HTAi 2021 Annual Meeting Main Theme

innovation through hta




HTAi invites you to join the leading minds in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) from around the world to discuss and debate the role of HTA in leading health innovation. 

The 2021 Annual Meeting will focus on how adaptive approaches to HTA can continue to provide the cornerstone in leading health systems innovation particularly as technologies advance and novel interventions rapidly emerge. As our technological world evolves and new challenges emerge, we will need to adapt HTA to ensure it continues to be a conduit to support technology innovation. 

Innovation in the approach, pace, and scale of health technology development is rapid. As decision-makers respond to the pressures of not only meeting the essential needs of local health systems but also providing progressive and world-class care, traditional approaches to HTA are being challenged.  

Collaboration in developing HTA in emerging regions and developing novel approaches to HTA in systems with established HTA, is essential to our goal of supporting patient access to evidence-based healthcare, particularly as diagnostic and treatment pathways become ever more complex. Through three sub-themes of: HTA in a changing evidence eco-system, Patients being at the Heart of the Innovation pathway, and Innovating HTA to support new interventions, we will explore opportunities presented across global health systems for sustained use of HTA. 

The HTAi 2021 Annual Meeting will provide an opportunity for researchers, policymakers, health care practitioners, technology developers and patients to reflect on how they might innovate at regional and local level, across the core HTA elements of evidence, methods, and decision-making.  

We invite all stakeholders to participate in these discussions as we consider driving Innovation Through HTA. 


Welcome Message from the ISPC Co-Chairs 

We are delighted to be able to welcome you all to the HTAi 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting to be held from June 19 – 23.  

With the rapid pace at which new challenges emerge, HTA needs to continually adapt to support technology innovation. The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 has illustrated the speed at which global health systems can respond to crises. As decision-makers face the pressure of meeting the essential needs of local health systems, and providing progressive and world-class care, traditional approaches to HTA are being challenged. Essential to our goal of supporting patient access to evidence-based healthcare is collaboration between regions and developing novel approaches to HTA in systems.

The main theme is supplemented by three plenary themes: 

  • Evidence for HTA: Innovative Methods for Challenging Times 

  • Patients at the Heart of Innovation

  • Innovating HTA to support Novel Interventions 

By June 2021 we had hoped to be able to welcome you in person to Manchester. The birthplace of the industrial revolution and a modern, pioneering hub of creativity. A location which could not be more suited to the theme of innovation! Unfortunately with remaining uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic and concern for participant welfare a priority, HTAi made the difficult but essential decision to move the meeting to an entirely virtual platform. Though the meeting will no longer take place in Manchester the International Scientific Program Committee, Local Organising Committee and local host organisations have worked closely with HTAi to ensure that there remains a strong UK flavour to the meeting. The virtual platform will also provide opportunities to network and collaborate with international colleagues to share information and best practices, from cutting-edge technologies to advancing healthcare through system development.

Join us in June as we look ahead at how HTA can drive innovation and to explore opportunities presented across global health systems for a wider and more systematic use of HTA. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you. 

Carole & Robyn 
Co-Chairs, HTAi 2021 International Scientific Program Committee (ISPC)