Artificial intelligence (AI) is top of many current agendas. Integrated care can gain a lot from this technology. ICIC26, held in Birmingham, England in 13-15 April 2026, explored how responsible AI, co-design and digital innovation can support more people-centred health and care systems.
Keynote speaker, Professor Laura Rosella, ICIC26 in Birmingham, 13-15 April 2026, explained what AI means for integrated care. Laura, a Canadian trailblazer in the field of AI and public health, offered some key messages about responsible AI.
Source: ICIC26 (The International Foundation for Integrated Care)
Responsible AI supported by vital evidence
AI has reached a tipping point for health and care. Laura Rosella would very much like to see people engage, have a say, and shape the future of this technology. In her keynote intervention, she explored the role of agentic AI – AI systems used to focus on specific goals with limited supervision.
Crucial points made revolved around the fact that it is important for:
- people to regain agency in the “AI space”
- stakeholders to be involved
- deliberate system leadership to be a core focus.
And,
- ultimately, “to get this right”.
Laura explored her points in fours: four new trends in developments; four essential building blocks; four tensions; and four current barriers to responsible AI growth in health and care.
Her intervention was supported by reference to plenty of contemporary reports. See some of these in For Further Information.
Other ICIC26 practical AI development examples
At ICIC26, in the context of a workshop themed around co-production and co-design, two digital care-based initiatives on AI and apps were highlighted.
Simon Fenton, Chief Executive Officer of Forward Carers, a Birmingham community interest company and care-friendly community for unpaid carers, described the enterprise’s work. Forward Carers received funding from England’s Department of Health and Social Care’s Accelerating Reform Fund. The social enterprise then developed an intelligent carers assessment, support plan, and review. It has later introduced and fine-tuned the AI-based tool to enhance and improve the work of unpaid carers by introducing a four-day smart week.
Synergy was evident between Forward Carers’ activities and work conducted by Chris Poyner and colleagues from the University of Birmingham. Chris’s team developed an app which matches up clients who are potentially in need of care with actual carers. The investigation focused on experience-based co-design. By co-designing technology with people with lived experience, the need to embed lived experience in system-level planning as well as early research stages was emphasised. Successfully, the team optimised workforce deployment and avoided the reproduction of inequities in the future design of digital care tools.
Source: ICIC26 (The International Foundation for Integrated Care)
EHTEL’s interest in AI and apps
EHTEL has had a longstanding interest in AI going back to late last decade. The association’s members are keen to further positive current and future uses of AI. Interests cover a wide variety of health and care settings (from the hospital to the home), and health and care arenas (from self-management to primary, secondary, and tertiary care).
In 2025, EHTEL produced two working papers (Working papers 2 and 3) that reflected on health and care potential emerging from AI and other algorithm-based tools’ use. In 2026, EHTEL then published a briefing paper related to algorithm-based tools.
Based on these foundations, EHTEL team members have already had the opportunity to provide input into the work of both the OECD and WHO Europe on the latest AI directions. As a result, EHTEL has developed two practical implementers’ briefs which explore the concrete implications for implementers who want to move forward with AI use.
Watch out in the near future for further EHTEL work on the use of “FAIR and Fluid” data in health and care, including integrated care. One orientation to be recommended is likely to be on reusable, responsible, and frugal use of AI services.
Looking forward to ICIC27 in Estonia
ICIC26 showed how crucial it is for people to collaborate and share knowledge on the responsible use of AI.
ICIC2027 will have the main theme of “From integration to impact”. It will zoom in on delivering better outcomes through data, coordination and population health. The conference is due to be held in Estonia on 10-12 May 2026, with a call for abstracts open in September 2026.
The conference invites participants to examine how better data, stronger coordination, digital innovation, and population health approaches can support more proactive, equitable, and sustainable care.
Two of the conference’s four themes will have a distinct orientation on digital and data:
Anticipate that AI too is likely to re-surface in Estonia as an important theme.
Consider making a paper/workshop/session submission on your own use of digital, data, or AI in integrated care!
For further information
- EHTEL working papers 2 and 3
- EHTEL briefing paper on algorithm-based tools
- EHTEL implementers’ briefs 1 and 2
- ICIC26: AI and integrated care – A game changer
- Rosella et al (2025)
- Stanford 2025 AI Index
- WHO/Europe (2026a)
- WHO Europe (2026b)
- Zou & Topol (2025)
A blog similar in content to this text was published by the conference a month after ICIC26 took place.