“AI adoption will not be solved in the ivory tower of science or of politics.”

Voices from the Data2Value Executive Dialogue: Anke Diehl, Chief Transformation Officer, University Medicine Essen.

The question of how to move AI from promise to practice in healthcare does not have a simple answer. Anke Diehl, Chief Transformation Officer at University Medicine Essen, argues that regulation, infrastructure, and governance are not competing explanations for why adoption stalls – they are all part of it. “AI adoption will not be solved in the ivory tower of science or of politics. We can only solve this together,” said Diehl. The problem will not be solved by science or politics working in isolation. It requires everyone at the same table.

Germany, she noted, already has a working model for this kind of cross-sector collaboration. At the interoperability council, health IT users, standardisation organisations, patient organisations, federal states, and industry sit together to discuss and resolve healthcare data challenges. “The same must happen when it comes to AI adoption,” said Diehl.

Healthcare decisions affect everyone – so the people shaping how AI enters clinical practice, and on what terms, must reflect that breadth. “The patients, the users, the providers, the payers – everyone together must be heard. And then I think we will really solve this.”

Anke Diehl is CTO of University Medicine Essen and a participant in the Data2Value Executive Dialogue, Copenhagen, May 18, 2026.