A deep dive into the conference “Innovating in medical technologies: for accessible, equitable, and personalized healthcare” at the Entretiens Jacques Cartier 2025
On October 6, 2025, the I-Factory on the Doua campus in Lyon buzzed with excitement about innovation in healthcare.
As part of the Entretiens Jacques Cartier conference, our event, presented in collaboration with INSA Lyon and the Institut Carnot Ingénierie Lyon, brought together researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, patients, and decision-makers from both sides of the Atlantic around a common goal: exploring how medical technologies can contribute to fairer, more personalized healthcare that is accessible to all.
When technology gets closer to humans
After the welcome speeches, the opening lecture by Patricia Rousselle, Director of Research at the Laboratory of Tissue Biology and Therapeutic Engineering, University of Lyon I, on How to Optimize Skin Repair, highlighted the importance of sharing perspectives between academic research, the hospital sector, industry, and users.
Throughout the day, high-level presentations on 3D printing, connected health, surgical simulation, the creation of digital twins, and regenerative medicine highlighted cutting-edge topics and a variety of perspectives.
Interdisciplinarity was fully present, promoting open-mindedness and the generation of new ideas.
During the lunch break, the laboratory technology showroom offered a concrete glimpse of the potential of engineering research for healthcare.
We also had the opportunity to visit the I-Factory, a fabulous hub, both in terms of its design and its mission, bringing together students, scientists, startups, and innovation experts in one place.
Innovative technologies for connected and accessible healthcare
In the afternoon, Kathy Malas, Director of OROT, CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, and Fabrice Brunet, Associate Vice-President, Health Sciences Development, presented a concrete case study of crisis management in the emergency room at Hôpital du Suroit in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, and the technological and human collaboration that was quickly established with the Jewish General Hospital to deal with the situation.
A fine example of the power of collaboration and innovation in building a more agile, connected, and human healthcare system.
The day ended with a roundtable discussion on the social and ethical dimensions of innovation in healthcare.
The speakers emphasized the importance of co-construction with users (patients, healthcare professionals in real-world settings): to avoid adoption failures, stakeholders in the field must be included from the design phase onwards. Hybrid financing models (public-private), international cooperation, and the need to support service technologies (training, maintenance, “adoption”) to ensure their viability were also discussed.
It is not enough to develop powerful technologies—they must also be affordable, compatible with a variety of hospital infrastructures, and usable in rural, remote, and/or resource-limited settings.
These discussions have demonstrated that innovation in health is above all a collective endeavor.
Accessible and equitable healthcare start with a courageous healthcare, that is not afraid to make choices.
Céline Olive Baque, Noraker
The collective dynamic is underway
The EJC framework, with its spirit of transatlantic dialogue between France and Quebec, was very much in evidence throughout the day, echoing the broader theme of the 2025 Talks: “Resilience and transformation: new dynamics for a changing world.”
Beyond ideas and prototypes, what emerges from this conference is the need for human, institutional, and collective support for innovation: training, governance, economic models, and practical use in the field. Innovation without adoption is nothing more than theory.
To quote Henri-Paul Rousseau, Director General of Quebec in Paris, at the opening ceremony: “In these turbulent times, when we seem to be losing our bearings, the compass we have left is that of cooperation.”
The 2025 edition of the Entretiens Jacques Cartier confirmed the role of this unique event: to build bridges between disciplines, sectors, and territories in order to think about the future, and more specifically in our case, the health of tomorrow.
The challenges are great—adoption, regulation, fairness, sustainability—but the collective dynamic is underdway.
Source :
Géraldine Dumesnil
Communications Services, Institut TransMedTech
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