Upon arrival, attendees can check in at the registration desk before choosing from a selection of refreshments kindly provided by University Hospitals Southampton NHS Trust and getting involved in:

• Super Connect Expo: to enable attendees to connect with business support organisations providing advice, support, funding or other support, including:
  • NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Accelerated Surgical Care to discuss involvement in PPI, developing your innovation, and supporting the MedTech Foundation, or other collaborations

• • Southampton Emerging Therapies and Technologies (SETT) Centre to discuss clinical trials, accelerating your testing, and other collaborations

• • Empact Ventures to discuss possible super connections and collaborations

• • Device Access UK to discuss navigating the NHS to ensure your technology reaches the patients who need it most

• • ND Axon to explore collaboration
• • Trignomix to explore business support
• • Smile Request to explore collaboration

• Super Connect Networking*: The Super Connect team at Empact Ventures will super connect attendees who register, opt-in and check-in in person on the day with potential partners, clients, funders, business support or collaborators:

• • During the Event (by email): You’ll be super connected with exhibitors, pitchers, speakers or panellists once they’ve arrived, based on your preferences
  • During the Event (in-person) – Attendees will be able to consult the Lead Super Connector, Kosta Mavroulakis (CEO, Empact Ventures) to make warm introductions in person (if in attendance) to other attendees, speakers or exhibitors
  • During the Event (Super Connect Wall) – Attendees will be able to view the photos of all speakers, exhibitors, partners and attendees opted-in registrants to find them in the event or consult Kosta to introduce them where possible
  • After the Event: We may also super-connect you to a wider network of partners, clients, funders, collaborators, or business support based on your registration form up to 8 weeks after the event, subject to capacity

Learn More in the Rise of the Super Connectors piece in leading tech publication Maddyness here *

We will welcome delegates and provide an overview of the day’s aims, while setting the context for developing a nationally relevant Health Research Collaboration (HRC) bid rooted in Wessex strengths.

• Host: Kosta Mavroulakis, Founder & CEO, Empact Ventures
• Vee Mapunde, Co-Director, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Accelerated Surgical Care
• Christine McGrath (Managing Director, Wessex Health Partners)

This will outline the national priorities for HRCs and the UK healthtech landscape. It will cover the role of regional ecosystems in national delivery and what makes a distinctive, scalable, and impactful HRC proposal.

Our keynote speaker is Dr Karen Kirkham, Partner and Chief Medical Officer at Deloitte

Speakers include:

• Steph Garfield, Assistant Director, NIHR Coordinating Centre
• Dace Dimza-Jones, Life Sciences Specialist, Department for Business and Trade
• Hemali Patel, Mid and South Essex NHS Trust

The panel discussion will explore different perspectives from the NHS, industry, and academia on the national challenges facing healthtech innovation. It will identify national unmet needs that align with Wessex’s expertise, explore opportunities for cross-sector collaboration and capture insights for inclusion in HRC scoping. Speakers include:

• Chair: Dr Lucy Buckley (Founder, The Digital Health Assurance Company & Entrepreneur in Residence, The Royal Society)
• John West (Chief Commercial Officer, Device Access)
• Richard Kirk (CEO, PolyPhotonix)
• Dr Karen Kirkham, Partner – Chief Medical Officer, Deloitte

A carefully curated session will be facilitated by Kosta Mavroulakis (Founder & CEO, Empact Ventures & Editor-in-Chief, Global Good) that will showcase four SMEs who will present their HealthTech innovations as novel solutions to current system challenges.

SMEs will include:

• Helen Davies,  Non-Exec Director ND Axon

• Alexis Price, Co-Founder & Director of New Business Development and Alan Hayling, Co-Founder and Director, YourAvatar AI

• Rajesh Mair, Founder and CEO, Trignomix
• Dr Mohamad Saad, Co-Founder and General Manager, Toothpick

There will be Q & A with panellists:

• Martin Gossling (Head of Commercial Innovation, University Hospitals Southampton NHS Trust)
• Dace Dimza-Jones (National Life Sciences Specialist l Global Entrepreneurship – Department for Business and Trade)
• Peter Bailey (Head of Digital, myDentist UK)
• Tas Gohir (Senior Intellectual Property and Commercial Research Manager, Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust)

At this point, we will have lunch kindly provided by University Hospitals Southampton NHS Trust. You can also continue to use the Super Connect Wall, Networking and Expo to connect with others in the event.

This session will be delivered by Professor Chris Kipps (SETT Centre Director, University Hospitals Southampton NHS Trust)

The sessions will feature three (10-minute) presentations with 5-minutes of audience Q & A. The aim is to showcase the strength and diversity of the Wessex healthtech ecosystem through examples of innovation that address national NHS priorities, NIHR strategies, and UK Life Sciences Vision themes — including digital transformation, health inequalities, and sustainable healthcare. Our speakers include:

• Neil White (Professor in Intelligent Sensor Systems, University of Southampton & Director, ECS Centre for Healthcare)

• Alex Dickinson (Professor of Prosthetics Engineering, University of Southampton)

• Tim Exell (Associate Professor of Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Science & Director of the Centre for Integrated Health and Wellbeing, University of Portsmouth)

• Tom Wainwright (Professor of Orthopaedics & Deputy Head of Orthopaedic Research Institute & Research Physiotherapist, University Hospitals Southampton NHS Trust)

The focus of this session is on creating cross-sector partnerships that enhance national impact and accelerate adoption. It will identify where Wessex partnerships can add distinctive national value, understand how non-traditional collaborations (industry, digital, finance) strengthen bids, and capture lessons from existing NIHR collaborations and national consortia.

• Vee Mapunde (Co-Director, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Accelerated Surgical Care)

• Ian Newington (Innovation Lead, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Brain Injury)

This short closing session will recap key insights and commitments, outline the next steps in developing the HRC concept paper and share a call to action for national and regional partners.

Speakers:

• Vee Mapunde (Co-Director, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre for Accelerated Surgical Care),
• Christine McGrath (Managing Director, Wessex Health Partners).