In 2021, in the face of the global pandemic and its impact on the quality of medicines and healthcare, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) continued to fulfil its mission to protect public health with great determination. Despite adverse conditions, the EDQM experts, stakeholders and staff pulled together to keep the vast majority of activities moving forward as planned, with necessary adaptations to keep the organisation in “business-as-usual” mode, yet ensuring the EDQM stays ahead of the curve in the postCOVID-19 environment.