{"id":7242,"date":"2026-07-14T11:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/?post_type=ht_kb&p=7242"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:15:47","slug":"why-healthcare-ai-needs-both-agility-and-discipline","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/?ht_kb=why-healthcare-ai-needs-both-agility-and-discipline","title":{"rendered":"Why healthcare AI needs both agility and discipline"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Ena Vitlov of AstraZeneca reflects on the AI4Health.Cro Innovation Competition<\/a> as a model of collaboration between industry, startups and the public-health ecosystem.<\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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For Ena Vitlov<\/strong>, CVRM Business Director at AstraZeneca<\/a>, the value of the competition lay in the effort teams made to address a concrete health problem. AstraZeneca supported the competition as a premium partner, joining an initiative that connected innovation, public health and patient-centred thinking.<\/p>

\u201cThis is an extremely valuable initiative, and the teams truly made an effort,\u201d Ena Vitlov said. \u201cThey worked on finding excellent solutions that can ultimately help patients.\u201d<\/p>

Her view of the challenge starts from a simple shared interest. Startups, healthcare institutions and industry may enter the ecosystem from different positions, yet their work converges around the same question: how to recognise patient needs earlier and respond to them better.<\/strong><\/p>

A place where industry and startups learn from each other<\/strong><\/h2>

Ena Vitlov described the competition as a two-way exchange.<\/p>

Startups bring speed, agility and a capacity to think differently. They can move quickly, test ideas and approach old problems from unexpected angles. Industry brings accumulated knowledge, established procedures and experience in operating within regulated healthcare systems.<\/p>

\u201cIndustry can learn a lot from startups about being agile, faster and innovative<\/strong>,\u201d she said. \u201cOn the other hand, startups can learn from us how to establish certain procedures<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>

That exchange is especially important in healthcare, where a good idea must eventually survive clinical, ethical and regulatory scrutiny. An AI solution that reaches patients<\/strong> has to fit into systems built around safety, accountability and evidence<\/strong>.<\/p>

Vitlov also pointed to a further lesson for startups: understanding why certain areas matter for public health<\/strong>. A challenge such as diabetes care is valuable because it connects innovation with a condition that affects large numbers of people and creates sustained pressure on healthcare systems.<\/p>

For young companies, this context can sharpen the product itself. It shows which problems carry broader clinical and public-health relevance, where patient needs remain insufficiently recognised and how those needs affect treatment outcomes.<\/p>

Listening for unrecognised patient needs<\/strong><\/h2>

The competition also offered a way to detect signals that can be missed in routine healthcare discussions.<\/p>

Vitlov emphasised that such initiatives help reveal what patients actually need, including needs that remain unrecognised. In chronic disease, those gaps can shape the course of treatment. A patient may miss therapy, avoid follow-up, struggle with daily management or fail to receive the right preventive support at the right time.<\/p>

AI can help make some of these patterns more visible.<\/p>

Vitlov sees \u201ca huge unexplored space with enormous potential\u201d in the application of artificial intelligence to healthcare. She identified several possible roles: earlier identification and diagnosis of patients, invitations for preventive or diagnostic examinations, support for doctors in following the latest guidelines and help in delivering high-quality, individualised therapy.<\/p>

These are practical uses of AI. They point towards systems that help clinicians notice risk earlier, manage knowledge more consistently and direct attention where it is needed.<\/p>

Innovation under strict regulation<\/strong><\/h2>

Healthcare leaves little room for careless experimentation. Vitlov\u00a0repeatedly returned to the\u00a0importance of rules, procedures and regulations<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>

\u201cWe are talking about people\u2019s health<\/strong>, and that is priceless<\/strong>,\u201d she said.<\/p>

That sentence captures the central discipline of health innovation. New tools are needed, and new ways of thinking can improve patient care and strengthen the health system. Those tools have to be developed through processes that protect patients and maintain trust<\/strong>.<\/p>

Vitlov\u2019s message is therefore one of partnership. Continuous dialogue between startups, industry, public-health actors and healthcare professionals can help identify solutions that benefit patients while keeping development aligned with regulated processes.<\/p>

The AI4Health.Cro Innovation Competition provides a model for that approach. It gives teams space to develop ideas around real healthcare needs, while exposing them to the expectations of a sector where evidence, safety and responsibility determine whether innovation can move forward<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ena Vitlov of AstraZeneca reflects on the AI4Health.Cro Innovation Competition as a model of collaboration between industry, startups and the public-health ecosystem. https:\/\/youtu.be\/nOIC4I9FB0g?si=ZajcXKqT3ZGa2uCg For Ena Vitlov, CVRM Business Director at AstraZeneca, the value of the competition lay in the effort teams made to address a concrete health problem. AstraZeneca supported the competition as a premium …<\/p>\n

Why healthcare AI needs both agility and discipline<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[94,81,30],"ht-kb-tag":[],"class_list":["post-7242","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-success-stories","ht_kb_category-ai4health-cro-inovacijsko-natjecanje-2026","ht_kb_category-events-and-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/7242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/7242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7248,"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/7242\/revisions\/7248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fht-kb-category&post=7242"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ai4healthcro.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fht-kb-tag&post=7242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}