More than a networking event, the Health Tech & Life Sciences Innovator Summit brought together innovators, NHS leaders, researchers, policymakers, investors and industry partners to explore a critical challenge for the UK health innovation sector: how do we turn world-class innovation into real-world impact for patients, healthcare systems and the economy?

Hosted by Health Innovation West Midlands at Birmingham Health Innovation Campus (BHIC), the event highlighted the strengths of the West Midlands health and life sciences ecosystem while exploring how innovation can be adopted and scaled more effectively across health and care.

Throughout the day, speakers returned to a consistent message: the West Midlands already has many of the ingredients needed to become one of the UK’s leading health innovation regions. The challenge now is accelerating adoption, strengthening collaboration and ensuring innovation delivers measurable impact.

Innovation, growth and the UK’s future

Opening the event, Jonathan Pearson, Chair of Health Innovation West Midlands, highlighted the region’s ambition to strengthen partnerships, support innovators and accelerate the spread of innovation across health and care systems.

In her keynote address, Preet Gill emphasised the role of innovation in improving patient outcomes while driving economic growth and prosperity. While recognising the UK’s strengths in science, research and entrepreneurship, she highlighted the need to improve adoption, commercialisation and scale, arguing that the challenge is no longer whether the UK can invent the future, but whether it can build, retain and benefit from it.

She positioned the West Midlands as uniquely placed to lead this agenda, with its combination of research excellence, NHS infrastructure, manufacturing capability and diverse population.

Building on these themes, Amanda Risino, Chief Executive of Health Innovation West Midlands, focused on the challenge of ensuring proven innovations reach patients faster and become embedded in routine care. She emphasised that success should be measured not by the number of innovations created, but by how many improve outcomes, support NHS staff and are adopted at scale.

Amanda also highlighted the strengths of the West Midlands ecosystem, while stressing that stronger connections between innovators, clinicians, researchers, system leaders and patients are essential to accelerating adoption.

Key messages from the keynote session

• The UK’s challenge is no longer discovering innovation, but deploying innovation at scale.
• Better health and economic growth are mutually reinforcing ambitions.
• Innovation only matters when it improves outcomes for patients and populations.

Panel One: From Discovery to Impact – How do we make the West Midlands the best place to invent, build and scale health innovation?

The first panel brought together representatives from industry, academia, regional government and health economics to explore how the West Midlands can strengthen its position as a leading health and life sciences region.

Panellists discussed the role of health innovation in supporting both better health outcomes and economic growth, highlighting the region’s strengths in research, clinical expertise, innovation and diversity. They also explored the importance of creating a more connected and navigable innovation ecosystem and ensuring adoption and implementation are considered from the outset.

Panel speakers:

• Ewa Truchanowicz, Mercia Innovation Partners
• Alex Hamilton, West Midlands Combined Authority
• Professor Alex Richter, University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
• Christopher George, NHS Alliance

Key takeaway: The West Midlands already has many of the assets needed to succeed. The priority now is creating a more connected ecosystem, making it easier for innovators to access support, build partnerships and move innovations from discovery to adoption and scale.

Panel Two: Navigating NHS Collaboration – Practical steps for innovation and adoption

The second panel focused on how innovators can successfully navigate the journey from development to NHS adoption.

Speakers highlighted the importance of understanding the healthcare problem being solved, involving patients and clinicians early, generating robust evidence and planning for implementation from the outset. The discussion also covered regulation, intellectual property, commercialisation and the realities of scaling innovation within healthcare systems.

Panel speakers:

• Tim Robinson, Health Innovation East Midlands
• Claire Wickett, Birmingham Health Partners / NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Birmingham
• Richard Phillips, Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI)
• Gemma Badger, Hill Dickinson
• Jeff Bousfield, Nonacus
• Jack Porter, NHS Innovation Accelerator

Key takeaway: Successful adoption depends on planning for implementation throughout the innovation journey, not after a product has been developed.

Key themes from the day

• Innovation must be translated into adoption and real-world impact.
• Better health outcomes and economic growth go hand in hand.
• Collaboration across industry, academia, the NHS and patients is essential to success.

Looking ahead

The Summit demonstrated a growing ambition to position the West Midlands as a nationally significant health and life sciences hub.

For innovators, the message was clear: the region offers access to research excellence, NHS partnerships, clinical expertise, real-world testing environments and dedicated support programmes that can help turn promising ideas into adopted solutions.

For the wider ecosystem, the challenge is equally clear: strengthening connections, removing barriers to adoption and ensuring innovative solutions reach the patients and communities who can benefit most, improving patient outcomes and supporting a more sustainable health and care system.

What needs to happen next?

The panel discussions highlighted several priorities for the West Midlands, including:

• Strengthen connections between industry, academia and the NHS.
• Create clearer routes for innovators to access support and expertise.
• Build adoption and implementation into innovation from the outset.
• Accelerate the spread of proven innovations across health and care systems.

The overarching message from the Summit was simple: success will be measured not by the number of innovations developed, but by how effectively they improve outcomes for patients, support NHS services and contribute to economic growth across the region.