🌐 Fortrea Innovation & Technology Summit – EU
📅 Monday, November 2, 2026
📍 Basel, Switzerland | Marriott Basel Hotel
Join industry leaders at the Fortrea Innovation & Technology Summit – EU to explore how AI, behavioural science, and ecosystem collaboration are transforming clinical research. Building on the highly rated Boston Summit, this curated executive experience focuses on one clear priority: turning innovation into real-world impact.
Building on the success of the inaugural Fortrea Innovation & Technology Summit in Boston the EU Summit brings an even sharper focus on what matters most: turning innovation into real-world impact.
The Boston Summit made one thing clear: the industry’s challenge is no longer technology itself, but how we implement, scale, and drive adoption in a complex, human-centred ecosystem. Leaders consistently emphasized that success will depend on collaboration across sponsors, CROs, and sites, responsible use of AI, and solutions that seamlessly integrate into real workflows rather than add friction.
The EU Summit builds directly on these insights—bringing together senior leaders from across pharma, biotech, technology, and academia for a highly curated, executive-level experience focused on:
-
Accelerating the future of clinical research through technology and ecosystem collaboration
-
Harnessing AI responsibly to augment human expertise and compress timelines
-
Embedding behavioural science and user-centric design to drive adoption at scale
-
Aligning the clinical trial ecosystem—from sponsors to sites—to deliver more efficient, patient-centric outcomes
-
Advancing ethical and sustainable clinical research practices
Across a focused, high-impact afternoon, attendees will hear from leading voices including Microsoft, Bayer, King’s College London, Veeva, and Fortrea leadership—exploring topics from the Age of Intelligence to ethical leadership, behavioural science, and cross-industry transformation.
Designed to maximize meaningful engagement, the EU Summit emphasizes quality of audience, depth of discussion, and tangible takeaways—creating an environment where senior leaders can connect, challenge thinking, and shape the next phase of clinical research innovation.
The day concludes with an extended networking reception, enabling continued dialogue and collaboration among peers who are actively shaping the future of the industry.
.png?width=220&height=64&name=RSVP%20-%20Fortrea%20Innovation%20%26%20Technology%20Summit%20%E2%80%93%20EU%20(4).png)
.png?width=1200&height=1099&name=Opening%20Keynote%20The%20Future%20of%20Clinical%20Research%20Technology%20Accelerating%20Innovation%20%26%20Collaboration%20%E2%80%93%20Mark%20Morais%20(7).png)
Emma Iovoli
Lead for Medical Sustainability, Bayer
Emma Iovoli is a physician and clinical academic with over a decade of pharmaceutical industry experience, having held senior medical leadership roles at Bayer, GSK, AstraZeneca, and within the NHS. She currently leads Bayer’s Medical Sustainability and Climate & Health initiatives, driving strategies that integrate environmental sustainability, health equity, and healthcare transformation. Emma has led global medical affairs organizations, including serving as Medical Head of Global Health at GSK, and is recognized for advancing climate and health as a strategic priority through cross-sector collaboration, systems thinking, and sustainable healthcare innovation.
Michael Sanders
Professor of Public Policy
Director, Experimental Government Team, KCL
Michael Sanders is Director of the School for Government at King’s College London and Professor of Public Policy at the Policy Institute at King’s. His research focuses on behavioral science, causal methods and randomized trials, and social mobility. Previously, he served as Founding Chief Executive of What Works for Children’s Social Care and Chief Scientist at the Behavioural Insights Team. Michael is an Associate Fellow of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government and an affiliate of the Harvard Behavioral Insights Group. He holds an MSc and PhD in Economics from the University of Bristol.
Vivienne van de Walle, , MD, PhD, CPI, FAPCR
Medical Director, Founder – PT&R, Netherlands
Clinical Research Expert | Keynote Speaker | Thought Leader in Life Sciences
With more than 25 years of experience as a physician and researcher, he specializes in clinical trials and pharmaceutical research. He is the founder of PT&R, an independent research center, and VivHo, a life sciences consultancy providing strategic, evidence-based guidance for clinical development. He collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, CROs, and academic institutions to optimize clinical trial management, regulatory compliance, and operational strategy. In recognition of his industry contributions, he received the prestigious 2023 Christine K. Pierre Site Impact Award.
Kathy VanEnkevort
Managing Director, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Americas. Microsoft
Kathy VanEnkevort is Microsoft’s Managing Director for Healthcare and Life Sciences Industry Solutions in the Americas. A Clinical Epidemiologist with more than 30 years of experience, she helps organizations harness AI and technology to accelerate clinical research, improve healthcare delivery, and expand patient access. Prior to Microsoft, Kathy served in leadership roles within the U.S. Department of Defense, managing complex healthcare, logistics, and data systems. She is passionate about using technology to drive meaningful health outcomes and create a more equitable, patient-centered future.
Alejandro Martinez-Galindo is Fortrea’s Chief Information Officer, leading the company’s global technology vision and strategy to support innovation and clinical research. With more than 30 years of experience across healthcare, life sciences, retail, manufacturing, and automotive industries, he has led large-scale digital transformation initiatives for global organizations. Prior to joining Fortrea during its 2023 spinoff from Labcorp, Alejandro served as CIO at Capri Holdings, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Quintiles (now IQVIA), and held multiple CIO leadership roles at General Motors across Europe, Latin America, and North America.
Mark Morais is Fortrea’s Chief Operations Officer and President, Clinical Development, responsible for the strategy and delivery of the company’s global clinical operations, including full-service CRO and functional service provider offerings. With more than 20 years of experience in the CRO industry, Mark has a proven track record in operational excellence, commercial development, and building strategic client partnerships. Prior to Fortrea’s 2023 spinoff from Labcorp, he held several senior leadership roles at Labcorp Drug Development and previously served in global commercial and clinical operations positions at Quintiles/IQVIA.
Clare is an accomplished technology and transformation leader with deep experience driving digital innovation and operational excellence across the life sciences and clinical research industry. As Executive Director, Delivery Enablement at Fortrea, she leads global initiatives focused on technology adoption, delivery transformation, and advancing digital capabilities that enhance clinical development. Clare is recognized for leading complex cross-functional programs spanning technology, operations, and commercial teams to deliver measurable business outcomes. She is passionate about leveraging emerging technologies, including AI and digital health solutions, to improve efficiency, accelerate innovation, and drive meaningful change at scale.
Troy Bryenton
Global Vice President and Head of Clinical Technology & Strategy, Fortrea
Troy Bryenton is the Global Vice President and Head of Clinical Technology & Strategy at Fortrea, where he leads clinical technology strategy and execution supporting the delivery of complex clinical trials. He brings deep experience across clinical trial information technologies and R&D services, with prior leadership roles including CTO at Science 37 and VP, Business Technology at Syneos Health and Solutions IT Vice President, Research and Development at IQVIA.
Melissa Harris
Global Head of Delivery, Site and Patient Solutions, Fortrea
Melissa Harris is Global Head of Delivery, Site and Patient Solutions at Fortrea, bringing more than 25 years of clinical research experience. She leads global teams across Patient Recruitment & Engagement, Strategic Feasibility & Analytics, Site Identification, Site Partnerships, Voice of Patient, and Modelling & Forecasting. Melissa drives data-led strategies that accelerate study startup, enhance recruitment, and optimize site performance. Passionate about health literacy, representative inclusion, and equitable access, she leverages patient-centric innovation, advanced analytics, and Agentic AI to improve clinical trial delivery and patient outcomes.
Fortrea Innovation and Technology Summit - April 2026 | Boston, MA
.png?width=220&height=65&name=Watch%20video%20-%20Fortrea%20Innovation%20and%20Technology%20Summit%20-%20April%202026%20Boston%2c%20MA%20(2).png)
The US sessions sparked new thinking around innovation, collaboration, and how the industry can continue to move faster and smarter together. Hearing from peers, partners, and leaders across the ecosystem is what makes FIT such a valuable forum.
Top 5 takeaways from the event:
-
The industry’s core constraint is no longer technology, but implementation and adoption.
Innovation is abundant, yet many solutions falter due to poor alignment with human behavior. Human‑centered design, reducing friction, and fitting seamlessly into existing processes is what ultimately determines whether technology scales or stalls.
-
AI’s power is as a force multiplier, not a people replacement.
We heard repeated, strong alignment that AI should automate tasks, not decisions, augmenting and elevating human intervention in the value chain to preserve human accountability.
-
Time — not cost — is the most precious outcome.
Time is a human outcome: AI’s real value is compressing timelines, not just cutting budgets, with ROI measures focused on time saved, capacity unlocked, and patients reached.
-
The Speed/Pace of innovation is accelerating.
What would have taken us 30 years, we accomplished in 3. What would have taken us another 250, may take us <25. We must prepare ourselves to embrace this pace and prepare our organizations to build upon it.
-
Pre‑competitive collaboration is essential — no single firm can solve this.
The entire ecosystem must move forward together, sharing risk, sharing cost and pushing each other to innovate.