IN-PERSON EVENT: Medilink Midlands Members Forum & Workshop
2026-03-05 10:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London) | Shakespeare Martineau Solicitors, 35 Station Street, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG2 3DQ, United Kingdom
Date: Thursday 5th March 2026
Time: 10:00 – 13:00
Location: Shakespeare Martineau Solicitors, 35 Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3DQ
Join us for a relaxed and engaging morning hosted by Medilink Midlands, designed exclusively for our members. This is a great opportunity to connect with the Medilink Midlands team, hear updates on our latest activities.
The session will also include a focused workshop on Employee Mental Health and Wellbeing, delivered by Nathan Shearman. Nathan is a qualified psychotherapist and mental health trainer who integraties current psychotherapy and neuroscience research with innovative delivery methods, alongside the development of effective, high-impact training solutions. We’ll explore best practices, share useful resources, and open the floor for discussion.
Agenda Highlights:

Tea, coffee, pastries & networking
Updates from Medilink Midlands
Member Q&A session
Employee Wellbeing & Mental Health Workshop

Agenda:
10:00am – Delegates Arrive / Registration (Tea, Coffee & Pastries)
10:20am – Introduction from Shakespeare Martineau
10:30am – Welcome from Medilink Midlands

Intro and overview of MM activity

Member updates

10:45am – Events update
10:55am – Q&A – Your chance to ask the Medilink Midlands Team
11:15am – Break (Tea, Coffee & Biscuits)
11:30am – Employee wellbeing & Mental Health Workshop
1:00pm – Finish
To secure your place, please contact events@medilinkmidlands.com
Find out more and register here – limited spaces available:
We hope you can join us for what promises to be an insightful and valuable session.
Speakers

Nathan Shearman, Managing Director – Red Umbrella
“Nathan is a qualified psychotherapist and mental health trainer who integrates current psychotherapy and neuroscience research with innovative delivery methods, alongside the development of effective, high-impact training solutions. After ten years in retail management, the loss of someone close to suicide, alongside his own experiences of anxiety, Nathan now pursues a career in mental health, and is steadfastly committed to reducing stigma and improving access to support, with the emphasis on prevention as well as crisis intervention. Since joining Red Umbrella, he has trained over 2,000 people, designed 65 courses, and delivered training globally.”

IN-PERSON EVENT: Building Resilient High-Growth, Globally Competitive Life Sciences Cluster: Finance and Investment
2026-03-10 08:30 - 16:30 | Charnwood Campus, Bakewell Road, Loughborough, LE11 5RB
Date: Tuesday 10th March
Times: 08:30am – 4:30pm
Venue: Charnwood Campus Science Innovation and Technology Park
Agenda
08:30 – 09:15 | Arrival, Registration & Networking
09:15 – 09:30 | Welcome & Opening Remarks
“The East Midlands gateway from innovation to commercialisation and manufacturing; Part 2: finance and investment.”
Gosia Khrais BSc (Hons), PGDip, CQI, Director, Charnwood Campus
Abigail Philips, Delivery and HTC Manager, Medilink Midlands
09:30 – 09:50 | Keynote Address
09:50 – 10:00 | ‘From Connection to Amplification: Collaborating for Life Sciences Growth at Charnwood Campus”
Sue Tilly, Chair of the LBV
Reclaiming leadership in life Sciences Manufacturing and how it gets financed
10:00 – 10:15 | Industry Perspective “Driving investment/capital attractiveness through manufacturing excellence and continuous improvement”
10:15 – 10:45 | Panel 1: Building a Resilient Life Sciences Manufacturing Ecosystem. Moderated discussion with leaders from:

TBC
Nick Smiley, Kindeva
Andy Lewis, Quotient

Moderator: Graeme Cameron, CEO Pennine Healthcare
Live Polling: 5min
Notes:

What makes manufacturing assets bankable vs uninvestable?
How do GMP, automation, and continuous improvement reduce investor risk?
What do lenders and strategic investors want to see before committing capital?

10:50 – 11:20 | Networking Break & Expo
11:20 – 11:35 | Importance of scaling “Why is it important to scale and how HINs can help Innovators to scale? ”
Nicole McGlennon, Managing Director at Health Innovation Network East Midlands
Nat Hutley, Founder and CEO, Koodos Private Markets Venture Capital & Private Equity
11:35 – 12:05 | Panel 2: Financing Scale – What Investors Fund, What They Don’t, and Why

Ben Reasbeck, Barclay Life Sciences Lead
Christian Kumar, MedTech Lab Makers
Andrew Mumford, CEO of Initiate Consultancy
Sam Stephens, TBAT
Lewis Stringer, BBB

Moderator: Nat Hutley, Founder and CEO, Koodos Private Markets Venture Capital & Private Equity
Live Polling: 5min
Notes:

Why founders fail to secure capital
How platform models de-risk innovation for investors
How regions benefit when capital and infrastructure align

12:05 – 12:20 | Spotlight Talk: MedTech Makers Lab Launch: The first Pan European Clinical Development Organisation overing Innovation, Funding, Clinical Adoption and Scale
Christian Kumar, Founder MedTech Makers Lab
12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch & Expo
13:30 -13:50 | Sponsor Talks

Marks & Clerk LLP
Sotas

13:50 – 14:00 | DSIT’s East Midlands lead for the TechFirst programme
14:00 – 14:15 | Resilient Health Supply Chains: Strategic Assets for Investors in the UK
Jan Godsell, Dean at Loughborough Business School, Prof of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy
14:15 – 14:30 | Regulatory Innovation for Faster Adoption: “Regulation as a Value Lever – Why regulation is not just a hurdle, but a critical lever for de-risking innovation and attracting funding.”
David Hawkins, Medical Device Regulatory, Quality and Compliance Consultant Sotas
14:30 – 15:00 | Panel 3: From an Innovator to a CEO:

Kieran Borrett, Director, Plug and Play
Nat Hutley, Founder and CEO, Koodos Private Markets Venture Capital & Private Equity
David Hawkins, Medical Device Regulatory, Quality and Compliance Consultant Sotas
Helen Compton, Stakeholder Engagement Manager, NIHR

Moderator: Al Mills, Director of Business Development and Growth Specialist, Sequel Consultants
Live Polling: 5min
Notes:

How regulatory innovation reduces time-to-revenue
What investors misunderstand about MHRA vs EMA vs FDA
How early regulatory engagement affects valuation

15:00 – 15:30 | Innovators’ pitches
15:30 – 15:45 | Closing Remarks & Call to Action
Abigail Philips, Delivery and HTC Manager, Medilink Midlands
15:45 – 16:30 | Networking Reception

Leicestershire Innovation Clinics 2026
2026-03-19 12:00 - 16:00 | Charnwood Campus Loughborough, LE11 5RB, Charnwood Campus Loughborough, Loughborough, LE11 5RB, United Kingdom
Date: Thursday 19th March 2026

Venue: Charnwood Campus, Bakewell Road, Loughborough, LE11 5RB
A partnership between Medilink Midlands, The Institute for Precision Health – University of Leicester and Charnwood Campus Science Innovation and Technology Park offers expertise support to individuals or companies already in, or transitioning into, the life sciences, medtech, health tech sector within the locality of Leicester and Leicestershire.
We are delighted to be able to feed into the new Leicestershire Academic Health Partners Health Innovation Hub, which will widen our ability to provide clinical insight into the value and delivery of new innovations.
First launched in October 2022, the Innovation Clinic programme successfully provided innovators access to expertise across the University, NHS and business innovation support network, to supply a clear pathway on how to grow and develop their innovations
To continue supporting pioneering innovation ideas across the region, a new series of clinic sessions has been launched.
Hosting these sector-specific workshops collaboratively, enables innovators to benefit from confidential discussions regarding the development of new products, from advice on funding and product development all the way through to engaging with the NHS, without having to engage with each organisation separately.
Expertise will include:
Academic, clinical, IP, regulatory, clinical adoption, innovation test beds, signposting and sectoral networking opportunities.
Who should apply?

Are you a student, health professional or company, developing new products or services?
Do you need insight on how to develop your research idea into a tangible product?
Looking to understand how to approach the NHS?
Want to know what funding is available?
Need guidance on PPI, value proposition, and/or cost/benefit analysis?
Looking to increase your competitive advantage?

Booking information:
If you would like to discuss your innovation project, new product development or understand the landscape, please complete this short online application form here.
These workshops have proved extremely popular, so early booking is recommended.
Deadline for the Leicestershire Innovation Clinics is Thursday 26th February.
Note: Applications will be kept open until further notice as there will be ongoing support mechanisms.
Please note individuals/companies can only attend one innovation clinic session throughout the series. This programme is supported by the Leicestershire Academic Health Partners Health Innovation Hub, consisting of:

Health Innovation East Midlands
Leicestershire Academic Health Partners
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board
University of Leicester

Funded through the University of Leicester’s Medical Research Council Impact Accelerator Account.

IN-PERSON EVENT: Perspectives on Preventative Innovations in Healthcare
2026-03-24 10:00 - 13:00 | St Johns Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom
Agenda:
Insight 3: Perspectives on Preventative Innovations in Healthcare
Arise Innovation hubs are delighted to be collaborating with Medilink Midlands and Innovate UK in a series of events for autumn and winter 2025/26. The final of these looks at an overarching theme in the NHS’s current 10-year plan, around how prevention is better than cure.
The third of the pillars in the NHS 10-year plan is ‘from sickness to prevention’, with a focus on reaching patients earlier to prevent illness, where-ever possible. To achieve this, we need to look across key areas including health surveillance, genomic science, standardised data collection and thoughtful deployment of digital and AI technologies. Reshaping the ways we innovate to make every one of us proactive citizens.
Challenges we will address in this session include:
-What needs to change to improve the focus on prevention?
-How do we use health surveillance data to inform and accelerate new preventative health programmes?
-How do we move to a data-driven and personalised approach throughout our lives?
Agenda
10.00 – 10.25: Arrival, networking and refreshments
10.25-10.30: Introduction and Welcome by Arise and InnovateUK
10.30-10.35: Welcome by Medilink Midlands – Raghul Senthilnathan
10.35-10.50: Setting the scene I – What does the future look like, in an ecosystem of health promotion and protection UK Health Security Agency
Setting the scene II – From Body Mass Index to Body Volume Index |Richard Barnes CEO Select Research
10.50-11.00: Q&A
11.00-11.30: Lightening pitches (5 minutes from each presenter, 3-5 in total)
Iman Haq | The Sample Network CEO & Founder
11.30-11.45: Q&A
11.45-12.00: Refreshment break
12.00-12.20: Support available to innovators
Support available from InnovateUK – Bernie Williams | Innovate UK Business Growth Scaleup Director
12.20-13.00: Networking lunch
