Dates announced for 2026 health tech conference in the West Midlands
Dates were released today for Life Sciences Week (LSW) 2026 - a five-day series of nationally significant events across the West Midlands bringing together leaders in biotech, medtech, pharma, academia and business.
LSW 2026 will take place from Monday September 21st until Friday 25th, organisers said.
This news comes after the inaugural Life Sciences Week in September this year, which was attended by more than 2,000 people.
Among the high-profile medtech brands taking part was Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA), the UK’s largest life sciences accelerator and anchor tenant of No.1 BHIC (Birmingham Health Innovation Campus), in the heart of the city’s fast-growing Life Sciences Quarter.
Professor Paul Cadman, co-founder of LSW and chief executive of the One Thousand Trades Group, said: “We were overwhelmed this year by the number and calibre of people who attended the first LSW - each enthused by the need to seize the opportunities this multi-billion-pound growth sector is offering.
“While the focus of this year’s event was Birmingham and the West Midlands, Life Sciences Week 2026 will have a distinctly national and international feel as befits a region fast becoming known as the life sciences capital of Britain. Book now at wmlifesciencesweek.co.uk/ to avoid disappointment.”
Professor Neil Hanley, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Medicine and Health at the University of Birmingham, said: “This year’s Life Sciences Week was fantastic and testament to the amazing hard work of the organisers.
“It allowed us to launch our Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, complete with the PHTA as the anchor tenant in the first building.
“Since which we have already had a ministerial visit. I’m really looking forward to next year and watching this grow year-on-year.”
The fourfold focus of Life Sciences Week 2026 is:
Pharmaceutical & biotech: drug discovery, novel therapies, global research.
Medical technology & diagnostics: tools, devices, diagnostics, clinical practice.
Academic institutions: university research shared with the private sector.
Investors: emerging ventures and opening doors to capital and scaling opportunities.
The inaugural LSW was well-supported by big brands across the West Midlands region and beyond.
Among the LSW’s partner organisations were: Plug and Play, the global innovation platform; PHTA (Precision Health Technologies Accelerator); Coventry University; Bruntwood, leaders in life sciences real estate; Crowe UK, specialists in health sector audit and tax; Willis Towers Watson, capital and risk-management experts; Medilink Midlands, Britain’s largest health tech network; WMHTC (West Midlands Health Technologies Cluster); Health Innovation West Midlands; the ‘Give Plasma, Save Lives’ campaign and Gateley Global.
Legal services firm Talbots Law, IT company Intercity Technology, barristers St Philips Chambers, outdoor digital advertiser Elonex and personal protective equipment supplier Beeswift were also sponsors of this year’s LSW.
