As 2026 comes around, the healthtech sector is quickly gaining momentum.
With the AI revolution in full swing and companies racing to innovate in the space, it’s certainly an exciting time for the medical industry.
What is HealthTech?
Healthtech is a term commonly used to describe any technology that is setting out to improve an area of healthcare.
Whether it’s improving the accuracy of diagnostics, keeping better records of treatment or even making healthcare more accessible, healthtech is transforming how we receive medical care.
How Has HealthTech Evolved So Far?
Healthtech has undergone quite the transformation over the last few years. It all began with the aim of making healthcare more accessible, with early healthtech companies focusing on making bookings, notes and communications electronic.
Then came the wave of fitness trackers and telemedicine, that not only gave people more personalised insights into their health, but also made it easier for them to access care.
Now, the AI revolution is re-defining healthcare for good – allowing clinicians to diagnose diseases faster, read test results better and even predict future outcomes.
But what does 2026 hold for this sector? To find out, we asked the experts. Here’s what they had to say…
Our Experts
- Maxime Vermeir, Senior Director of AI Strategy at ABBYY
- Meera Watts, CEO and Founder of Siddhi Yoga
- Neil Ward, VP and General Manager, EMEA at PacBio
- Dr. Gen Li, Founder and President at Phesi
- Veronica DeFelice, Director of Biologics at Sapio Sciences
- Dr. Marta G. Zanchi, Founder and Managing Partner of HealthTech VC, Nina Capital
- Taha Ouertani, Founder of MindBay
- Professor Tara Rampal, Founder and CEO at QuestPrehab
- Richard Chambers, CEO at Get A Drip
- Anastasia Shubareva-Epshtein, Founder of Carea
- Justyna Strzeszynska, Founder of Joii
- Professor Esther Rodriguez Villegas, Founder at Acurable
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Maxime Vermeir, Senior Director of AI Strategy at ABBYY
“By 2026, healthcare organisations will increasingly rely on a hybrid approach to AI, combining generative models for reasoning and insights with purpose-built AI for structured data and compliance. This approach will be essential to tackle the sector’s overwhelming volume of unstructured information, from forms and scans to lab reports. The stakes are high: AI that hallucinates or misinterprets patient data is simply not an option. Organisations that harness AI intelligently, while safeguarding privacy and cybersecurity, will set the standard for cost-efficient, high-quality care in the years ahead.
“Microsoft’s Dragon Copilot already hints at this future, listening during clinical visits, auto-generating notes, and supporting multilingual transcription – a significant leap in AI-assisted clinical documentation. By 2026, AI agents like Dragon Copilot are expected to become mainstream across healthcare. Yet the next bottleneck won’t be the models themselves. It will be data chaos. Patient records, lab reports, and unstructured notes remain scattered across systems, making it difficult for AI to see and act on the full picture. Process intelligence will be critical to uncover inefficiencies in data capture and ensure AI assistants work seamlessly across complex workflows.
“The potential is already evident. After the UK’s NHS successfully used AI to screen 700,000 women for early signs of breast cancer, easing pressure on radiologists, healthcare systems worldwide are set to accelerate their adoption of AI to process and interpret medical data. By 2026, AI will do far more than detect anomalies in scans: it will cross-reference clinical notes with lab results, flag inconsistencies in diagnoses, and even recommend next steps based on patient histories. Automation in diagnostics will expand beyond imaging to unstructured data, enabling hospitals to extract, classify, and act on information buried in medical records, discharge summaries, and test reports. The next leap in healthcare AI won’t just be about seeing more – it will be about understanding more, transforming raw data into real-time clinical intelligence that informs care decisions and improves patient outcomes.
“But technology alone isn’t the solution. The biggest challenge in 2026 will be how people and processes work together. Recent research shows healthcare remains one of the worst industries for technical talent, with 42% of leaders admitting their employees lack the skills to implement sophisticated GenAI technologies—well above the global average of 29%. This talent gap has tangible consequences: nearly a quarter of respondents reported abandoning AI tools entirely, while another third scaled back projects due to implementation challenges, according to the ABBYY State of Intelligent Automation: GenAI Confessions 2025 report.
“Healthcare leaders will have learned from these early missteps. Rather than scrapping stalled projects, they will increasingly use AI to evaluate how their people, processes, and technology interact, identifying where investments can unlock the most value for staff and patients alike. Organisations that persist, pair AI with targeted staff training, and continuously review performance will see faster turnaround times, greater cost efficiencies, and better care delivery. Those adopting this people- and process-centric approach will lead the market.
“The pressure to manage costs will only intensify; healthcare expenses are expected to rise at least 10% in 2026, forcing organisations to justify every investment and demonstrate measurable ROI. AI itself will become a key tool for this: sophisticated process intelligence technologies can map, analyse, and predict complex workflows, then recommend improvements. Their predictive capabilities will allow leaders to anticipate the impact of changes – such as whether adding staff accelerates patient discharge – and ensure that both people and technology are aligned to deliver optimal care.”
Meera Watts, CEO and Founder of Siddhi Yoga
“My work at Siddhi Yoga focuses on making ancient traditions like yoga and Ayurveda accessible for modern life. We use digital platforms to bring holistic wellness to students worldwide. I believe by 2026, health technology (HealthTech) will shift its focus from simply measuring symptomatic metrics to using data for a more integrated, preventative approach.
“The future of wellness technology is going to begin validating the long-standing concept that has been supported by holistic practices for thousands of years and that is the relationship between the mind and body. As wellness wearables evolve, we can expect these devices to go beyond tracking your sleep patterns and number of steps you take per day. Instead, we will see the emergence of wearable and platform technologies designed to quantify other complex states including mental clarity, stress resilience and nervous system balance. Personalized recommendations based upon artificial intelligence will include an integration of ancient typologies like Ayurvedic dosha to develop wellness plans that target the underlying causes of imbalance instead of only addressing the physical output.
Neil Ward, VP and General Manager, EMEA, at PacBio
“In 2026, we will see stunning examples of how AI can interpret genomics data to understand complex biology. This matters, given the scale we are talking about: analysing one person’s genome involves tens of thousands of lines of code, and population-scale studies could generate up to 15× more data than YouTube over the next decade. We are already seeing major AI players partnering with science firms to analyse genomics data in natural language rather than relying on specialised bioinformatics code – like ChatGPT but purpose-built for science. For example, PacBio partner 10x Genomics’ is collaborating with Anthropic.”
Dr. Gen Li, Founder and President at Phesi
“After years of experimentation, 2026 will mark the year digital twins move from pilot to practice in clinical development. Throughout 2025, sponsors have increasingly explored how digital twin technology can optimise protocol and trial design, reduce costly amendments, and accelerate timelines. Yet uncertainty around regulation for digital trial arms has slowed broader adoption.
“That’s now changing. Regulators including the FDA are expanding their AI frameworks, finalizing risk-based guidance and credibility assessments to ensure tools are safe and effective in clinical development. This will create new opportunities to integrate digital twins into trial design and execution.
“To unlock the full value of digital twins, sponsors must earn regulatory trust through rigorous validation, ethical data governance, and clear documentation. Continued collaboration and feedback loops between regulators, sponsors and technology partners will be essential to ensure digital twins deliver on what matters most: faster, more patient-centric and more equitable clinical trials.”
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Veronica DeFelice, Director of Biologics at Sapio Sciences
“In 2026, natural language AI co-scientists will become trusted collaborators in the biologics lab. Scientists will interact with their digital notebooks using simple conversational prompts to locate data, access protocols, or record observations while working at the bench. Voice-activated AI assistants will enable scientists to query experimental results hands-free during active bench work. This eliminates the traditional friction of gloved hands navigating touchscreens or switching between physical and digital workspaces.
“These capabilities, built into AI Lab Notebooks, will bridge the gap between experiment and documentation, ensuring that every step is traceable without interrupting the workflow. The same AI systems will support surfacing relevant prior experiments or suggesting compatible reagents as procedures unfold. By bringing natural language interfaces directly into the scientific workspace, laboratories will move closer to fully connected, continuous research environments where information flows as easily as conversation.”
Dr Marta G. Zanchi, Founder and Managing Partner of HealthTech VC, Nina Capital
“Following the expiration of waivers and telehealth flexibilities, the Hospital-at-Home market will consolidate. By 2026, the surviving players will be those that have integrated deeply with hospital discharge workflows (provider operations) rather than those acting as standalone virtual providers. The model will shift from “disrupting” the hospital to “extending” the hospital’s bed capacity.
“We will see a major Pharmaceutical sponsor sign a primary evidence generation contract with a tech-first platform that displaces a traditional CRO. By 2026, the “tech-enabled service” model will effectively cap the growth of legacy human-service CROs—with the most compelling evidence coming from the Real World Evidence (RWE) category.
“By the end of 2026, AI agents will autonomously handle >50% of prior authorization requests and claims denials without human intervention. The “back office” of healthcare will remain the single largest category of IT spend. Slowly but surely, the software will be embraced as the peacemaker in the decade-long fight between providers and payers, united by the common goal to achieve revenue predictability and compliance with regulations.”
Taha Ouertani, Founder of MindBay
“I think for 2026, we will continue to see the healthcare sector adopt tech, and in some cases at a surprising speed. While the operation efficiency curve in clinical settings is the low hanging fruit that the new wave of AI innovation can address. AI capabilities to improve patients outcomes is just starting, while the evidence building and the work required will take longer, this will be a seismic change.
“Next year we might see AI based intervention with or without human in the loop accelerate. We might also see AI safely and effectively delivering parts of clinical interventions in highly scalable ways, whether that’s supporting clinicians directly or handling well-defined components of care. Marking the beginning of a much larger shift in how healthcare is delivered.
“Another exciting space to watch out for is the innovation that tackles obstacles facing the expansion of virtual hospitals. AI that can safely monitor patients, can be predictive and reduce ‘false positive’ escalation can increase adoption of virtual hospitals. There has already been a lot of advances in drug discovery platforms, but 2026 won’t be the year of inflection point – realistically, that’s likely to be 2028. However, progress in the space will be interesting to monitor.”
Professor Tara Rampal, Founder and CEO at QuestPrehab
“By way of background, over the past five years QuestPrehab has provided digital prehabiliation services to over 2,500 NHS patients – and last month began working with another NHS Trust, enabling it to offer the UK’s first fully tech-enabled pathway for bowel cancer patients.
“In 2026, healthtech will finally start doing what we senior clinicians have always wanted it to do: take work off the plate and lift standards of care.
“AI will move from curiosity to quiet infrastructure – triaging symptoms, drafting notes and letters, processing results and chasing routine admin, allowing clinicians to spend more face to face time with patients rather than with screens.
“Remote monitoring and virtual hospital models will mature, with continuous data from wearables and home devices flowing into shared clinical views instead of sitting in dashboards.
“One of the clearest illustrations will be perioperative care. Tech-enabled prehabilitation platforms will guide patients through personalised exercise, nutrition and psychological preparation before major surgery, turning what used to be a boutique service into a scalable, measurable standard of care. The same behaviour-change frameworks will increasingly extend into oncology, cardiology and chronic disease pathways.
“Across the NHS, US integrated systems, Europe’s public providers, the fast-moving Gulf market and China’s vast digital networks, the winners will be those who pair rigorous governance and interoperability with a simple clinical test: does this tool make it easier to do the right thing, first time, for more patients?”
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Richard Chambers, CEO at Get A Drip
“Next year GLP-1 medicines will be recognised as a longevity tool, not just about losing weight. Clinical data is already showing benefits in cardiovascular protection, liver health, inflammation reduction and even reduced cognitive decline. In 2026, GLP-1 will shift into the mainstream as a core longevity therapy, helping people improve long-term health markers. This will transform the entire category from diet drugs into a preventative health movement.
“Biomarker tracking will become the new normal in consumer health: Health tech in 2026 will move beyond simple steps and calories. People will expect to track their health the way they track their finances, with dashboards showing real-time change in cholesterol, inflammation, metabolic markers, hormones and overall health scores.
“Platforms will integrate at-home blood testing, AI-powered interpretation and personalised improvement plans. This will make healthcare measurable, proactive and habit-forming, and massively increase user engagement and retention.
“AI will become the backbone of everyday healthcare: By 2026, AI will be embedded into nearly every stage of a patient’s journey. We’ll see AI agents handling triage, drafting clinical notes, guiding prescriptions, offering personalised coaching and managing ongoing care. For clinicians, AI will act like a “second brain”, speeding up diagnosis and reducing admin. For patients, it will enable 24/7, personalised, proactive health support, creating a world where healthcare feels instant and highly accessible.
Anastasia Shubareva-Epshtein, Founder of Carea
“It is an incredibly exciting moment to be innovating in FemTech. My prediction for 2026 is a major shift toward personalisation and genuinely women-centred design. Women are increasingly frustrated with apps, wearables and health solutions that rely on data models built for men. One of my favourite quotes from Dr Stacy Sims is that ‘women are not little men’, a reminder we still need to repeat given that women were only included in clinical research from the mid-1990s onward.
“But things are finally changing. I am seeing more products created with women’s hormonal rhythms as the starting point rather than an afterthought. In 2026, consumers will expect an even deeper level of personalisation, and advances in AI will make this possible. Digital tools and medical devices will be able to provide care that reflects a woman’s own biology and daily experience, helping to ease the pressure on our already stretched healthcare system.
“I am also thrilled to see the growth of sustainable innovation. Menstrual and pregnancy related products were traditionally wasteful and single use, yet we now have the chance to redesign them so they are reusable, environmentally conscious and even able to deliver valuable biomarkers that can help us further personalise the care we provide.”
Justyna Strzeszynska, Founder of Joii
“2026 will be the year that women’s health finally moves away from vague symptom tracking and towards objective, measurable data. Across FemTech, we’ll see a clear shift toward biomarker-driven tools in menstrual health, fertility, menopause and endocrine conditions, because the sector is collectively realising that women have been asked to self-report symptoms for decades without meaningful clinical metrics.
“AI will accelerate this shift. Not in a sci-fi, ‘AI will diagnose everything’ way, but in a practical way by analysing patterns, quantifying change and giving clinicians actual evidence rather than guesswork. A lot of this momentum is coming from the growing acknowledgement that there’s a major gender data gap, and women’s health desperately needs more high-quality datasets to close it.
“Within that broader movement, menstrual blood will become one of the most important, and long overdue, sources of women’s health insights. We’ll move beyond labels like ‘light, medium, heavy’ into measurable bleeding metrics, including actual volume, clot size, flow characteristics and trends across cycles. Menstrual blood will start being recognised as a completely untapped diagnostic fluid, with relevance for heavy bleeding, anaemia, fibroids, adenomyosis, suspected endometriosis and more.
“Period products will evolve too and they’ll stop being passive absorbents and start becoming data-enabled health touchpoints. By 2026, using your period as a long-term health data point won’t feel unusual. It will feel like the natural next step in closing the evidence gap in women’s health.”
Professor Esther Rodriguez Villegas, Founder at Acurable
“I expect healthtech to shift from experimentation to evidence-backed implementation. The past few years have been dominated by enthusiasm for AI-enabled diagnostics and workflow automation and next year we will see a more rigorous interrogation of these tools. Researchers are already placing greater emphasis on validating AI systems not only for accuracy but for generalisation across diverse populations, explainability and clear clinical accountability. Technologies that cannot demonstrate this level of robustness will struggle to progress beyond pilot programmes.
“Another major development will be the growing focus on infrastructure. Secure data-sharing frameworks, federated learning pipelines and interoperable clinical APIs may seem less eye-catching than generative AI, but these foundations will determine which innovations can safely scale across healthcare systems globally.
“We will also see more convergence between biomedical research and real-world clinical data. Progress in digital phenotyping, longitudinal biomarkers and adaptive clinical trials will help move the field toward clinically meaningful personalisation rather than broad wellness-oriented solutions.
“Above all, 2026 will be a year of translating research into practice, translating AI outputs into clinical reasoning and translating technical advances into measurable improvements in patient care.”
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
