Session Notes: Chairman's Opening Remarks
Executive Summary
PPM Summit Basel 2026 opened with Chairman Brigitta Voss welcoming attendees to address shared R&D optimization challenges across functions. Interactive polling revealed funding and AI/data complexity as top industry concerns, while Voss emphasized the foundational relationship between project and portfolio management, highlighting cultural challenges in engaging scientists with project management disciplines.
Full Notes
Conference Context and Industry Challenges
Brigitta Voss opened the 33rd PPM conference by acknowledging the diverse, highly experienced audience representing different functions all grappling with the same fundamental challenge: making R&D work faster, cheaper, and more reasonable for decision-making. Drawing from her career progression from scientist to project manager to portfolio management, Voss highlighted the universal nature of optimization challenges across the pharmaceutical value chain. She noted that the industry space 'is not getting easier' with increasing pressure on drug prices, more uncertain success rates, and growing stakeholder demands on molecules under development.
Real-Time Industry Pulse Check
Through interactive polling, Voss captured the immediate concerns of conference attendees. Funding emerged as the dominant challenge, reflecting tighter financial conditions across the industry. AI adoption and fast-moving technological change ranked highly, alongside the paradox of data complexity - organizations are collecting more data hoping for better decisions, but finding themselves overwhelmed by the resulting complexity. Change management surfaced as a critical concern, particularly around helping leaders accept data in different formats and managing the tension between agile methodologies and traditional management reporting systems.
The Portfolio-Project Management Foundation
Voss emphasized a critical structural insight: effective portfolio management cannot exist without solid project management as its foundation. She drew from personal experience managing scientists who resist project management scrutiny, describing how scientists view their projects as 'babies' and resist fundamental questions about necessity, speed, and cost-effectiveness. This cultural dynamic represents a persistent challenge in moving from scientific passion to business discipline. The interconnection between project and portfolio levels means that weaknesses in project execution directly undermine portfolio optimization efforts.
Setting Interactive Conference Tone
The chairman concluded the opening by encouraging networking and peer learning, recognizing that the assembled expertise represents a valuable resource for collaborative problem-solving. She allocated time for table discussions between previously unacquainted attendees, emphasizing the conference's focus on practical learning and relationship building. This approach reinforced the conference's positioning as a venue for sharing real-world challenges and solutions rather than purely theoretical presentations.
Key Decisions
- ✓ Dedicated 10 minutes for interactive table networking discussions
Action Items
- → Conference attendees — Facilitate table discussions on daily challenges and conference learning goals open
Key Insights (13)
33rd PPM Conference opens
Brigitta Voss Funding emerges as top challenge
Brigitta Voss AI and data complexity dominate concerns
Brigitta Voss Portfolio-project management connection emphasized
Brigitta Voss Scientists resist project management scrutiny
Brigitta Voss Success rates becoming more uncertain
Brigitta Voss Data paradox in decision-making
Brigitta Voss Hybrid old-new system tensions
Brigitta Voss Interactive table discussions
Brigitta Voss Scientists and their project babies
Brigitta Voss Portfolio management dependency
Brigitta Voss Data management overwhelm
Brigitta Voss Interactive polling methodology
Brigitta Voss Full Transcript (click to expand)
Apr 22, 2026 Chairman delayed meeting Birgitta - Transcript 00:00:00 : Um, it's a pleasure welcome you welcoming you to the 33rd PPM conference here in Basel and I'm amazed to see such a great crowd of highly expert a highly experienced people and especially different functions because portfolio and project management while we talk about it through different angles we are still talking about the same problems making R&D work making it faster, cheaper and reasonable for decision making management or other functions. it comes to the same question. Um, Barbara, let's start with while Barbara was thanking her team, I also would like to thank Barbara and the team. We wouldn't be here meeting if you wouldn't be. You already mentioned it. I've done the overall career probably a lot of you done. I'm a science um science by acro moved into project management and doing my first projects was a challenge. Moving the team, challenging the scientists who hang there and love their project and you are asking all these stupid questions. Do we really need this? Can we do this faster? Can we do it too cheaper? 00:01:35 : Is this really a project who will survive? Scientists don't like that question. They just say yes, it's my baby and I want to and I moved on slowly then on the portfolio side and you have the same questions more on the bigger scale and if you don't have a proper project management below you can't do proper portfolio management because it's the basis. If we look at the agenda currently we also have the lift points a lot of questions are still uh how can we do project management better but it's also moving in how can we create more value better value with portfolio management how do we deal with cost of years ago but it's not We know prices on drug the pressure on drug prices is increasing. Success rates are even more unsure and everyone is demanding more on molecules we develop. Seems the space is not getting easier. However, we are already in there. So, we jumped ahead. I wanted to make the overall saying, well, great. So, let's be interactive. 00:03:05 : And thank you all. We are already interactive and you're giving me your feedback. Why are we here? see the networking big up there and I'm very glad for that because it's definitely my focus networking and learning best use of AI definitely on the agenda so that's very good customer needs patient needs so a lot of diverse topics wonderful meet and greet I give you still a minute and we can save it. No, we have it then for the next day. Still perfect. It's kind of fixed. Two more. Perfect. Let's move to the next question. So, this is why we at the conference. Next question. What is the biggest challenge in the next two years either in your job or your organization or in the farmer world? It seems funding is a huge part. It goes back to money is getting tighter and fast moving definitely also AI simplification. Everyone is collecting more data and while we think we should make better decisions with more data, it also increases and we have a lot of complexity. 00:05:30 : We are not always sure we can manage at least I sometimes feel out managed that's very good change management fast moving AI funding time to market was into financing One more question. So what is the challenge when you all go back to Make the eco rule. We can talk about that one. L of resources back to finance financing. I know it's to what we've seen before. It's about money being more efficient dealing with the amount of data to make good decisions drive our leaders to accept maybe the data in different ways. on the one side I'm not sure who has already agile organizations introduced and then there's still people pushing for the old system management reporting participants so we still have 10 minutes before Kevin will start And I would love to use them for a discussion at the table. Maybe even talking to someone on the table you don't know to bring in the networking and share a bit of your daytoday challenges and what you hope to learn from the conference of this be a good thing for 10 minutes. Thank you because they're always like there are returning partners so I already like knows them Yeah. So they sort of so that it's not just a random thing. They copy the information but they're still curious enough and like more more often like to try to have it and to incorporate it into it is a very it's very good. Yeah, I think like Yeah, that's I mean that's the goal also. So yeah, trying to get everyone to sign in and then get exactly their attention like what what that That's good. Shall we already remember. It's just Get started. It's not I think there's That's it. Yeah. All right. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Transcription ended after 00:16:58 This editable transcript was computer generated and might contain errors. People can also change the text after it was created.