PRECISEU General Assembly to strengthen the European personalised medicine landscape

Clust-ER Health participated in the latest General Assembly of the PRECISEU project, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, immediately followed by the Spinoff Europa Conference 2026. The two events, hosted by Health and Life Sciences Cluster Bulgaria, offered a unique opportunity to review the project’s progress, align on priorities for the next phases of project implementation, and connect with Europe’s broader deep-tech innovation ecosystem.

Two days in Sofia to look back at achievements and shape the new year

The General Assembly took place over two days, on 9-10 June 2026. Day 1, held at the Technical University of Sofia, opened with a review of the past year’s progress and the approval of the Annual Work Plan for the new year of the initiative. Discussions also were held alongside sessions dedicated to the project’s communication strategy and on ways and practicies to increasing PRECISEU’s overall impact. Day 2, hosted at the Sofia Urban Living Lab, focused on translating the consortium’s strategic priorities into concrete coordination mechanisms across work packages, along with a dedicated review of the Open Call for Joint Interregional Projects (JIPs).

Celebrating past achievements

The Assembly marked an opportunity to take stock of a year of solid delivery for PRECISEU. Key accomplishments include:

• Completion of core analytical and policy mapping on health data, advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) and best practices across European regions
• Organisation of two editions of the Precision Medicine School
• Two High-Level Dialogues held at the European Parliament
• Growth of the consortium, with the addition of three new partners

Clust-ER Health, together with the other Emilia-Romagna regional partners (ART-ER and Regione Emilia-Romagna), has continued to contribute the region’s perspective to this collective effort, supporting the project’s work on health data readiness, ATMP ecosystems and the identification of best practices that can be transferred across regions.

Next: from strategy to implementation

As PRECISEU enters its third year, the focus shifts from analysis and strategy to implementation and impact. A central milestone in this new phase is the recently closed Open Call for Joint Interregional Projects, which will allocate €11.5 million to support cross-regional collaborations on health data and ATMPs. Partners therefore discussed in details the operational set-up for evaluating applications, alongside a Policy Programme pilot underway in Barcelona.

Spinoff Europa Conference: awards, dialogue and regulatory insight

On 11 June, Clust-ER Health also attended the first day of the Spinoff Europa Conference 2026, hosted at the Technical University of Sofia’s TechArena Hall. Now in its fifth edition, the conference gathered hundreds of speakers, guests and ecosystem leaders, alongside dozens of breakthrough spinoff teams, in one of Europe’s most vibrant arenas for deep-tech innovation.

The day opened on a high note, with the PRECISEU Best Practice Recognition Awards ceremony celebrating initiatives that are moving personalised medicine from ambition to reality through cross-sector collaboration, patient involvement from the outset, and the courage to make innovation travel faster across regions. Congratulations to all the recognised teams, whose work continues to inspire ecosystems across Europe!

The ceremony was followed by a panel discussion on “Building Europe’s Innovation Valley for Personalised Medicine,” bringing together Robert Fabregat, representing PRECISEU coordinator Biocat; Daniela Weber from BioRN, who led the organisation of the awards process; Thomas Ballotti from the European Medicines Agency (EMA); and two of the award-winning innovators, Suraj Rajesh Kumar Lachmandas (MiMIAT Health) and Joaquim Vives (Banc de Sang i Teixits). The discussion highlighted the role that clusters and projects like PRECISEU play in connecting people and ecosystems to turn ideas into action, with panellists noting that the EMA welcomes closer interaction with innovators and should not be seen as an obstacle to innovation. The conversation also touched on the upcoming Biotech Act and the better tools and frameworks it could provide to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in personalised medicine.

The day also featured a keynote address by Sebastian Asprella of the EMA on supporting innovation in medicine development. The speech covered the regulatory tools and development infrastructure available to innovators, the importance of embedding regulatory thinking from the very start of a programme, the EMA’s horizon-scanning work on pharma in space, and how strong ecosystems build long-term regulatory readiness.

Commitment to collaborative impact

The General Assembly in Sofia reinforced PRECISEU’s collective momentum as the project moves into its implementation phase. Clust-ER Health remains committed to bringing the Emilia-Romagna health innovation ecosystem into this European effort, working alongside partners to make personalised medicine an accessible reality for citizens across the continent.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.