On 28 May 2026, the Invest4Health consortium welcomed policymakers, researchers, public health professionals, and investors to its Final Conference at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels. The event marked the culmination of more than three and a half years of collaboration. It opened a discussion on how the project’s results can continue to shape future policy and practice across Europe.
Under the title Mobilising New Financial Approaches for Equitable Health and Wellbeing, the event brought together experiences from eight European regional testbeds alongside the project’s Smart Capacitating Investment (SCI) approach – grounding the day’s discussions in real places, real partnerships, and real implementation challenges. Keynote speakers and panel discussions explored how innovative financing, governance, impact measurement and cross-sector collaboration can help move health promotion and disease prevention from short-term projects towards sustainable implementation.
The event welcomed more than 100 participants from across Europe, representing health, finance, public administration, industry, civil society, and European organisations. This diversity reflected one of Invest4Health’s core ambitions: bringing together communities that rarely work together but are all essential for creating sustainable investment in prevention.
Discussions throughout the day returned repeatedly to a shared diagnosis: the tools and evidence exist; what is missing is the governance architecture and cross-sector trust to deploy them at scale. Participants confirmed that prevention is increasingly recognised not as a cost but as a long-term investment, and these reflections fed directly into the project’s final outputs, including the White Paper and accompanying policy recommendations.
The Invest4Health community continues to grow. New collaborations and follow-up activities have already emerged and were strengthened from the day’s conversations and other dialogue, for example, collaboration with the Transforming Health and Care Systems European Partnership and a second White Paper emerging from a panel session at the Radical Health Festival Helsinki. These ensure that the project’s legacy will support healthier, more resilient and more equitable health systems across Europe long after its Horizon Europe funding has concluded.
CLICK HERE FOR THE CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND KEY MESSAGES