AI Beyond the Hype: Inside the Parexel Workshop that put Clinical AI on Trial at COG: CRO Summit Europe 2026
AI Beyond the Hype: Inside the Parexel Workshop that put Clinical AI on Trial at COG: CRO Summit Europe 2026
Every conference this year has an AI session. Most of them look the same: a keynote, some slides, applause. COG: CRO Summit Europe’s did not.
Opening to the soundtrack from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and closing with a black envelope, Parexel’s Martine Folkertsma and Barry O'Mara turned 90 minutes of stage time into something closer to a live experiment, encouraging a room of clinical operations leaders to stop talking about AI in the abstract and start defending real, costed decisions in front of their peers.
The premise was simple and a little uncomfortable: everybody has an AI strategy, but fewer have an AI answer. Rather than accept that as a talking point, the session closed the gap in real time. Tables were given roles – a Host, a Scribe, a Skeptic – and put through three rounds, each one sharper than the last, with live Slido outputs pulled back onto the big screen so the room could watch its own thinking take shape.
Round one, “Reality Check”, asked tables to name the AI myth they were most tired of hearing, and what they'd actually stop or start doing about it. Round two raised the temperature: a hypothetical €10 million from the board, one initiative only, no portfolio to hide behind. Round three turned the knife inward, asking each table to argue why its own idea would fail.
Barry O'Mara then grounded the exercise with a keynote on what translating AI ambition into practical reality looks like day to day at Parexel, before the room was sent off with an AI Reality Check card - five questions to ask before greenlighting the next initiative - tucked inside the black envelope.
Being the closing session of the conference is normally a tough slot to fill, however this one didn't. If anything, the energy built: tables stayed fully engaged through all three rounds, and the closing reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with attendees repeatedly commenting on how refreshingly real the content from Martine and Barry felt against the usual conference closing-slot filler.
Round 1 – Reality Check
Seven minutes to name the AI myth the room was most ready to let go of.
Round 2 – The €10 Million Decision
Five minutes, one hypothetical board budget, one bet only. No portfolio to hide behind.
Round 3 – Be The Board
Seven minutes turning the knife inward: each table had to argue why its own idea would fail.
A final word of thanks to Martine and Barry, who turned what could have been 90 minutes of AI platitudes into something the room had to work for. Watching European CRO leaders debate, in real time, about where their own money should go is a far better signal than any slide, and it leaves me genuinely excited to see how the sector turns that appetite into action over the 12 months ahead.
Looking Forward
The next edition of COG: CRO Summit Europe will begin planning soon... don't miss out!
When: September, 2027
Where: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
How to get involved:
Present on the Programme – David Jones (djo@thepbcgroup.com)
Sponsorship & Exhibiting – Alexander O'Leary (aol@thepbcgroup.com)
Register to Attend - www.thepbcgroup.com/cog-cro-summit-europe
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