The European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, known as HERA, will again convene its flagship gathering in 2026, drawing industry executives, researchers, start-ups, EU officials and national authorities under one roof. The event is built around a single question that has gained urgency since the pandemic years: how can Europe develop, produce and distribute medical countermeasures fast enough when a health crisis hits.
Why This Forum Exists
HERA was created to close a gap exposed by COVID-19 - the lag between identifying a threat and getting vaccines, treatments or diagnostics into people's hands. Rather than operating as a passive funding body, HERA positions itself as an active coordinator, working with manufacturers, biotech firms and public health agencies before a crisis occurs rather than scrambling once one begins. Industry Days functions as the annual checkpoint where that coordination gets tested in conversation, not just in policy documents.
What Gets Discussed
The agenda spans the practical and the strategic. Attendees address EU preparedness planning, funding mechanisms available to companies and research teams, and the terms under which public authorities and private firms can work together without one side bearing disproportionate risk. There is also a forward-looking strand: identifying which health security threats - biological, chemical or otherwise - deserve priority attention over the coming years.
- EU-wide health preparedness strategy and gap analysis
- Funding routes for biotech, medtech and diagnostics developers
- Public-private partnership models and procurement frameworks
- Emerging and future health security risks
The Business and Policy Stakes
For companies in the biotech and medtech space, events like this are not merely networking opportunities - they shape where EU funding will flow and which technologies regulators consider strategically necessary. Start-ups in particular depend on clarity about procurement rules and funding eligibility, since the cost of developing a countermeasure often outpaces what a small firm can absorb alone. For public authorities, the stakes are equally concrete: a disjointed European response to the next health emergency carries political and human costs that no single member state can offset independently.
A Broader Pattern in Crisis Preparedness
HERA's approach reflects a wider shift across government institutions toward pre-positioning resources and relationships ahead of emergencies, rather than relying on ad hoc mobilization once a crisis is underway. That logic extends well beyond health - it mirrors how other regulators and industries have moved toward continuous dialogue with the sectors they oversee, replacing one-off interventions with standing forums. Whether this translates into faster, more resilient responses will depend less on the conference itself and more on what follows it: sustained funding, clear rules of engagement, and follow-through from both Brussels and the companies in the room.