WM Health Technologies Cluster (WMHTC) has become a WM Life Sciences Week partner, it can be revealed today.
The membership organisation was established in 2020 with the aim of maximising the potential of the health technologies sector in the West Midlands region.
WMHTC’s purpose aligns exactly with that of Life Sciences Week, an annual event in its inaugural year set up by the One Thousand Trades Group of companies.
Life Sciences Week 2025: September 15 to 19
David Kidney, executive chairman of WMHTC, said: “We are proud the West Midlands is staging the first Life Sciences Week outside London and are delighted to take part in this massive celebration of the UK’s – and the West Midlands’ – vibrant and very successful life sciences sector.
“We will certainly be supporting the inaugural Life Sciences Week from September 15 to 19. Find out all about the events being held on the West Midlands Life Sciences Week website: www.wmlifesciencesweek.co.uk.”
Key focus: increasing investment in diagnostics R&D
A key focus for WMHTC is to help health tech innovators increase public sector investment in R&D to boost diagnostics capabilities within the region.
Improved diagnostics enables faster, more accurate treatment and longer, healthier lives for everyday people. Early detection of disease and the risk of future disease saves lives and eases the pressure on health services.
Mr Kidney said: “The West Midlands has a strong diagnostics offering, including global players like Thermo Fisher Scientific and start-ups like Linear Diagnostics.
“The Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA Ltd), operating from the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, led by Professor Gino Martini, also gives our region a distinct edge in connecting businesses, universities and healthcare to accelerate translation from research to patient benefit.”
Unlocking finance
He added: “There remains one stubborn challenge for us to crack here in the West Midlands: access to finance during the innovation journey.
“On the whole, our innovators have great early support from the likes of Innovate UK, but we have seen premature endings, not because the science, or the product or process, fails but because the innovator runs out of money.”
