Beyond the RFP Webinar Intelligent Clinical Outsourcing Webinar

Efficiency. Scale. Intelligence. R&D procurement leaders are increasingly being asked to deliver all three — but how do you actually get there?

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📅 September 17, 2026   |   🕐 12 PM ET / 6 PM CEST   |   📍 LinkedIn Live   |   Free to attend

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What: A live webinar exploring how AI, structured data, benchmarks and automation can make clinical sourcing genuinely more intelligent — including a candid look at the buy-vs-build decision for sourcing technology, and a live demo of SourcePlus.

When: September 17, 2026, at 12 PM ET / 6 PM CEST.

Where: LinkedIn Live.

Who's speaking: Anca Copaescu (CEO, Clinical Maestro), Andrei Antonescu (Head of Product, Clinical Maestro), and Jorge Alvim (Senior Sourcing Manager, argenx).

Who it's for: Clinical Outsourcing, R&D Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Vendor Management, Clinical Operations, and R&D Digital/IT leaders, plus Service Provider Proposal Managers.

Cost: Free — registration required.

Why This Conversation, Why Now

Clinical outsourcing is entering new territory. Procurement teams are being challenged to streamline increasingly complex workflows, scale without simply adding headcount, and determine how — and where — to embed AI and intelligence into sourcing and decision-making. Yet the technology supporting clinical outsourcing has often struggled to keep pace with the complexity of the work it's meant to support.

Here's a question worth sitting with: if you bolt an AI assistant onto your existing sourcing workflow, does that automatically make the workflow more efficient? Most teams assume the answer is yes. It isn't always — and the difference between AI that genuinely improves a process and AI that just adds a layer on top of an already-strained one is exactly the kind of thing that gets glossed over in most industry conversations.

That's because there's no shortage of conversation about AI right now. Every vendor has a point of view, every conference has a panel, every LinkedIn feed has an opinion. What's much harder to find is a genuine, specific discussion of what intelligent R&D procurement should actually look like in practice — not in theory, not in a slide deck, but in the day-to-day mechanics of sourcing, benchmarking, vendor management, and change orders.

On September 17, we're having that conversation. Join Jorge Alvim, Senior Sourcing Manager at argenx, Andrei Antonescu, Head of Product at Clinical Maestro, and Anca Copaescu, CEO of Clinical Maestro, for a candid, unscripted discussion on one of the most relevant — and most under-examined — topics facing pharma R&D procurement today.

What We'll Cover

🧠 How do we make clinical sourcing truly intelligent?

AI adoption in clinical outsourcing isn't a yes/no question anymore — it's a where and how question. We'll dig into where AI, structured data, benchmarks and automation can meaningfully improve sourcing workflows, and just as importantly, where domain expertise and human judgment remain essential and shouldn't be automated away. This isn't a theoretical debate: it's about the practical line between augmentation and automation in a field where decisions carry real operational and financial weight.

🏗️ Buy vs. build: what should actually drive the decision?

AI has made it easier than ever for pharma companies to consider building their own sourcing and procurement tools in-house. The logic is tempting: “We have access to great AI tools. It's faster and cheaper than ever to build software. We know our data, we know our processes — so why aren't we building our own specialized solution?”

Those are valid points. But outsourcing models are constantly changing, and clinical sourcing workflows carry very unique, highly specific demands. Change orders need to be reconciled. Historical benchmarking data is critical during due diligence. And a build decision made today has to hold up against tomorrow's requirements: Is there a real plan for frequent releases? For incorporating user feedback? For ongoing testing and validation? These are the questions that tend to get skipped in the early excitement of “we could just build it” — and they're exactly what we'll walk through, covering speed, control, domain expertise, integration, governance, scalability, cost, and long-term sustainability.

🚀 What does the next generation of sourcing look like?

We'll close with a live demonstration of SourcePlus — Clinical Maestro's approach to flexible, intelligent sourcing across clinical outsourcing and the broader R&D procurement landscape. This is a first-hand look at what “beyond the RFP” actually looks like in a working product, not just a concept.

Who Should Attend

This session is built for people who are being asked to drive efficiency, scale their organizations sustainably, modernize sourcing workflows, or define how AI should fit into their procurement strategy, including:

• Clinical Outsourcing leaders
• R&D Procurement professionals
• Strategic Sourcing managers
• Vendor Management teams
• Clinical Operations leaders
• R&D Digital / IT leaders
• Service Provider Proposal Managers

If any part of your role involves deciding how sourcing gets done — and how AI fits into that decision — this conversation was built with you in mind.

Meet the Speakers

Anca Copaescu

CEO, Clinical Maestro

Anca leads Clinical Maestro's mission to bring intelligence and flexibility to clinical outsourcing and R&D procurement. She'll be sharing a CEO's-eye view of where the industry is headed and what “intelligent sourcing” needs to mean in practice, not just in marketing language.

Andrei Antonescu

Head of Product, Clinical Maestro

Andrei leads product strategy at Clinical Maestro, including the development of SourcePlus. He'll be walking through the practical realities of building AI into sourcing workflows — what works, what doesn't, and what teams should be asking before they invest.

Jorge Alvim

Senior Sourcing Manager, argenx

Jorge brings the practitioner's perspective from inside a leading biopharmaceutical company, offering a real-world view on the buy-vs-build decision and what it actually takes to modernize sourcing operations from the inside.

Why Attend

• Get a grounded, non-marketing take on where AI actually helps clinical sourcing — and where it doesn't.
• Walk away with a clearer framework for evaluating buy vs. build for your own sourcing technology decisions.
• See Source Plus live, not in a demo video — ask questions in real time.
• Hear from both a technology provider (Clinical Maestro) and a practitioner inside a pharma company (argenx) in the same conversation.

FAQ

What is the “Beyond the RFP” webinar about?

It's a live webinar hosted by Clinical Maestro exploring how AI, structured data, benchmarks and automation can make clinical sourcing and R&D procurement genuinely more intelligent — and how procurement teams should approach the buy-vs-build decision for sourcing technology. The session closes with a live demonstration of SourcePlus, Clinical Maestro's approach to flexible, intelligent sourcing.

When is the Beyond the RFP webinar taking place?

September 17, 2026, at 12 PM ET / 6 PM CEST, streamed live on LinkedIn Live.

Where can I watch the webinar?

The event streams live on LinkedIn Live. Register on this page to receive the link and a reminder ahead of the event.

Who is speaking at the webinar?

Three speakers: Anca Copaescu, CEO of Clinical Maestro; Andrei Antonescu, Head of Product at Clinical Maestro; and Jorge Alvim, Senior Sourcing Manager at argenx.

Who should attend this webinar?

Professionals working in Clinical Outsourcing, R&D Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Vendor Management, Clinical Operations, or R&D Digital/IT — as well as Service Provider Proposal Managers — who are working on efficiency, scale, sourcing modernization, or defining an AI strategy for procurement.

Is the webinar free to attend?

Yes. Registration is free — simply register on this page to reserve your spot and receive the LinkedIn Live link.

What will be discussed regarding AI in clinical sourcing?

The panel will discuss where AI, structured data, benchmarks and automation can meaningfully improve clinical sourcing workflows, and where domain expertise and human judgment remain essential. A central question the panel poses: does adding an AI assistant to an existing workflow automatically make that workflow more efficient? The answer, and the nuance behind it, is a core part of the discussion.

What is the “buy vs. build” debate the webinar addresses?

With AI making it easier and cheaper than ever to build custom software, many pharma companies are asking whether they should build their own specialized sourcing and procurement solutions in-house rather than buying from a vendor. The webinar examines what should actually drive that decision — including speed, control, domain expertise, integration, governance, scalability, cost, and long-term sustainability — and highlights considerations that are often overlooked, such as reconciling change orders, maintaining historical benchmarking data, and planning for frequent releases, user feedback, and ongoing testing and validation.

What is SourcePlus?

SourcePlus is Clinical Maestro's approach to flexible, intelligent sourcing across clinical outsourcing and the broader R&D procurement landscape. It will be demonstrated live during the webinar as an example of what a next-generation sourcing solution looks like in practice.

Will there be a Q&A during the webinar?

The session is designed as a live, candid discussion; attendees joining via LinkedIn Live can engage with the conversation in real time through LinkedIn's native comment and reaction features.

There is plenty of conversation about AI. There is far less genuine discussion about what intelligent R&D procurement should actually look like. This is that conversation.

Go beyond the RFP. Start sourcing with intelligence.