The 2025 event will include a “Life Sciences, Life Support” day for businesses who provide support services to the life science industry. With Innovation zones and forums, global keynotes and local thought leaders, Health Tech Spring 2025 promises to continue to strengthen the powerhouse of NI life sciences.
And look out for many more fringe events, netwalking and biotech bikers on Sunday 6th April, lab tours, speciality roundtable discussions and an all UK and Ireland cluster meetup.
Themes for 2025 will include:
• AI and drug development – the next frontier: Artificial intelligence-integrated drug discovery and development has accelerated the growth of the pharmaceutical sector, leading to a revolutionary change in the pharma industry. What are the ongoing challenges, and how do we overcome them.
• The NI Ecosystem – Launchpad to Powerhouse: If we can marry our health and social care system with the incredible life sciences and MedTech ecosystem we have in Northern Ireland, we can be a powerhouse for collaboration the UK and Ireland and globally. Our £7.5 million Launchpad opportunity from Innovate UK is transformational but is just the beginning when it comes to our ambitions for our area: this is the fastest growing sector in NI, with over £200 million infrastructure investment and over £1 billion of new projects still to unlock.
• We are all the health service: The need for a more preventative approach to health and health care is undeniable. Gains in life expectancy have stalled and inequalities are widening. People are economically inactive because of ill health. Personalised prevention using genomics and artificial intelligence is a hugely appealing prospect. But it remains disconnected from the reality that many personalised prevention approaches are far from ready for widespread use, often of uncertain population health benefit and risk widening inequalities.
• Save the health service, save the planet: Identifying a route to net zero emissions for a complex system as large as the health service is particularly challenging. To understand how and when Northern Ireland can reach net zero, we examine what is happening at home and globally.
“The Life sciences sector is not just about generating profit, it is key to pioneering medical breakthroughs to transform lives and generate good, sustainable jobs, if we can harness the insights from health and social care system with the incredible life sciences and medtech ecosystem. In Northern Ireland, life sciences is an essential sector and it is HIRANI's mission to support collaboration to align our unique capabilities with global opportunities. Our Health Tech Spring conference is your opportunity to join our network and make strong connections and leverage the strengths of all parts of our health and life sciences sector,” said HIRANI CEO, Joann Rhodes.
