Unlocking paediatric technology: the hurdles of ethics, regulation and adoption

Digital health technologies are rapidly advancing, yet children continue to benefit far less than adults. Physiological and developmental maturation in childhood and regulatory frameworks that lack paediatric-specific guidance make it difficult to design, evaluate and safely adopt digital tools for clinical care. Many tools are validated in adults before being adapted for children, limiting their relevance and safety. Adoption in practice is further constrained by limited digital literacy across the workforce, technologies that do not integrate with paediatric workflows and commissioning models that prioritise high-volume adult markets over smaller, more complex paediatric populations. To overcome these barriers, coordinated system-level action is required. A national paediatric data strategy should establish shared data standards, enable privacy-preserving analytics and set clear rules for secondary use and commercial access. Paediatric-specific evaluation pathways must support staged evidence generation from early-phase feasibility work in small cohorts to real-world effectiveness studies embedded in routine care. Building staff confidence in digital tools requires structured training in data and digital skills, and developers must be open about what data their systems use, how well they work for different groups of children and where their limitations lie. Ongoing monitoring after a tool is deployed, together with genuine involvement of children, young people and families at every stage, is essential to ensure technologies remain safe, effective and acceptable in real-world paediatric care. Together, these measures would create a coordinated ecosystem that supports safe, equitable and sustainable paediatric digital innovation, ensuring that emerging technologies deliver real benefit for children and young people.