📅 Date: 27th October 2025
🕘 Hours: das 9am - 1pm (Lisbon Time)
📍 Location: NOVA School of Business and Economics (Auditório D-115) - Piso -1

Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ia-na-saude-desafios-e-oportunidades-para-o-sns-tickets-1761414551339 

Context and Rationale

The Portuguese National Health Service (SNS) faces significant challenges in efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability that demand innovative approaches. Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents itself as a potentially transformative technology, capable of optimizing processes, improving diagnostics, and supporting clinical and management decision-making. At the same time, the approval of the “AI Act” by the European Union establishes a regulatory framework that requires responsible and careful implementation of these technologies, particularly in high-risk sectors such as healthcare.

This event arises from the need to:

1. Understand the definitions of AI systems, their specific regulation, and their interaction with other existing frameworks (e.g., GDPR, Medical Devices);

2. Reflect on healthcare needs in Portugal and within the SNS;

3. Promote a critical approach that distinguishes between problems that truly benefit from AI solutions and those that can be addressed through the optimization of existing processes.

PROGRAMME

09:00 – 09:15 | Check-in
Accreditation and badge distribution for registered participants and guests.

09:15 – 09:50 | Welcome and Contextualization
Presentation of the working group and the objectives of the event.

09:50 – 10:20 | Information Session: “Status of AI in Healthcare”
Presentation of evidence on results and impacts of AI use in healthcare delivery and other health domains.

10:20 – 10:50 | Information Session: “Best Practices in AI and Healthcare Needs”
Presentation of the document developed by the AI@SNS working group entitled “Building the Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the National Health Service: Key Considerations.”

10:50 – 11:20 | Networking Coffee Break
Recording of participant testimonials.

11:20 – 12:20 | Roundtable: “Challenges and Outcomes of AI Implementation in the SNS”
Presentation of practical success cases of implementing AI tools or systems in real contexts within the National Health Service, featuring short presentations by invited entities and a moderated Q&A session.

• Moderator: Professor Ricardo Cruz Correia (Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto)

• Entities presenting case studies will be announced soon.

12:20 – 12:50 | Keynote Speaker
Session on past, current, or planned AI implementations in the Portuguese healthcare system.

• Professor André Peralta Santos (Deputy Director-General of Health, Directorate-General of Health)

12:50 – 13:00 | Closing and Next Steps
Summary of conclusions and presentation of upcoming activities of the working group.

• Professor Pedro Pita Barros (NOVA School of Business and Economics)

The AI@SNS Working Group of the Nova SBE Health Economics & Management Knowledge Center brings together a team of researchers dedicated to developing responsible applications of Artificial Intelligence within the Portuguese National Health Service: José Miguel Diniz (Coordinator), Ana Rita Santos, Filipa Machado Vaz, Henrique Vasconcelos, João Dionísio, Mário Ribeiro, Pedro Ramos, and Teresa Soares.