PP83, “HTA as a Decision-Making Tool in Brazil: When Evaluation Does Not Translate into Access and Results in Litigation”.
- Best Student Poster Award: Trudy D Leong, PP29, “Advancing Equity in Priority Setting for Essential Medicines and Diagnostics in Sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from a Systematic Review”.
Closing ceremony
HTAi’s President, Ann Single, marked a meaningful milestone as the first HTAi President with a background as a patient representative— a powerful reflection of the evolving role of patient voices in HTA. In her speech, she celebrated the community’s collective achievements and set an inspiring tone for the future, emphasizing continued collaboration, inclusivity, and innovation across the global HTA landscape.
Christophe Janssens, representing previewed the HTAi 2027 Annual Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, promising an enriching experience in a location where continents meet.
A heartfelt presentation featured photos capturing memorable moments from the event, celebrating the community’s shared experiences, learning, and networking, leaving attendees with lasting memories.
View the 2026 Annual Meeting Photo Gallery
HTAi 2027 Annual Meeting
Already looking forward to the next HTAi Annual Meeting? If so, we have some good news! The next Annual Meeting will take place June 12-16, 2027 in the bustling city of Brussels, Belgium— mark your calendars and save the date!