Medilink Midlands Innovation Day

On the 3rd of October 2024, over 250 guests, presenters and exhibitors attended Medilink Midlands’ annual flagship event, Innovation Day 2024.  

Held at Coventry Building Society Arena, the event saw innovators, businesses, academics and suppliers from the medtech and life sciences sector come together to expand their knowledge and identify new opportunities amongst the network of innovation-driven exhibitors and attendees.  

The conference was hosted by Sue Saville, former medical correspondent for ITV News. Leading UK and international law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper was the Digital Sponsor for the event. Dr Lisa Page, a partner in the company’s intellectual property team, delivered a workshop on intellectual property and contracting, aimed at early-stage life sciences companies.  

Media partner for the event was V Formation, a Nottingham-based PR and marketing agency with particular expertise within the life sciences sector. Jocelyn Braithwaite, Account Manager and Head of PR, led a session sharing marketing tips for life sciences companies.   

Additional workshop sponsors included Tammy Holmes, Associate Director for Commercial and Business Development at Health Innovation West Midlands who discussed the West Midlands Health and Care Innovation Pathway and Clive Powell, Academy for Healthcare Science Advisor at the Life Science Industry, who delivered a workshop on the importance of the Life Science Industry Register and the benefits it can provide.  

A highlight of the action-packed programme was Medilink Midlands’ Entrepreneur in Residence, Christian Kumar introducing the Medilink Midlands Innovation Builder. Christian also moderated the popular venture capital reverse pitching session.  

The Innovation Builder will enable founders to gain valuable insights through workshops and mentorship, receive introductions to a broad network of investors, and grow and develop their innovation, as Christian explains: “The Medilink Midlands Innovation Builder is a long-term programme designed to ensure founders stay on a tactical roadmap to develop their ideas from start-up to scale. It is an amazing opportunity for innovators, and I am looking forward to this programme launching and developing over the next few months.” 

The first workshops for the Medilink Midlands Innovation Builder will take place on the 7 November at Charnwood Campus and 8 November in Birmingham. 

Outside of the conference, a dedicated exhibition area hosted 37 different organisations who work across the life sciences and medtech sector. 

Of the event, Medilink Midlands’ CEO Melanie Davidson comments: “This year we celebrated 20 years of Medilink Midlands, and we are proud that our flagship Innovation Day has grown year on year and that 2024’s was bigger and better than ever. To keep up with the increasing number of visitors and demand for exhibition space, we secured a larger venue for this year’s event and were thrilled to be able to provide delegates with invaluable networking opportunities and expert insights from our range of guest speakers.” 

Medilink Midlands is the Midlands life sciences industry association with a vision to stimulate the growth of the Midlands life science sector by helping companies establish, develop, and grow. 

IP and Contracts: Creating value not chaos
10:30am – 11:00am
Dr Lisa Page, Partner, IP, IT and Commercial at Penningtons Manches Cooper

A focused introduction to intellectual property and contracting, which will be particularly helpful for early-stage life science companies.
We all know that protecting IP and entering into well negotiated contracts is vital to the success of an early-stage business. But where do you start? How do you contract for maximum growth and innovation?

If you want the low down on everything involved with protecting your valuable IP , such as trade marks, logos, know–how, trade secrets, patents, design rights, and what contracts you might need to protect it all- this is the session for you.

The workshop will cover:

• There are so many different types of IP – it’s hard enough to figure out what they all are, let alone which ones are a priority for your company. What IP protection do you need? And how do you go about applying for all these different types of IP?
• You’ve got investors interested in your company, but they’re wanting to get a better understanding of your IP. What should be going into your NDAs to ensure that you’ve got a strong handle on protecting the confidentiality of your IP and know-how?
• If you’re a university spin-out, then you’re unlikely to have ownership of all the IP you need to develop and grow your company. What kind of licence agreement should you expect from the university? How can you be sure that you’ve got the rights you need to give investors’ confidence in your start-up?
• Your start-up is only growing from here on out. There are going to be other people, employees and contractors and consultants, helping in the development of the business and perhaps the development of the IP. How can you be sure that no one else ends up with a claim to your IP? What should go into your out-sourcing agreements and consultancy agreements to make sure you retain ownership and control of your IP?

Tips on Marketing for the Life Sciences Sector
12:40pm – 1pm
Jocelyn Braithwaite, Account Manager and Head of PR at V Formation

What steps can you take to help commercialise your innovation or service?  This is a talk through the values and benefits of marketing, what a marketing strategy can deliver, and how it can, and should help drive your business.

From Trials to Triumphs: Demystifying the West Midlands Health and Care Innovation Pathway
2:40pm – 3:10pm
Tammy Holmes, Associate Director for Commercial and Business Development at Health Innovation West Midlands 

This will provide an overview of the structure of the NHS, provide examples of how ICB’s are working together to innovate, introduce our bayer parentship to introduce collaborations into the system and then provide some examples of where this has been successful.

The LSI Register – Why It’s Needed, How it Works & Why You Should Use It
3:30pm – 3:50pm
Clive Powell, Academy for Healthcare Science Advisor at the Life Science Industry

This session will describe the general benefits of a national register for life science industry staff visiting health care facilities.  It will provide background and a description of the LSI Register’s essential features and some of the specific benefits to life science industry companies.  Finally, the presentation will look to the future and what is being done to drive recognition and uptake of the LSI Register by the NHS.

With thanks to our Workshop Sponsors. Read more about the presenters by clicking the Speakers tab. 

Exhibition Stands
During Innovation Day there were ample networking opportunities and time to visit the wide range of exhibitors that joined us this year. To find out about each exhibitor, please see the listings below.

Exhibition stands are now fully booked.

Company Logo	Company Name	Company Info	Website
	Accelerate Associates	Accelerate Associates is a marketing and market research consultancy specialising in the medical device, life sciences and laboratory supplies markets.	www.accelerate-associates.co.uk
	Adamson Jones, part of Gateley	A longstanding Patron of Medilink Midlands, Adamson Jones have a proud history of helping UK businesses in medical technology and life sciences harness the value of their intellectual property.	www.adamson-jones.co.uk
	Ademen	Ademen is an award-winning MedTech company developing ground-breaking discreet, non-invasive sensors for bowel monitoring.	www.ademen.io
	ALM Translations	ALM Translations provides specialist Life Science and Med-Tech translations and creative digital marketing services. Utilising industry technology, ALM supports its customers with the tools they need to achieve overseas success.	www.almtranslations.com
	Amies Innovation	ISO 13485 accredited medical injection moulding specialist, with extensive experience supporting innovative companies to develop their product designs and establish cleanroom or standard manufacture in a wide range of thermoplastics.	www.amiesinnovation.co.uk
	BSI	At BSI, we understand the challenges manufacturers face in bringing compliant products to market efficiently with absolute safety for patients. As a leading full scope EU Notified Body and UK Approved Body, we strive to set the global standard through conducting impartial, responsive, robust, and thorough conformity assessments, evaluations and certifications that are recognized and trusted worldwide.	www.bsigroup.com
	ChangeXtra	ChangeXtra is passionate about empowering women through positive change. We are creators of the Pausetrack app – a health tracking and education tool to help women understand peri-menopause.	www.changextra.co.uk
	CHEATA and CHT	The Centre for Healthcare Technologies (CHT) brings together the University of Nottingham, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and CHEATA, creating a translational pathway from science to clinical application, to accelerate healthcare adoption of technology.	www.nuh.nhs.uk/cheata
	Coauthor	Coauthor is a compliance assistant that eases the pain of IEC 62304 for software developers building medical devices. No last-minute surprises before regulatory submission with a smart Continuous Compliance approach.	www.coauthor.app
	Cohesion Studios	Cohesion Studios develops visually compelling video and animation projects that effectively communicate precise messaging for the med-tech, pharmaceutical and biotech medical industries.	www.cohesionstudios.com
	De Montfort University	An applied university with strengths in public health, healthcare training and pharmacy, DMU can help with professional development courses or research to develop your organisation.	www.dmu.ac.uk
	Forresters	Forresters is a leading intellectual property (IP) firm that works with businesses to protect their key product offerings by securing IP protection for them.	www.forresters-ip.com
	Gallagher	Gallagher provides Insurance for the Life Sciences industry including cover for clinical trials, risk management and crisis containment. Their insurance for new life science companies offers comprehensive and specialist coverage at competitive rates and they can also offer an exclusive, broad package of insurance for clinical trials.	www.ajg.com/uk
	Guardtech Group	The Guardtech Group provide a range of cleanroom services through five divisions – Guardtech Cleanrooms (modular), Cleanroom Solutions (turnkey), CleanCube (portable solutions), Isopod Rapid Cleanrooms (quick assembly) and Isoblok (pre-configured units).	www.guardtech.com
	Health Innovation East Midlands	Health Innovation East Midlands and Health Innovation West Midlands are 2 of 15 Health Innovation Networks across England – operating as the innovation arm of the NHS. Brings together partners from health and care, patients, research, third sector and industry – to identify, test and spread new technologies and better ways of working	www.healthinnovation-em.org.uk
	Health Innovation West Midlands	We aim to save the NHS money, generate economic growth, empower health and care staff, and improve the experience and outcomes for patients.	www.healthinnovationwestmidlands.org
	Health Tech Enterprise	Health Tech Enterprise is health technology consultancy that works with innovators to bring to market new medical technologies and services that deliver patient benefit.	www.healthtechenterprise.co.uk
	Hope Against Cancer	Hope Against Cancer supports cutting edge research and clinical trials in Leicestershire and Rutland.	www.hopeagainstcancer.org.uk
	IMed Consultancy	IMed Consultancy offers a wide range of expert services to the global medical and health technology industry, enabling clients to drive innovation, improve patient care and outcomes worldwide.	www.imedconsultancy.com
	Inventya	Inventya is a leading innovation consultancy with over a decade of experience helping businesses at every stage of their growth journey. We have particular expertise in medtech innovation.	www.inventya.com
	JensonR+	JensonR+ offer services in regulatory affairs, quality assurance and pharmacovigilance across the healthcare product lifecycle. Embracing innovation and building strong partnerships to enable clients to bring their products to users.	www.jensonr.com
	Medilink Midlands	Medilink Midlands helps companies in the life sciences industry establish, develop and grow; through our business support, connectivity and collaboration.	www.medilinkmidlands.com
	Med-Tech Innovation Expo	Med-Tech Innovation Expo event brings together leaders, engineers, innovators and manufacturers, connecting them with technology and innovation to facilitate the design and manufacture of life changing medical devices.	www.med-techexpo.com
	National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC)	The NBIC merges world-class interdisciplinary research with industry partnerships to advance biofilm science and technology. We aim to establish a pioneering national centre by uniting the initial core partner universities (Edinburgh, Liverpool, Nottingham, and Southampton) and a partnership that has now expanded to include 59 research institutions and over 260 companies.	www.biofilms.ac.uk
	OxDevice	Design and manufacturing solutions for medical devices, ISO 13485:2016 certified. Fully equipped laboratories and class-7 cleanrooms with highly qualified engineers and technicians guiding your product from concept to full production.	www.oxdevice.com
	Pd-m	Pd-m is an innovation and sustainability consultancy working within healthtech and life sciences sector, developing products with purpose, that are commercially successful and support a net zero future.	www.pd-m.com
	Penningtons Manches Cooper	A leading UK and international law firm providing high quality legal advice and expertise, tailored to innovative life sciences businesses.	www.penningtonslaw.com
	R A Labone	Labone specialises in injection moulding, metal pressing, insert moulding and assembly to ISO13485 approved processes. We have class 7/8 cleanrooms and have recently completed an expansion at our Derby site.	www.ralabone.co.uk
	Renfrew Group International	Renfrew Group International is a medical device design, development and prototyping company, geared towards rapid commercialisation of marketable product. Based in the East Midlands, we focus on successfully taking the science from the lab to the market.	www.renfrewgroup.com
	Shakespeare Martineau	Shakespeare Martineau delivers a broad range of specialist legal services and has expertise across multiple areas including but not limited to: energy, education, banking and finance, healthcare, investment funds, manufacturing, agriculture, family business, Islamic finance, later living, social housing, charities and real estate.	www.shma.co.uk
	Smallfry	For many years, Smallfry has worked at the leading edge of science and technology to develop innovative Medical Devices. Our expertise lies in applying human factors, usability, engineering, and innovation.	www.smallfry.com
	Sonotu	Sonotu Ltd is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with hearing loss. We manufacture and supply affordable, high-quality hearing aids developed using advanced technology.	www.sonotu.org
	TBAT Innovation	TBAT Innovation is a consultancy firm specialising in helping businesses fund their innovation, offering support in Grants, R&D Tax Credits, and much more.	www.tbat.co.uk
	The Open University	The Open University’s research community conduct a wide range of world-class research and innovation which has impact in the real world and deep into space. We aim to unlock new opportunities to engage with businesses and facilitate innovation.	www.open.ac.uk
	University of Derby	We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.	www.derby.ac.uk
	University of Warwick	The University of Warwick offers cutting-edge equipment and technical expertise to support research and development across all areas of biological science. External users from industry and academia can access our facilities via Warwick Scientific Services (WSS).	www.warwick.ac.uk
	West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA)	The West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator (WMHTIA) provides companies access to services and expertise that are pivotal in critically developing technologies and driving them towards market access.	www.wmhtia.com

To view the full gallery of photos taken at the Medilink Midlands Innovation Day 2024 by Peter Nutkins, click here.

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