#EBW26 in numbers

We welcomed close to 800 delegates from over 50 different countries worldwide. This highlights the strong drive of the biobanking community to jointly work on realising the potential of biobanking for the benefit of society. In a world of daily online meetings, it is refreshing and inspiring to meet face to face and work together on the challenges ahead.

Thank you for a wonderful #EBW26 in Prague. You all made this an unforgettable event for the whole biobanking community.

The yearly EBW pre-congress visits explore local scientific facilities in the host country. This year, these visits brought us to three sites of research excellence in Prague.

BIOCEV - a European Centre of Excellence in biomedicine and biotechnology.

To boost research in the fields of biotech and biomedicine in the Czech Republic, the BIOCEV centre was built with financial support from European Structural Funds. Opened in 2016, BIOCEV is a centre of excellence in basic research, actively linked to teaching and student education, with a strong emphasis on collaboration with biotechnology companies. BIOCEV’s research programmes involve molecular and cellular biology, phenogenomics, structural biology, tissue engineering and biomedicine, all focused on gaining a detailed understanding of organisms at the molecular level. During the pre-congress visit, participants went on a tour through BIOCEV's facilities guided by researchers who shared insights into their current projects.

The Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion

The Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (IHBT) is a leading research institution at the forefront of haematology. IHBT Biobank Prague collects and preserves unique biological samples from patients with hematopoietic disorders as well as from healthy donors. The tour featured the central laboratory for sample processing as well as the IHBT cryo-storage facility with state-of-the-art robotic systems. Participants were also introduced to the Department of Cell Therapy, which maintains hematopoietic stem cell grafts for both autologous and allogeneic transplantations. This highlights the critical role of the facility in modern regenerative and transplant medicine.

The Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) of the Czech Academy of Sciences

At IOCB Prague, chemistry is not just about formulas in a textbook, it’s about discoveries that save millions of lives worldwide. The scientists stand behind breakthrough drugs, innovative medicinal chemistry and bold ideas at the interface of chemistry and biology. IOCB has earned a reputation as a leading research institute in the fields of organic, medicinal and computational chemistry, biochemistry and chemical biology. The visitors explored a place where tiny molecules become life-saving medicines, where chemical biology and computational chemistry reveal how important processes really work and where cutting-edge research turns into real-world impact.

From scientific excellence to industrial leadership - a keynote by Aneta Tyszkiewicz

Thursday’s keynote was delivered by Aneta Tyszkiewicz, Director of Science and Regulatory at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), representing the R&D-based pharmaceutical industry in Europe. She leads EFPIA’s policy and advocacy on data, real-world evidence and emerging technologies, including biotechnologies. 

The subject of the keynote was ‘From scientific excellence to industrial leadership: Strengthening Europe’s attractiveness for research and innovation through the EU Biotech Act’.  It addressed how fragmentation and regulatory complexity are undermining competitiveness and how the Biotech Act could help build a more coherent, innovation-friendly ecosystem. 

Listen here to the Congress Radio episode featuring Aneta adressing the question "What’s so important about the Biotech Act?" or read more details in our news article.

More highlights from Day 2

Day two of the conference continued with a packed scientific programme in multiple parallel sessions covering topics like:

• Ensuring data security in biobanks
• Patient-centric biobanking: Strategies for engagement and participation
• Rare disease biobank insights

Bringing industry and institutions closer together

To advance cooperation between industry and institutional research, EBW26 sponsors and exhibitors demonstrated their expert solutions for state-of-the-art biobanking. BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB want to express a big thank you to all our sponsors who helped make this event possible and such a success. You can find information about each of our sponsors on our congress website including an overview of the industry programme.

EBW26 Ethics Café: “Health data, EHDS and AI - What could possibly go wrong?”

The first session of Friday’s EBW26 scientific programme was the Ethics Café, chaired by Assoc. Prof. Anto Čartolovni, PhD (Head of ELSI at BBMRI-ERIC) and Valentina Colcelli, PhD, (Senior Researcher at the Italian National Research Council, CNR). They were joined by the invited guest speaker Prof. Ricard Martínez Martínez - Professor of the Department of Constitutional Law, Political Science and Administration at the Universitat de València.

This year’s session revolved around perspectives on AI-driven health data use and the governance of the European Health Data Space (EHDS). Through short inputs followed by facilitated audience discussion, participants were invited to reflect on practical challenges, stakeholder engagement and responsible data stewardship in everyday biobank operations. 

The discussion addressed how the European Health Data Space and the rapid uptake of Artificial Intelligence are transforming how health data from biobanks are accessed and governed across Europe. For biobank professionals, these developments are not abstract but directly impact data access procedures, secondary use decisions, collaborations and stakeholder relationships. Reflecting on the vivid discussion, Assoc. Prof. Čartolovni said:  

Commenting on the new streams provided by the Commission to address these challenges, he added:
 

Read the article about the EBW26 Ethics Café here.

The EBW Ethics Café is an established event of the Europe Biobank Week Congress where the entire community comes together in an informal setting to share their thoughts on the role that ethics frameworks play in the context of biomedical innovation.  

Saying goodbye and thank you after a great week together

The final day came to a close with a ceremony led by BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB. This is the moment to demonstrate how much we have to celebrate in the biobanking community. It began with the announcements of the winners of the poster prizes sponsored by Azenta Life Sciences. You can find the winners here in our live article.

Next, in an impressive demonstration of our community's striving towards best practise, Andrea Wutte, BBMRI-ERIC's Head of Quality Management, was delighted to award no less than fifteen new BBMRI biobanks with the BBMRI-ERIC Quality Label:

This shows how the BBMRI-ERIC Headquarters team, the National Nodes and individual biobanks work hand in hand to uphold the highest standards in biobanking - a prerequisite to successfully use the samples and data for the benefit of society.

The closing ceremony also included special appreciation for BBMRI-ERIC experts who have made a significant contribution to the community over the last decade.

Last but not least, a big thank you from ESBB and BBMRI-ERIC goes out to all the organisers, delegates and sponsors that helped us make EBW the biggest biobanking event of the year.