Events
What's on at PHTA
From conferences and showcase events to seminars and training courses, it all happens at PHTA.
Explore our upcoming open events below and find sessions to inspire, inform, and connect you with the latest in life sciences innovation. Events listed here are open to all – check individual listings to for registration details.
Insuring your life sciences business - drop-in session
🗓️ Wednesday 26 August, 10am-3pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Verlingue is an independent and family-owned business that aims to be a valued long term risk management partner for its clients, and we’re pleased to partner with them for this informal insurance drop-in session where you can discuss your insurance arrangements with an industry expert, with no obligation.
Meet the expert
Tempany Gerroni is a specialist life science insurance broker working closely with high growth companies across the UK. She supports founders, scientists, and commercial teams in navigating complex risks, from product liability to IP, cyber and international expansion. Having transitioned from an advisory role into an executive position, Tempany has built deep sector knowledge and strong relationships across the ecosystem and is passionate about helping innovative businesses scale safely and confidently.
Registration
To register, please email Business Innovation Lead Ruxandra Jianu using the button below, with your company name and preferred time.
Time slots will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. If the session is oversubscribed, we may need to operate a waiting list.
Don’t Leave Money on the Table: Protecting and Monetising Your Innovation
🗓️ Tuesday 15 September, 10am-12pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Join experts from Avidity IP and S&W Group to learn more about protecting your life science businesses’ intellectual property.
This jargon-free, no-obligation session is designed for SMEs or startups who may:
- Have unprotected IP
- Missed IP claims
- Have not yet claimed their Patent Box benefits
Meet the experts
Dr Gurpreet Solanki – Patent Attorney, Avidity IP
Dr Gurpreet Solanki is a Patent Attorney with in-house and private practice experience in life sciences and biotech. She advises SMEs on protecting and commercialising innovation, with expertise in pharmaceuticals, drug delivery, biotech, freedom-to-operate, and IP strategy.
Her background includes roles within a global pharmaceutical company and a specialist inhaled pharmaceuticals business, giving her strong commercial insight into building, managing, and enforcing IP portfolios.
She works with clients to secure valuable patent protection, support product development, and help businesses make informed decisions on innovation and risk.
Sarah Picken – Patent Box and R&D Director, S&W
Sarah Picken leads the S&W Patent Box team and has a wealth of experience supporting SMEs to claim R&D credits.
She has previously led and delivered Patent Box claims at the Big 4 across industries for a wide range of clients since the regime began. Sarah also has over 12 years’ experience in R&D credits, with a background in corporate tax. She has worked with med-tech start-ups, private equity-backed bio-tech businesses and established multinational pharmaceuticals brands.
Sarah is passionate about helping businesses to innovate and grow through the utilisation of available government incentives.
Registration
To register, please email Business Innovation Lead Ruxandra Jianu using the button below, with your company name.
Places will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. If the session is oversubscribed, we may need to operate a waiting list.
BioUK Science Social
🗓️ Wednesday 23 September, 5.30-8pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
🎟️ Book tickets
BioUK are pleased to be hosting a Science Social event during West Midlands Life Sciences Week in collaboration with the team at PHTA and supported by Penningtons Manches Cooper.
BioUK Science Socials are popular and highly valued events that bring together the life sciences community in a relaxed and welcoming setting. They provide an excellent opportunity to connect with peers, exchange ideas, and build new professional relationships.
Attendance is complimentary and open to all and the evening includes drinks, nibbles and networking. There’ll also be an opportunity for emerging entrepreneurs in attendance to present a quickfire stand-up introduction on the night – drop the team an email at events@biouk.com to register your interest. There’ll also be an opportunity to take a tour of the impressive PHTA space at No.1 BHIC!
Health Tech and Life Sciences Innovator Summit
🗓️ Wednesday 23 September, 2-6pm
📍 Ground Floor, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Join Health Innovation West Midlands (HIWM) to explore the region’s pivotal role in the UK’s health and life sciences sector and how innovators can access support from HIWM and its partners to accelerate the adoption and spread of their solutions.
Aims of the Summit
- Highlight the support opportunities available to innovators already in the West Midlands or looking to establish a presence in the region
- Set out how HIWM and its expert partners can support companies to develop and test their products and services ready for adoption and spread into the NHS
What to expect
- Keynote speeches and panel discussions: insightful talks from sector leaders, and experts sharing their knowledge
- Networking opportunities: engage with innovator support organisations from across the West Midlands and beyond in our marketplace
- Innovator surgeries: book yourself in for a 1-2-1 chat with one of our business support advisors or subject area experts
Register your interest in attending: This is a must-attend event for any health tech or life science innovators interested in growing their business in the West Midlands. Please note that space at this free event is limited and therefore attendance is strictly restricted to innovator companies and clinical entrepreneurs only. Because numbers are limited, we will only accept bookings from one delegate per company.
Please note that registration does not guarantee attendance. All registrations will be reviewed, and confirmed guests will receive an official confirmation email.
Pick, Mix & Match – Bridging the commercialisation gap between research and industry
🗓️ Thursday 24 September, 1-4.30pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Join us at PHTA in Birmingham for the official launch of picknmixAI, the AI-powered marketplace connecting scientists to the right tools, data and partners to move their work forward.
Spend an afternoon with us hearing from pharma leaders, therapeutic companies and academic researchers on how they’re navigating discovery, procurement and commercialisation today, and where the friction really sits. Then get hands-on with the picknmixAI platform in a working session: list an asset, run a match, compare solutions, and see how a process that used to take 12–18 months can happen in 15 minutes.
Talks. Real client stories. Refreshments and networking. And a proper look under the bonnet of the platform built to be Compare the Market for scientists.
Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) in Healthcare
🗓️ 29-30 September (two-day course)
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
🎟️ Book tickets
This two-day course will provide an introduction to Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), covering key aspects of their development, regulation, manufacturing and implementation within healthcare settings. The course is suitable for healthcare professionals, researchers, innovators and those interested in the future of advanced therapies.
Places are limited and booking is now open.
Course content
- Fundamentals on production and use of ATMP medicines
- The clinical landscape of ATMPs in trials and on the market
- Sources of risk in delivering cell products to the clinic
- Clinical user perspectives and workshop
Who should attend
Anyone with an interest in working with ATMPs, including manufacturing and supply chain personnel, specialist research nursing staff, nursing staff working with licenced ATMPs, hospital pharmacists, graduates or research scientists looking to establish their career in ATMP industry.
Prices
Free for UoB Staff/Students (register with UoB email address)
£495 for NHS Staff (you will be sent a link for payment separately)
£995 for other external staff (you will be sent a link for payment separately)
Preparing for external manufacture
Five execution gaps that can delay technology transfer, CDMO engagement and scale-up
🗓️ Thursday 8 October, 12-1.30pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Moving from research or early development into external manufacture is rarely a simple handover. Processes that work at laboratory scale may not transfer cleanly, documentation may be incomplete, quality responsibilities may be unclear, and important validation or governance requirements may only become visible once a CDMO is already involved.
This practical session will help university spin-outs, biotech companies and scaling life science businesses understand the key areas that should be addressed before technology transfer and external manufacturing begin.
The session will cover process readiness, documentation, quality expectations, validation planning, CDMO engagement and programme governance.
Format
45-minute presentation, followed by 15 minutes of Q&A.
Who should attend
Founders, scientific leaders, technical leads, operations teams and programme managers in university spin-outs, biotech companies and scaling life science businesses.
Meet the expert
Akeel Ahmed founded Evercrest Pharma after more than 15 years supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing programmes across biologics, vaccines and advanced therapies.
Having worked across GMP manufacturing, quality, validation, CMC execution and technology transfer, he established Evercrest to help innovative life science companies prepare for successful external manufacture while avoiding costly delays and technical risk.
Learn more about Evercrest – download their flyer.
Building a company investors want to back
🗓️ Wednesday 14 October, 10am-12pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Great science attracts attention. Great companies attract investment.
Whether you’re a start-up preparing for seed funding or a scaling organisation approaching Series A or B and navigating rapid growth, investors increasingly look beyond the technology at the people. Leadership strength, management capability, communication, good governance and organisational resilience all play a critical role in determining whether a business can successfully meet milestones and execute its plans.
Join Debbie Molyneux, Founder of Highlight People, to explore what investors really look for when assessing growth potential and how life science businesses can build the foundations to ensure investment readiness and continued success.
You’ll learn:
- The people risks investors spot immediately
- How leadership requirements change as organisations grow
- Why management capability becomes a critical success factor
- How communication and culture support commercial performance
- Practical actions to strengthen your organisation at every growth stage
Suitable for founders, CEOs, leadership teams and senior managers from start-ups, scale-ups and established life science organisations.
Preparing for external manufacture
Five execution gaps that can delay technology transfer, CDMO engagement and scale-up
🗓️ Thursday 8 October, 12-1.30pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Moving from research or early development into external manufacture is rarely a simple handover. Processes that work at laboratory scale may not transfer cleanly, documentation may be incomplete, quality responsibilities may be unclear, and important validation or governance requirements may only become visible once a CDMO is already involved.
This practical session will help university spin-outs, biotech companies and scaling life science businesses understand the key areas that should be addressed before technology transfer and external manufacturing begin.
The session will cover process readiness, documentation, quality expectations, validation planning, CDMO engagement and programme governance.
Format
45-minute presentation, followed by 15 minutes of Q&A.
Who should attend
Founders, scientific leaders, technical leads, operations teams and programme managers in university spin-outs, biotech companies and scaling life science businesses.
Meet the expert
Akeel Ahmed founded Evercrest Pharma after more than 15 years supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing programmes across biologics, vaccines and advanced therapies.
Having worked across GMP manufacturing, quality, validation, CMC execution and technology transfer, he established Evercrest to help innovative life science companies prepare for successful external manufacture while avoiding costly delays and technical risk.
Learn more about Evercrest – download their flyer.
Preparing for external manufacture
Five execution gaps that can delay technology transfer, CDMO engagement and scale-up
🗓️ Thursday 8 October, 12-1.30pm
📍 PHTA, No.1 BHIC, Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, 2 Bournbrook Way, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6TH
Moving from research or early development into external manufacture is rarely a simple handover. Processes that work at laboratory scale may not transfer cleanly, documentation may be incomplete, quality responsibilities may be unclear, and important validation or governance requirements may only become visible once a CDMO is already involved.
This practical session will help university spin-outs, biotech companies and scaling life science businesses understand the key areas that should be addressed before technology transfer and external manufacturing begin.
The session will cover process readiness, documentation, quality expectations, validation planning, CDMO engagement and programme governance.
Format
45-minute presentation, followed by 15 minutes of Q&A.
Who should attend
Founders, scientific leaders, technical leads, operations teams and programme managers in university spin-outs, biotech companies and scaling life science businesses.
Meet the expert
Akeel Ahmed founded Evercrest Pharma after more than 15 years supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing programmes across biologics, vaccines and advanced therapies.
Having worked across GMP manufacturing, quality, validation, CMC execution and technology transfer, he established Evercrest to help innovative life science companies prepare for successful external manufacture while avoiding costly delays and technical risk.
Learn more about Evercrest – download their flyer.
Location
By road
BHIC is located just off the A38 Aston Webb Boulevard, three miles south west of the centre of Birmingham. Bicycle storage, electric vehicle charging points and onsite parking is available. Please note, Birmingham has a Clean Air Zone in place. For more information, please visit the Brum Breathes website.
By train
From Birmingham New Street station, connect to a local service to University station. Outside the station, turn left and follow Vincent Drive and New Fosse Way down to Birmingham Health Innovation Campus.