New cluster to drive UK region’s health tech growth

A new UK health tech cluster has opened to help build relationships, grow opportunities and attract inward investment.

The West Midlands Health Technologies Cluster, co-created by several organisations, hopes to build collaborative relationships among businesses, universities and health providers in England’s West Midlands region.

This, it is hoped, will help to promote businesses in health tech and the life sciences sectors locally, nationally and globally.

The project has so far been funded by Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP), the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN) and Bruntwood SciTech.

David Kidney, executive chair for WMHTC, says: “We want businesses who are working in health technologies to become cluster members and in return our aim is to help them succeed.

“This is a great opportunity to network, meet buyers and commissioners of services. The WMHTC will provide a forum for members to share their experiences and to create solutions to some of the challenges you may experience as a business owner.

“As a cluster we will share our news, bring more coherence to support systems and we will be a powerful advocate for our sector. The task is to make this a success and for us this means helping to grow businesses and create jobs.”

Tim Pile, chair of Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) says: “The [cluster] will enable businesses of all sizes to come together to share best practise and collaborate.

“We have 400 life sciences businesses across the West Midlands region, employing 11,000 people and together they generate a GVA of £4bn.

“This is a great opportunity to create a collective voice for the sector.”

The cluster officially opens for business on Thursday, with various events planned in the months ahead.