Thursday, 3rd April – Friday, 4th April 2025

The Queens Hotel | City Square, Leeds

We plan to host a SurgTech conference every year which will be a two-day event bringing together industry, academics, clinical, funding bodies as well as members of the public working in the field of HealthTech. In previous years we have attracted over 200 delegates and it is our aim to improve on this.

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SurgTech 2025 aims to follow the MedTech innovation pipeline from clinical need to clinical adoption in the NHS, including keynote talks and interactive sessions from leading experts. This year we are organising the programme around the “3 shifts” in the NHS 10-year plan focusing on how MedTech can deliver: sickness to prevention; analogue to digital; hospital to community. We will have parallel sessions on: market access; clinical and economic evaluation; healthcare Inequalities; sustainability and NHS Net Zero; regulatory challenges and public and patient involvement.This exciting two-day event will bring together clinical academics, allied health professionals, researchers from the engineering and physical sciences, methodologists, public and patients, industry, and experts in market access, medical device regulation and commercialisation in a truly multi-disciplinary forum to build networks, explore opportunities for new collaborations.

Speakers

Professor Phil Wood, Chief Executive Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust

Phil was appointed Chief Executive in February 2023. Prior to this he was Chief Medical Officer for the Trust and Deputy Chief Executive. He joined Leeds Teaching Hospitals in 2002 as a Consultant Immunologist and during his career Phil has worked in many operational and strategic roles including Clinical Director for services such as Pathology and Oncology and Medical Director for Strategy and Planning. He has been a champion and advocate of a continuous improvement approach to healthcare, working with the Virginia Mason Institute over the past decade to help develop the Trust’s improvement system, the Leeds Improvement Method.

Phil has held several regional roles including Senior Responsible Officer for the initial Covid-19 vaccination programme in West Yorkshire. He is committed to partnership working across health and care systems, and currently co-chairs the West Yorkshire Cancer Alliance. A continued passionate advocate for the role of research and innovation in improving outcomes and reducing inequalities in healthcare, he is Chair of the Northeast & Yorkshire Genomic Medicine Service Board, a member of the NHS England National Genomics Board and a director and board member at the Northern Health Science Alliance.

An Honorary Professorship in Healthcare Leadership from the University of Leeds was awarded in November 2022, recognising Phil’s leadership contribution across education and training, research, innovation and improvement. He is the chair of the Leeds Academic Health Partnership and a member of the NHS IMPACT National Improvement Board.

Paul Tynan, Co-Founder of E2 Tech

Paul brings over 30 years of experience in technology and innovation. Before launching his own company, Paul acquired extensive experience in various technology roles within Tier 1 banks around the world, where he mastered his skills in developing and implementing cutting-edge solutions.

Under his leadership, E2Tech has become a key player in state-of-the-art technology solutions. The company is proud to be an implementation partner for TOM^TM, Merlynn Intelligence Technologies’ Decisioning Digital Twin Technology, helping organizations enhance decision-making through AI-driven automation. Paul’s expertise and vision continue to position E2Tech at the forefront of technological advancements, delivering smarter, more efficient solutions to organisations worldwide.

Rebecca Randell, Professor of Digital Innovations in Healthcare at the University of Bradford and Director of the Centre for Digital Innovations in Health & Social Care.

The Centre was awarded £4.86m from Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England fund, recognising the excellence of its research and supporting its rapid expansion. Rebecca’s research is concerned with studying how healthcare professionals work to design technologies that support rather than disrupt their practice and studying how technology is used in real-world settings.

Rebecca has explored a range of healthcare environments and technologies, including robotic surgery, and is currently leading a work package for the NIHR-funded EVEREST-HN Programme Grant. This involves co-designing the patient and clinician-facing components of a patient-reported symptom-based risk stratification system for suspected head and neck cancer referrals.

Gareth Evans, Commercial Strategy Director UK, Getinge UK & Ireland

Gareth has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, holding a diverse range of commercial and leadership roles across MedTech, Digital Health, and healthcare services. His career has been driven by a passion for innovation, operational efficiency, and strategic partnerships, leading cross-functional teams to deliver transformative healthcare solutions.

As Commercial Strategy Director at Getinge, Gareth is a key member of the UK & Ireland leadership team. Getinge is a global leader in medical technology, equipment, and digital healthcare solutions, working closely with healthcare providers to enhance patient care. From Sterile Services Departments (SSD) to Operating Theatres, Gareth helps leverage Getinge’s comprehensive portfolio, integrating digital systems and building value-driven partnerships that drive efficiency and improve outcomes to healthcare customers and patients.

Steve Bagshaw, Grand Challenge Lead, CPI

Steve is responsible for Digital Health at CPI, his expertise lies in the commercialisation of medical devices and their integration with digital technologies. Steve has overseen and delivered on a number of successful public and private programmes at CPI, helping new research ideas develop from prototype through to commercial deployment. Clients include industries such as automotive, aerospace, defence, packaging and MedTech in particular. These projects involve working with companies of all sizes from both the public and private sector ranging from large device companies, innovative SMEs, academia and the NHS.

Previously Steve has held Business Development, Marketing and Strategy roles at CPI. Prior to joining CPI in 2008, Steve studied Business Studies at Northumbria University and holds an Executive MBA (with distinction) from Warwick Business School.

Paul Fisher, Director of Policy and Programmes at the British In Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA)

Paul Fisher is responsible for BIVDA’s government affairs, policy development, and advocacy work. Before joining BIVDA, Paul was a senior Civil Servant with the UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care, specialising in the delivery of significant government health programmes. He led the LAMP testing workstream during the pandemic, including mobile processing units testing specialist use cases and the prison testing workstream.

At UKHSA, Paul led diagnostic programmes including the COVID Test Device Approval (CTDA) team regulating tests for SARS-COV-2, and a diagnostic response to a potential H5N1 pandemic. He was a qualified Incident Director in UKHSA’s role as a responder under the Civil Contingences Act.

Before joining the civil service, Paul worked in business transformation, assisting SMEs’ achieve growth or efficiency improvements, after over fifteen years in the emergency services.

Dr Kerrie Davies MBE FRCPath, Clinical Scientist, Infections

Kerrie Davies is an NIHR Clinical Lecturer, Principal Clinical Scientist, she was the Deputy Lead for Infection on the NIHR Leeds MedTech Invitro Diagnostics Cooperative (MIC), and is currently Co-lead for the Early Diagnosis and Personalised Care theme of the HealthTech Research Centre, and Deputy theme lead within the Infection and AMR theme of the NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), within the Healthcare Infections Research Group at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Honorary Associate Professor of diagnostic for infectious disease at University of Leeds; Senior Scientific Advisor to the Office of the Chief Scientific Officer at NHS England; Co-chair Empower Leeds Women, and Education lead for the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease study group committee for C. difficile.

During the pandemic she was seconded first into DHSC, and then UKHSA, to lead on validating COVID-19 diagnostic assays, then contributing to writing and setting up, followed by operationalising new regulatory legislation (Coronavirus Test Device Approval 2021) for COVID-19 test devices.

Kerrie has been researching in vitro diagnostics for >20 years, both nationally and internationally, including defining the optimal C. difficile testing algorithm which was adopted in the UK and recommended in European, American, and Australasian testing guidelines. She has a passion for the impact of research on patients and healthcare, and in particular supporting Healthcare Scientists in research careers and was awarded CSO Healthcare Scientist of the year in 2021 for her work on COVID-19 diagnostics.

Abigail Lishman, Head of Commercial Development UK & EU, Dxcover

Abi leads on the commercial development for the UK and EU at Dxcover Ltd. Dxcover is focussed on developing diagnostic tests to detect cancer at earlier stages, and has proven ability to identify stage 1 and 2 disease using serum from a standard blood draw.

Abi has spent her career within the medical industry, with a strong focus on novel and transformative technologies in MedTech. In her current role, she works on a range of activities to stimulate uptake of the technology, as well as identifying avenues for scientific collaboration and development of the evidence base.

Abi ultimately aims to contribute to improving outcomes for patients, healthcare providers, and health systems, while delivering against Dxcover’s ambitious goals and vision for the future.

Cosima Pettinicchio, ·Partner, Deloitte

Cosima is an experienced strategy and operations consultant, having solved challenging problems across the NHS for over 18 years. She has extensive experience of leading major government and private sector healthcare transformation programmes within complex, fast paced environments. These have delivered measurable impact through the faster diagnosis of infections and diseases, greater efficacy of treatment, increased levels of healthcare staff satisfaction, leading to improved health and wellbeing outcomes for citizens and care workers.

Cosima leads Deloitte’s health artificial intelligence (AI) business, responsible for creating two Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) Class I products.

Cosima is currently supporting Lord Darzi’s Future State Programme, leading on Theme 1: A new ecosystem of health promotion & protection.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Cosima worked in the corporate strategy team at BMI Healthcare where she was responsible for setting corporate strategy, managing the relationships with private medical insurers, and implementing change across BMI Healthcare’s 70+ network of private hospitals.

Athar Ali, Chief Product Officer, Thermology and Entrepreneur-In-Residence at National Physical Laboratory

Commercially-driven C-suite leader with 20+ years proven track record in scaling Healthcare AI, MedTech, Digital Health, SaaS-based businesses to market leadership. Athar has led by driving innovation excellence, strategic capital deployment and partnership development in leadership positions at Novartis, Reckitt , Current Health and 10+ spinouts and startups including from Oxford and National Physical Laboratory. He also runs ScaleUps Ventures, a new startup accelerator for healthcare and social care in partnership with Brunel University and the NHS.

Rob Webster, Chief Executive NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board

Rob has been the lead Chief Executive for the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, an integrated care system (ICS), since March 2016. He became the Chief Executive of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) in July 2022 when it became a statutory organisation as part of the Government’s new Health and Care Act. His focus is on collaboration across health, local government, the third sector and communities to improve outcomes for people in West Yorkshire.

Rob has had a number of Chief Executive roles, in a career that started in 1990. This includes being the Chief Executive of NHS Calderdale Primary Care Trust, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. He was the Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation between 2014 and 2016, representing all parts of the health sector. The first part of Rob’s career was spent in Whitehall, where he was an established Senior Civil Servant in the Department for Health and Care and in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit at the Cabinet Office. He led on national programmes on primary care, productivity, NHS spending and the workforce and had a reputation for innovation and improvement.

Rob continues to contribute to several national programmes and networks including: chairing the NHS Confederation Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Reference Group; being an active membership of the NHS Assembly; NHS Professionals Strategic Advisory Board; the National Centre for Creative Health Advisory Group; Chair of the Strategic Advisory Group to the Rapid Service Evaluation Team; and co-chairing the Accountability and Oversight workstream of the 10-Year Health Plan.

Rob is a visiting Professor at Leeds Beckett University and was proud to be made a Fellow of the Queen’s Nursing Institute in 2014. In May 2016 Rob became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. In 2020 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contribution to healthcare leadership and was awarded the HSJ’s Chief Executive of the Year Award in 2021 owing to his focus on inequality and workforce wellbeing. He is a proud Honorary Graduate of the University of Bradford which bestowed an honorary doctorate in health for services during the pandemic.

Rob believes that leadership can happen from every seat in the organisation, is based on a set of shared values and happens in systems.

David Lawson, Director of Medical Technology & Innovation DHSC

David Lawson is Director of Medical Technology & Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care having commenced the role in October 2022. In this role, Mr Lawson is the Government policy lead for Medical Technology with responsibility for the implementation of the Government’s inaugural Medical Technology Strategy published February 2023. Key initiatives include the Design for Life, to promote circular economy; Value Based Procurement Methodology and associated MedTech Compass to support evidence based decision making and enable a Passporting System, to be adopted for MedTech procurement; NICE Multi-Tech Assessments of existing product categories; National Product Information Management System; National Outcomes and Registries Programme; National Equipment Tracking Information System, reform of the Part IX Drug Tariff which controls MedTech prescribed in the community.

David is also SRO for the Innovation Devices Access Pathway bringing together MHRA, NICE, NHSE to provide enhanced support for novel technology that meets an unmet need, and member of the Independent Advisory Committee (IAC) for the newly launched NIHR HealthTech Research Centres (HRCs) Network.

Professor Carl Thompson, Applied Health Research

Professor Thompson joined Leeds in 2015 from the University of York. His research portfolio reflects his interests in how professionals use technology and information in their judgements and choices and how to get health technologies working more effectively quickly. He established the first Anglo-Dutch MSc in Evidence Based Practice and led the Translating Research into Practice in Leeds and Bradford (TRiPLaB) theme in the first NIHR ARC for Yorkshire and Humber.

During the pandemic he led the NIHR’s Covid-19 Recovery and Learning (HTA-funded) CONTACT study of digital contact tracing in care homes, worked with the PROTECTCovid-19 core research study in care homes and the national CONDOR study of point of care testing in community settings.

Professor Thompson is an experienced NHS Trust Non-Executive Director and mentors NEDs faced with innovating in care environments safely. He provides scientific advice to Australian, Canadian, US and Dutch research funders. He has been part of research teams on more than £20m, published 3 books on Decision Making and Judgement and evaluation in healthcare professions; and has more than 130 peer reviewed articles on decision and implementation science, knowledge translation, evidence-based practice, research methods and, most recently, care homes and epidemiology. He is an academic partner in NICHE-Leeds (https://niche.leeds.ac.uk/) and helped secure Leeds recent entry into the NIHR School for Social Care Research.

Professor Andrew Clegg, Geriatric Medicin

Andy is an academic geriatrician with research interests in frailty, delirium and dementia. He is currently deputy lead for the Yorkshire & Humber NIHR CLAHRC Older People’s Theme, entitled ‘Primary care-based management of frailty in older people’.

Andy is CI for an NIHR Programme Grant to optimise and evaluate personalised care planning for older people with frailty and CI for the NIHR HTA-funded Home-based Extended Rehabilitation for Older People (HERO) trial. Andy is also CI for the Community Ageing Research 75+ (CARE 75+) multi-site cohort study to investigate frailty, disability and quality of life trajectories in older age, and evaluate interventions to improve outcomes using a novel ‘trial within cohort’ (TWiCs) design.

Andy led the development, validation and implementation of the award winning and NICE-recommended electronic frailty index (eFI) using data from around 1M UK patients contained in the ResearchOne and THIN primary care research databases.

Key publications include a 2013 Lancet seminar review on frailty in elderly people and a Cochrane review on interventions for preventing delirium in older people in long-term care. Andy was a member of the 2016 NICE multi morbidity guideline development group, the 2010 NICE delirium guideline development group and the NHS Evidence advisory panel. Andy referees applications for the NIHR and MRC, and is a reviewer for the Lancet, BMJ and Age & Ageing journals.

Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive Homecare Association

Jane Townson is CEO of the Homecare Association. She has extensive experience in the social care, health, housing, and technology sectors. Formerly, she was Chair of the Care Provider Alliance; Chair of the Board of Kraydel; CEO Somerset Care Group; Chairman of YourLife (JV with McCarthy & Stone); Vice Chair of UKHCA; and Senior Independent Director of the Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Jane spent the first 14 years of her career in international leadership roles in research and development at ICI, AstraZeneca, and Syngenta. At Syngenta, she held the position of Global Head of Bioscience Research. She then founded her own business, providing education and training on the link between lifestyle factors and long-term health.

Bryn Sage, Inhealthcare

Bryn Sage is co-founder and CEO of Harrogate-based Inhealthcare, a pioneering company that helped to bring digital health services into the mainstream across the NHS. Founded in 2012, Inhealthcare has transformed how millions of patients receive care through its innovative remote monitoring technology. The company’s success led to its acquisition last year by ResMed, a global leader in cloud-connected medical devices.

In a career spanning more than four decades, Bryn has led organisations from start-ups to established corporates, working alongside one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs to develop and sell multiple technology companies.

Bryn started his working life as a 16-year-old electrical engineering apprentice at Leeds-based UK computer manufacturer Systime and spent some of his early career in West Africa.

Dr Neville Young, Director of Enterprise & Innovation Health Innovation Network Yorkshire and Humber

Dr Neville Young joined the Health Innovation Network Yorkshire & Humber in June 2016. He is responsible for supporting the adoption of high quality innovation that benefits patients and drives efficiencies in the NHS.

Nationally, Neville is currently an NIHR reviewer and sits on the NHS AI Lab Advisory group and is currently Vice Chair of the SBRI cancer panel.

Neville has previously been Chair of the Health Innovation Network Clinical Directors Forum and is involved in the Heath Innovation Network strategy development, working closely with NICE, ABHI and the ABPI to develop the Network’s position on real world evaluation. He also supports UK businesses who wish to export and works closely with Department of International Trade (DIT) and the regional Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

He has worked as an academic researcher, a drug trial manager, a consultant and as a director for a health tech start up.

He has a doctorate in Molecular Embryology from Kings College London.

Panellists

Breakout Sessions

Unlocking the potential of UK HealthTech – insights and recommendations from a breakthrough review of the sector: Daniel Burton Innovation Advisory Practice Lead, KPMG

This session will dive into the insights and strategic recommendations from our comprehensive review of the UK HealthTech sector. The report, commissioned by the UK Office for Life Sciences and conducted by KPMG, shines a light on the crucial role HealthTech plays in advancing healthcare and boosting the economy.

Dan Burton, who led the research, will be sharing key findings, discussing the latest changes, and offering practical advice to help drive innovation, R&D funding, and commercialisation in the HealthTech sector.

This event is aimed at executives and professionals involved in HealthTech innovation and manufacturing. Link to the report: Unlocking the potential of UK HealthTech – GOV.UK / Unlocking the potential of UK HealthTech

Economics Session on SimSurg Model

David Meads, Professor of Health Economics and Director of the Academic Unit of Health Economics and Armando Vargas-Palacios, Senior Research Fellow, Academic Unit of Health Economics, University of Leeds

In this session, we will introduce the cross-cutting health economics theme of the HRC and discuss the role of economic evaluation for successful adoption of novel MedTech and how can this subgroup support decision-makers, industry and manufacturers.

We will then delve into a novel decision tool, the ‘SimSurg Model’, that is currently in the development phase. This tool aims to provide a platform for MedTech developers to help evaluate the potential impact of introducing novel technology into NHS surgical pathways (including patient health impacts, costs, and system efficiencies). We will present our general concept for the SimSurg Model, and then break into discussion groups to explore how this tool could be tailored to specific clinical pathways and to specific medical technologies, to ensure that we can maximise the value and applicability of this tool.

Identifying and addressing Health Inequalities Session

Dr Sunil Daga, Consultant Nephrologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds and Abi Wilson, Clinical studies officer, Ethnic Minorities Research Inclusion Lead (EMRI)

Embedding EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) strategy in technology is crucial. By addressing key questions in this workshop, participants can collaborate on strategies to effectively embed EDI in technology, resulting in more inclusive, fair, and sustainable tech practices.

Potential questions that could guide discussions on how to embed EDI strategy in tech:

What does EDI mean in the context of technology and tech development?
How can EDI be embedded into the strategic planning of technology projects?
How can we ensure diverse perspectives are integrated into product development cycles?
What technological barriers currently exist for underrepresented communities, and how can we overcome them?
What metrics should we use to track progress in embedding EDI into technology projects? What are the potential challenges in measuring the success of EDI initiatives in tech?
How can we ensure diverse talent is not only hired but also retained and promoted within the tech research?
How can we build inclusive networks and create opportunities for knowledge-sharing across diverse tech communities?
How can EDI strategy be aligned with ethical considerations in emerging technologies, such as AI, machine learning, and data privacy?
How can EDI principles be integrated into the sustainability and environmental strategies?

Surgical Care Observatory Session: Enabling Surgical Technologies to Thrive in the NHS

Dr Helen Hughes, Chartered Occupational Psychologist, and Associate Professor in Organisational Psychology and Emma Findlay, Research Fellow at Leeds University Business School.

This interactive workshop is designed for healthcare professionals and technology developers, and will explore the critical system changes required for successfully integrating new surgical technologies in the NHS.

The benefits of any surgical technology innovation can only be realized when it is effectively embedded within surgical care processes. Even minor technological advancements usually necessitate process changes, while more transformative innovations may require extensive workflow redesign, training, and cultural adaptation.

Through real-world case studies and collaborative exercises, participants will assess the socio-technical impacts of surgical technologies, identifying potential barriers and enablers to system readiness. You’ll also have the opportunity to consider cases relevant to your own interests, and engage in discussions focused on achieving smoother technology adoption

Unlocking the potential of UK HealthTech – insights and recommendations from a breakthrough review of the sector:

Daniel Burton Innovation Advisory Practice Lead, KPMG

Dan Burton, who led the research, will be sharing key findings, discussing the latest changes, and offering practical advice to help drive innovation, R&D, funding, and commercialisation in the HealthTech sector.

Device Access UK Ltd, Speed Up Adoption: Sell the Problem you solve, Not the Product

Michael Branagan-Harris, HealthTech Strategist, HealthTech Strategies Limited, John West Chief Commercial Officer

Join this high-impact panel and discover battle-tested strategies used by leading UK HealthTech companies to get your technology to patients faster and your technology purchased faster.

Harness the power of Hepisodes®, a groundbreaking interactive cloud pathway tool designed to connect you directly with senior NHS Hospital decision-makers. Unlike traditional routes through clinicians, theatre managers, and procurement, Hepisodes® aligns your technology with NHS pressures, slashing the time from first clinical engagement to purchase order.

You’ll gain insider knowledge on leveraging waiting list data, real-world NHS hospital activity, and business case insights—key elements to accelerate hospital buy-in, fast-track hospital approvals, and establish yourself as a long-term NHS partner to your customers .

Patient and Public Involvement

HRC and Hodgkinson McCambridge, Matthew Hodgkinson & Tom McCambridge

Join Hodgkinson McCambridge and the Healthtech Research Centre as we explore how Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) can drive better solutions, tackle health inequalities, and accelerate market access. Early, ongoing, and meaningful involvement ensures that surgical innovations are designed with and for the people they aim to support, leading to more effective technologies, greater adoption, and stronger funding opportunities. This interactive session will highlight how PPIE has shaped research, improved outcomes, and influenced policy and investment decisions. We’ll discuss practical strategies for embedding patient voices at every stage of development, ensuring innovations are not only clinically effective but also equitable and commercially viable. If you want to create solutions that truly work for patients, secure funding more effectively, and navigate faster routes to market, this is the session for you.

The Clinical Evaluation Pathway – what’s not to like? Professor Deborah Stocken, NIHR Research Professor in Statistics, and Julie Croft Head of Trial Management Leeds Institute of Clinical Trials Research, University of Leeds and Cameron Dockerill, Hypervision Surgical

New surgical devices and innovations should undergo rigorous testing and transparent evaluation as part of a staged approach to evidence generation of safety, feasibility, efficacy and longer-term patient benefit. The aim of this workshop is to share the recommendations for the evaluation pathway, gauge awareness and perceptions of this staged approach, discuss and understand the challenges of following this approach in practice and consider where academic collaboration can help. The session will be informative and engaging. It will be facilitated digitally with interactive polling and anonymised opinion sharing to collate a breadth of understanding inclusively. The feedback will inform and guide the content and format of a collection of planned outputs and actions to improve understanding, efficiency and collaboration in clinical evaluation and evidence generation. Come and contribute. Hosted by Leeds RCSEng Surgical Trials Centre.

Regulatory challenges of developing digital technologies: Hurdles or assets? A new perspective on health tech regulation.: HealthTech Incubator Dr Lucy Buckley, The Digital Health Assurance Company, Dr Phil Jewell, Programme Manager (SETT Medtech Innovation Pathways), and Dr Angus Prosser, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton.

The seminar session will explore governance-led innovation challenges and solutions with regards to developing new health technologies. Speaking from clinical, academic and business experience, the presentation team will explore some of the complexities around ensuring a health technology meets its regulatory requirements, but providing perspectives on how these activities will serve to create stronger, more agile and capable businesses and technologies.

Innovation for Healthcare Net Zero Programme

Peter Culmer Professor of Healthcare Engineering and Sustainability Lead for HRC, University of Leeds, Pd-m, Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber

The Leeds HRCs’ Sustainability and NetZero theme has partnered with Pd-m (medical-device innovation and sustainability consultants) and the Health Innovation Network to develop and run the “Innovation for Healthcare Net Zero Programme”.

The aim of the programme is to help early-stage ‘innovators’, who are developing new products/practices for the NHS, embed sustainability within their offering. Our objective is to highlight how sustainability should not be an afterthought, but integral within the innovation process. If implemented successfully, this should realise innovations which reduce the environmental impact while remaining commercially viable.

We are primarily targeting businesses but also open to sole inventors, with innovations at early TRLs (pre-production). The programme will provide the expert guidance to help them embed, and evidence, sustainable activity in product development, funding and developing a network to support the process.

In this workshop, we will start working with our first cohort of innovators, helping them to realise their ambitions of embedding sustainability at the heart of their healthcare innovations.

Avoiding AI’s Ethical Minefield

Rowan Hirst, AI Success Manager ASI Tech UK

The advancement of AI continues at racing pace, disrupting all industries along the way. However, with new technologies comes new challenges, especially in the regulatory space. In this session, AI will be discussed in the context of compliance and good governance practice, with a particular focus on how this applies in the HealthTech sector.

HealthTech is inherently concerned with ethics and compliance given its sensitive nature. As it joins forces with the growing potential of AI, it is important to discover how ethics can remain at the core of new developments without stifling innovation. Join AI Tech UK for an open discussion on how AI and HealthTech interact and how they can move forward with synergy.

MedTech Foundation

Manpreet Thakur

At the SurgTech Conference, the National MedTech Foundation (MTF) will host an interactive workshop showcasing their mission to drive healthcare technology innovation. As part of this session, they will run a Mini Hack, providing participants with a hands-on experience in the methodologies they use to foster innovation. This immersive session will introduce rapid problem-solving techniques, creative ideation, and structured approaches to tackling real-world healthcare challenges.

As a national engagement initiative, MTF connects university students and early career professionals across medicine, engineering, science, product design, and business, equipping them with the skills and opportunities to transform ideas into real-world impact. Through Innovation Programmes, research internships, hackathons, and startup accelerators, MTF support emerging innovators.

Looking ahead, MTF aim to expand collaborations with industry and health-tech centres across the UK to drive early-stage innovation. Through these partnerships, MTF hope to create greater impact and support more people. MTF invite industry leaders, researchers, and students to collaborate, mentor, and co-create solutions with them.

NHS Insights & Innovation Pop up

Richard Evans, Head Of Business Development and Innovation, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

In this interactive ‘world cafe’ style session, you will hear three different stakeholder perspectives on their experience of innovation adoption in the NHS. Fiona McKenzie, Policy Lead and Deputy Portfolio Director, Innovation Sites (InSites), will describe work being done across the programme to support ‘passporting’ of innovations between organisations. Dr Richard Evans, Head of Business Development and Innovation, R&I will describe support available through the ‘Innovation Pop Up’ at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Finally, the audience will hear from Medishout, giving a company perspective on their experience of implementing new digital innovation in the NHS, aimed at reducing surgery cancellations.

The Commercialisation Journey: from a University and NHS Trust Perspective

Blake Prime / Amy Contreras, Research & Innovation, University of Leeds & Moninder Bhogal, Business Development and Innovation Manager, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

This breakout session will cover a brief introduction of how both the University of Leeds and the Innovation Pop-up at LTHT approach commercialisation. Presenters from each will work through a lived example. The session will conclude with an opportunity for Q+A.

Value Based Procurement

Briony Coulson, Senior Responsible Officer, Department of Health and Social Care (England)

Value-based procurement (VBP) is an innovative procurement approach that supports patient-centric, high quality and affordable healthcare. VBP focuses on how a product or solution can best deliver improved outcomes, reduce the total cost of care and provide long-term benefits to all the stakeholders in the health system, rather than focusing exclusively on the cost of a product or solution.

This session will share details of a Department of Health and Social Care programme to introduce a VBP approach for medical technology within the NHS, prioritising defined values over upfront cost. Work is underway in collaboration with NHS England and NHS Supply Chain, to develop national VBP guidance for greater consistency and efficiency in local procurement processes. This guidance includes a transparent bank of questions, model answers and scoring criteria. This session will outline the progress so far, future ambitions, and opportunities to shape the guidance before it’s rolled out at scale.

Understanding NHS Adoption

Dr Neville Young, Director of Enterprise & Innovation Health Innovation Network Yorkshire and Humber

Delivered by Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber, this session will provide an introduction to the adoption of health technology and innovation into the NHS. We’ll cover the importance of robust evidence and health economic data, along with how to plan implementation for successful adoption and spread.

Industry HealthTech Showcases

Sponsors

Sponsor Testimonials

“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the past few years, it’s been a pleasure working with you“. Tom Burton, Current Health

“BVM found the presentations interesting and the interest from delegates of our technology was good but in terms of any business there is no business gain other than publicity to the wider people in healthcare.

The organisation of SurgTech was excellent and thorough. The team are incredibly helpful and hard working to make everything satisfactory for the delegates and exhibitors“. Jayesh Tailor, BVM Medical

“HoloCare was delighted to be part of the SurgTech conference and exhibition. The convivial setting made for great interaction between clinicians / surgeons and industry. The talks were informative and engaging and we would be keen to attend again.” Malcolm Luker, Commercial Director—HoloCare AS, Managing Director—HoloCare Ltd

“The SurgTech 2024 conference really targeted the clinical operational and procurement community. The presentations and workshops were focused on real-world experiences in work with new technologies for surgery. There was great interaction amongst suppliers as well which led to collaborative conversations with NHS and supplies as a community. We found it very rewarding and are planning on supporting the conference again for 2025. There is probably no higher endorsement than our position of wanting to come back for more” . Dr Tom Dawson , Founder, Revolution-ZERO

“The SurgTech 2024 conference was both insightful in the quality of the speakers and on how to navigate the SurgTech space including relating to regulatory steps and clinical trials. It was a delight to be amongst the Leeds area ecosystem (& beyond) and cement EarSwitch Ltd’s links here, and the networking has been invaluable. Having a stand and the benefit of presenting our EarMetrics-Oximeter to the audience, was a massive bonus; enabling us to spread our message of the importance of developing racially inclusive and more reliable oximetry to all“. Nick Gompertz, EarSwitch

“SurgTech 2024 brought together academics, industry leaders, and clinicians for some really engaging conversations. Sheila Boyes made everything easy with smooth and professional communication in the lead-up to the event, which made for a seamless and well-organized experience. I highly recommend it!” Jaye Sawai, Brandon Medical

“Pd-m we’re excited to be returning to the SurgTech conference, over the years it’s become a real fixture in our diary as it’s always a popular event, bringing together a broad spectrum of delegates from both industry as well as clinical and research areas. This year’s event was the best yet, with a large conference room as well as a busy exhibition space all in the heart of Leeds making travel very easy. The breakout sessions that were held in the afternoons were a real success and allowed delegates with a specific interest to do a deep dive into a topic and ask the experts questions, fostering lots of debate. As a Yorkshire based business we’re really proud to have an event of this size and nature right in our backyard, and we appreciate the work of the NIHR team to pull it all together!” Rich Shaw, Pd-m

“I would happily recommend SurgTech with its impressive makeup of early stage innovation technologies and the established ecosystem of funders, entrepreneurs and subject specialists to drive their development. Working with Sheila and the team on exhibition was exceptionally easy, both in terms of pre-meeting organisation and with lots of help at the event itself to ensure we were as successful as possible”. James Field, Advanced Medical Solutions

“SurgTech was an extremely well organised event providing us with the opportunity to liaise with clinicians showcasing our latest technology and innovations”. Karen Chilcott, GI Intervention & Oncology | Senior Territory Manager and Marketing Lead, Aquilant Ltd

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