TArGET Health: Tool for the Anticipatory Governance of Emerging Technologies in Health

Overview

TArGET Health is a practical tool developed jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It helps policymakers and other stakeholders introduce emerging and converging technologies in health with adaptive governance for equitable health outcomes that address societal needs. TArGET Health is designed to strengthen their capacity to anticipate potential opportunities, assess uncertainties and consider context-appropriate governance responses.

TArGET Health tool TArGET Health user sheet

What the tool offers

TArGET Health guides users through a forward-looking, cyclical and iterative three-step process: (1) understand the technology case and why governance may be needed; (2) assess the case from different perspectives; and (3) consider suitable governance interventions and tools. The process is intended to prompt critical reflection, stakeholder dialogue and transparent judgement, including when decisions need to be informed under tight timelines and with limited resources.

Who can use it

The tool is primarily intended for policymakers and public authorities. It may also support private-sector organizations, research actors including funders and academics, civil society organizations, technology experts and other stakeholders involved in assessing technologies, their implications and possible governance responses.

Scope and definitions

For the purposes of TArGET Health, an emerging technology is a technology, application or convergence of technologies whose development, use or effects are evolving and may create significant uncertainty, novel opportunities, risks, value tensions or governance gaps in health. The unit of analysis is a defined technology case: a specific technology or technology family considered in relation to an intended use, health problem or opportunity, affected groups, stage of development or deployment, and geographical, institutional and policy context. The tool can be applied to technologies at different stages of emergence or adoption where these features create a need for anticipatory governance. Defining the case at the outset helps distinguish an assessable application from innovation in general and makes the subsequent assessment transparent and reproducible.

Limitations and appropriate use

TArGET Health supports reflection, stakeholder deliberation and transparent judgement. It is not intended to assess innovation or scale-up needs in general, evaluate a health intervention’s clinical effectiveness or cost-effectiveness, or replace regulatory review, health technology assessment, legal obligations, risk assessment and management, ethics review or expert decision-making. Its outputs depend on how the technology case is defined, the evidence available, the perspectives represented and the quality of deliberation. Low, medium and high ratings are not validated quantitative measures, and inter-assessor consistency may vary. Users should document their reasoning, involve affected groups and relevant expertise, and revisit the assessment as the technology, evidence, impacts, public expectations and governance context evolve.

Methodological approach 

TArGET Health was co-developed by WHO and OECD from 2025 through an iterative process involving country delegates, subject-matter experts and stakeholders with experience in emerging technologies, public health and governance. Its conceptual foundation combines the OECD Framework for Anticipatory Governance of Emerging Technologies with the WHO frameworks Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health: WHO guidance, Human genome editing: a framework for governance, and Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences: mitigating biorisks and governing dual-use research. The frameworks provide complementary perspectives on foresight, shared values, societal engagement, agile and adaptive governance, international cooperation, health, ethics, equity, human rights and responsible innovation. TArGET Health considers and consolidates overlaps and gaps in their principles, propositions and practical features in the tool’s three steps, six assessment dimensions and ten governance-option categories. The tool operationalizes established governance concepts as structured prompts for evidence-informed discussion and judgement.

Generative AI tools were used to support drafting, editing and the organization of content during the development of this document. All AI-assisted content was subject to human review and verification. Final editorial and substantive decisions were made by the authors and responsible WHO and OECD staff, who retain responsibility for the content.

Acknowledgements

The OECD and WHO jointly developed the Tool for the Anticipatory Governance of Emerging Technologies (TArGET Health) throughout 2025-2026. The OECD Secretariat team engaged in its development consisted of David Winickoff, Laura Kreiling and Daniel Nadal from the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation. The WHO Secretariat team consisted of Katherine Littler and Marie Bombin from the Science for Health Department. Piers Millett contributed to the early conceptualisation and drafting of the tool. In addition, a broad range of experts were consulted throughout, particularly in workshops held in Paris in October 2025 and in Accra in May 2026. The graphic design work was done by Yifan Shau. This work benefited from the active participation and contributions of national delegates from the OECD Working Party on Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Converging Technologies (BNCT) as well as the Secretariats and experts who served on the WHO  Expert Group on Ethics and Governance of AI for Health, the Expert Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing, and the Secretariat of the Technical Advisory Group on the Responsible Use of the Life Sciences and Dual-Use Research.

Consultation, review and testing

Successive drafts were reviewed through consultation with WHO and OECD secretariats and contributors, country delegates, subject-matter experts and prospective users.

The approach was also tested in a pilot workshop in Ghana in May 2026 using a genetic biocontrol agents case. The exercise provided practical feedback on facilitation, usability, interpretation of prompts, stakeholder deliberation and shift from case assessment to governance options. Revisions informed by testing focused on clearer navigation, more explicit prompts, improved explanation of the case profile, and reinforcement of monitoring and reassessment. This pilot workshop demonstrated that the tool could be used to structure a facilitated case discussion and generated initial usability feedback. It was not designed to validate the tool, measure usability formally or assess agreement between independent assessors. Looking forward, TArGET Health will continue to be refined through application in different technology cases, communities and regions.

How the assessment dimensions and case profile were developed

The six dimensions - uncertainty; likelihood and scale of impact; public concern or value conflict; pace of technology emergence; strategic importance; and governance gaps - translate recurring considerations from the four existing frameworks into a practical assessment. Together, they capture the maturity and direction of a technology, the nature and distribution of possible effects, societal perspectives, policy significance and the adequacy of existing governance. Users are invited to consider available evidence and stakeholder perspectives for each dimension and record a low, medium or high judgement with a rationale and any information gaps.

How the governance options were identified and used

The ten categories of governance intervention bring together commonly used policy and governance functions identified across the WHO and OECD framework documents: assessment functions and bodies, binding law, innovation and industrial policy, international options, market assurance and trust, professional capacity strengthening, professional self-regulation, public and civil society engagement, shaping science and technology, and state-led soft law or guidance. The categories provide a structured menu rather than a hierarchy or prescription.

Selection of examples

Examples were identified from the reviewed WHO and OECD frameworks and associated practice in technology governance. They were selected to illustrate the meaning and practical relevance of the six dimensions and governance categories, rather than to provide an exhaustive evidence inventory or endorse a particular approach. Selection considered direct relevance to the dimension or option, clarity, diversity of technology areas and governance settings, geographical and institutional applicability, and the ability to illustrate potential opportunities, risks, value tensions or implementation considerations. Examples may be updated as evidence and practice evolve.

Funding

TArGET Health was developed jointly by WHO and OECD with financial support of Wellcome under Grant 319929/Z/24/Z

Declarations of interest

All external experts who contributed to the development or review of TArGET Health were requested to submit to WHO a declaration of interest disclosing interests that might affect, or might reasonably be perceived to affect, their objectivity and independence in relation to the subject matter of the tool. WHO assessed the declarations in accordance with its established processes and determined and implemented any measures required to manage identified interests.