Bulgaria’s Digital Health Ecosystem on the Global Stage: health.tech | global summit 2026

At the beginning of March, the team of Digital Health and Innovation Cluster Bulgaria participated in health.tech | global summit 2026 in Basel – one of the leading international events dedicated to healthcare innovation, bringing together startups, investors, pharmaceutical organizations, and technology leaders from around the world.

The participation of the Bulgarian delegation was organized within the Bulgaria #BreakingGrounds initiative, implemented in collaboration with the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) and The Recursive. Thanks to this initiative, a delegation of nearly 20 Bulgarian companies was present in Basel, including a strong group of DHI Cluster members: Sqilline, VertiPay, WeLoveDigi, Omega Group, MY Synergy, bgo software, Sirma, Vereign AG, Verum Clinical Ltd., and KORE.

Over the two days of the summit, the companies presented their solutions and held numerous meetings with potential partners, clients, and investors, opening new conversations around international collaboration and market expansion.

Bulgaria as Part of the European Health Innovation Ecosystem

One of the key highlights of the conference was the CEE Health & Medtech Reception, which we co-organized together with The Recursive and BSMEPA.

The event was opened by Mira Ganova, CEO of DHI Cluster, who presented the development of the health and medtech sector in Bulgaria and the wider Central and Eastern European region. The presentation outlined key trends in digital health and highlighted the region’s growing potential to create technologies with global impact.

The reception also featured a panel discussion titled “Scaling Prevention: How Healthcare Systems Turn Early Signals into Clinical Action,” moderated by Teodor Antonio Georgiev, CEO of The Recursive.

The discussion brought together Nikolina Lauc (CEO and Co-Founder of GlycanAge), Nikolay Vasev (CEO of Epix AI), and Vlastimil Hrabal (CEO and Co-Founder of KARDI AI), who shared insights on how innovative approaches to prevention and early diagnostics can be successfully integrated into healthcare systems.

Key Trends in Health Technologies

Several major themes emerged during the summit that currently shape the global health technology landscape:

• Artificial Intelligence in healthcare

• Prevention and early diagnostics

• Longevity and personalized medicine

An increasing number of startups are developing solutions in these areas, while large technology and pharmaceutical companies are progressively directing their investments toward earlier disease detection and data-driven health management.

Conversations with companies and investors throughout the event also confirmed that healthcare is undergoing a significant transformation. Technologies that collect and analyze health data are becoming increasingly important in helping clinicians detect diseases earlier and better understand patient risks.

At the same time, technology platforms that enable interoperability between systems and ensure the security of medical data are becoming critical infrastructure for these new models of care. Such solutions are helping healthcare systems transition toward a more proactive and preventive approach, where diseases are detected earlier and treatments can be more personalized for each patient.

Expanding International Networks and New Partnerships

Participation in health.tech | global summit once again demonstrated the importance of international presence for the development of Bulgarian health technology companies. The support of the state, represented by BSMEPA, plays a key role in positioning Bulgarian businesses on the global stage.

At the same time, the community-driven model that DHI Cluster has been building in recent years continues to attract interest from partners and organizations across Europe. The event in Basel created opportunities for numerous new meetings and discussions, laying the groundwork for potential partnerships between companies, research organizations, and investors.

The health.tech | global summit 2026 once again confirmed that Central and Eastern Europe is becoming an increasingly visible player in the global health innovation ecosystem, with Bulgarian companies playing an active role in this transformation.