Innovation Events - Health Innovation South East Scotland

📅 Date and Time: Monday, 11th May 2026, 13:00 – 18:00

📍Location: Usher Building, Edinburgh

Event Info:

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability globally. With advances in acute treatments, more people are surviving a stroke. But many are left with significant disability including non-motor problems such as fatigue, mood disorders and cognitive impairment. There is an urgent need to find evidence-based solutions for the multitude of long-term problems experienced by stroke survivors, in the context of multiple long-term conditions and frailty. Professor Gillian Mead, Head of Ageing and Health at the Usher Institute, and a geriatrician and stroke physician, has championed research in ‘Life after Stroke’ and stroke recovery for many years.

In this networking event, we are bringing together researchers and clinicians with an interest in Life after Stroke. We will hear from international experts in this field, including Professor Craig Anderson and Dr Juliet Bouverie OBE, discuss research priorities and the research methodologies needed to develop life after stroke research globally. We hope that this event will inspire new research collaborations in this crucial, but under-researched field.

Although the focus of the event is on stroke, it will also be of interest to those working in other disease areas where long-term consequences are common and under-researched, and where patients often have multiple long-term conditions and frailty.

📅 Date and Time: Wednesday, 13th May 2026, 09:30 – 17:00

📍Location: Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh

Event Info:

CivTech is the Scottish Government’s award‑winning innovation programme, bringing the public sector together with talented innovators to co‑create solutions that make a real difference to people’s lives and improve services across the country.

Round 11 is well underway, with twelve teams developing fresh, practical responses to Challenges announced earlier this year. Their work spans some of Scotland’s most important issues – from teacher workload and long‑term health conditions to protecting the Gaelic language, improving environmental systems, and strengthening digital inclusion.

Demo Day is your chance to see the results of their 15‑week Accelerator.

📅 Date and Time: Wednesday, 20th May 2026, 14:00 – 15:00

📍Location: Online

Event Info:

Security professionals from the UK Government will deliver a threat briefing outlining the headline threats to the high tech sector in both industry and academia, and highlighting the guidance and resources available to improve your organisations’ resilience to these threats. They will share insights on relevant threats, as well as practical guidance on mitigation strategies and good physical, personnel and cyber security practices.

Following their presentation, there will be an opportunity for questions and open discussion.

Who should attend and why:

This session is designed to be relevant and useful for academia and companies of all sizes, as well as those thinking of setting up in business, and we strongly encourage everyone to attend. The guidance will be aimed primarily at SMEs, however the threat brief will be equally applicable to larger companies, and the materials presented would be helpful to larger companies wanting to improve resilience and security in their supply chains.

📅 Date and Time: Thursday, 21st May 2026, 08:15 – 16:30

📍Location: University of Strathclyde, Technology & Innovation Centre, Glasgow

Event Info:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform public services – reducing case backlogs, automating processes and making better use of government data to target support to those who need it. Join the Public Sector AI – Scotland conference on the May 21st to understand the latest policy and technical guidance for bringing the power of artificial intelligence to public services.

The conference, which will benefit from fresh insights from Scotland’s newly-updated national AI Strategy, will bring together senior government leaders tasked with preparing the ground for the next great leap in digital public services. You will also hear the latest practical, technical and ethical guidance on how to ensure AI is introduced to your organisation safely and responsibly. Plus, understand how to get your data ready, with the right governance arrangements in place, to fully capitalise on AI technologies. And finally, get ahead of the rest with the latest on powerful Agentic AI and AI-assisted workflow tools, which, if harnessed correctly, stands to usher in new ways of working and service models.

📅 Date and Time: Tuesday, 19th May 2026, 14:00 – 15:00

📍Location: Online

Event Info:

On Tuesday, May 19th, UNITE Digital Health will be hosting a free online webinar, 2pm-3pm: Tackling Inclusive Communication and Gender-Related Biases in Digital Health. Together with experts and participants from across the field, they will explore how gender-related biases appear in digital health ecosystems and discuss practical approaches to creating more inclusive communication practices.

During this interactive session, participants will:
🔍 Understand how gender bias appears in digital health ecosystems
💡 Explore real-world examples and practical insights
🗣️ Learn inclusive communication approaches
🤝 Connect and exchange with peers across the field

📅 Date and Time: Tuesday, 2nd June 2026 – Thursday, 4th June 2026, 11:00 – 12:00

📍Location: Online

Event Info:

Futurescot are delighted to announce their free-to-attend webinars on the Futurescot AI Challenge 2026!

As part of this year’s Challenge, you will have the opportunity to participate in a series of sector-focused webinars to help you fine-tune your idea by exploring relevant use cases, reflect on common challenges, and consider how ideas could be developed into practical, scalable proofs of concepts.

Tuesday, June 2nd Webinar – Scottish Local Government
Wednesday, June 3rd Webinar – NHS Scotland
Thursday, June 4th Webinar – Scotland’s Public Services

These 60-minute webinars are an opportunity for Scottish public sector organisations to learn more about the AI Challenge as it relates to their service areas and ask questions directly to our experts during the webinar’s Q&A session.

During the webinars you will also receive guidance on how to develop a strong and credible Challenge entry.

📅 Date and Time: Thursday, 21st May 2026, 13:00 – 14:00

📍Location: Online

Event Info:

ACCORD is hosting a live Q&A webinar offering researchers and research teams the opportunity to ask questions about our updated Sponsor Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) reviewed in line with the new UK Clinical Trial Regulations and ICH‑GCP E6(R3). This session will give you the chance to ask questions directly to the teams involved in developing these SOPs and implementing these changes. Representatives from Pharmacovigilance, Monitoring, Governance, and QA will be present to help clarify expectations and provide practical guidance.

To help tailor the session, please submit questions in advance – your input will shape the discussion and ensure we address the topics most important to you.

Please note this session will not be recorded. A Q&A document reflecting the discussion will be made available after the event.

📅 Date and Time: Wednesday, 27th May 2026, 09:00 – 16:00

📍Location: James Watt Centre, Heriot-Watt University

Event Info:

Medical Device Manufacturing Centre is excited to announce the 5th Annual MDMC Conference will be taking place on Wednesday, 27th May 2026 at the James Watt Centre, Heriot-Watt University.

Their award-winning collaboration between Heriot-Watt University, The University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Dundee and Robert Gordon University, all supported by Scottish Enterprise, brings the best of the sector together.

They’re bringing the NHS, Industry, and Academia together at Heriot-Watt University for a day of serious MedTech innovation and chat.

Why you should be there:

Network: Connect with leaders from academics, NHS and industry.
Innovate: Discover the latest in medical device manufacturing.
Showcase: Dive into poster sessions featuring cutting-edge research.

📅 Date and Time: Tuesday, 26th May 2026, 13:00 – 14:00

📍Location: Online

Event Info:

Handling complaints well is critical to building trust, improving services and learning from what matters most to people. Yet complaint management in health and social care is often time‑consuming, emotionally demanding and constrained by limited capacity.

Amy Walker, Innovation Project Manager from NHS Forth Valley, will lead this session and showcase how they have used artificial intelligence (AI) tool responsibly and ethically to support complaint management – not by replacing human judgement, but to help teams work more effectively and consistently.

📅 Date and Time: Wednesday, 27th May 2026 & Thursday 28th May 2026

📍Location: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh

Event Info:

At DataFest, industry leaders, innovators, and practitioners come together to explore how data and AI are redefining our world – from the way we work and live, to how we connect and create.

Expect world-class speakers, thought-provoking discussions, and opportunities to connect with peers across sectors and industries.

For our 2026 edition, our theme ‘Intelligent Futures’ will explore how data and AI are transforming the systems, industries, and societies of tomorrow – with a focus on long-term impact, trust, and responsible scale.

📅 Date and Time: Tuesday, 2nd June 2026, 12:00 – 14:00

📍Location: The Symposium Building, Edinburgh

Event Info:

Before the FORUM Sir Colin Dollery Lecture, join an in‑person showcase bringing together the organisations, technologies, and people turning engineering biology from breakthrough science into deployable solutions for health.

This interactive lunchtime event highlights the full implementation pathway—from design and build, through validation and scale‑up, to regulation and adoption. Companies, researchers, NHS partners, regulators, and investors will present real‑world use cases that show how programmable biology is moving from the lab bench into clinical, manufacturing, and diagnostic settings.

What to Expect

A practical implementation showcase illustrating how engineering biology progresses from early design and build through validation, scale‑up, regulation, and adoption. Exhibits and posters from industry, academia, and the NHS will show how different tools, platforms, and approaches connect across this pathway—highlighting the problems they address, the evidence behind them, and the next steps required for deployment. Exhibitors include Ingenza, ZYTHERA, and the Edinburgh Genome Foundry. Together, they will demonstrate how these components work in concert to enable safe, effective, and scalable applications in health.
Cross‑sector insight from researchers, clinicians, NHS partners, industry leaders, regulators, funders, and policy teams on the barriers and enablers shaping the UK’s engineering‑biology ecosystem, including standards, skills, data, finance, and routes to market.
Structured networking and opportunities to form collaborations between innovators, end‑users, investors, and regulators, with opportunities for targeted introductions and discussion of shared implementation challenges.

📅 Date and Time: Tuesday, 2nd June 2026, 14:00

📍Location: The Symposium Building, Edinburgh/Online

Event Info:

Engineering biology is transforming healthcare and the UK is poised to play a leading role. Join the FORUM Sir Colin Dollery Lecture 2026 by Professor Susan Rosser, with cross-sector discussion chaired by Professor Dame Angela McLean, Chief Scientific Adviser. The Lecture will take place from 14.00 to 17.00 on Tuesday 2 June in-person in Edinburgh, followed by a networking reception. Alternatively, you can register to view the livestream online.

What if we could programme living cells to sense disease, store information, and make decisions to treat or even prevent disease? Join us in-person for a keynote lecture from Professor Susan Rosser, Professor of Synthetic Biology at the University of Edinburgh, as she explores how engineering biology is transforming healthcare, from diagnostics to therapeutics and beyond. From engineering “surveillance cells” that can patrol the body for early signs of disease, to developing biocomputational circuits that allow cells to process information and store memories in their DNA, her work opens a window into a future where biology itself becomes a programmable platform.

Following the lecture, Professor Dame Angela McLean DBE FRS HonFREng FMedSci, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government, will chair a cross-sector panel discussion. Panellists will discuss the policy, regulation, investment, and innovation pathways needed to unlock the full potential of the UK’s engineering biology ecosystem—and how to implement engineering biology for the improvement of health. Panellists include:

Dr Andy Cureton, Director – Engineering Biology, Innovate UK
Professor Paul Freemont, Co-founder, Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation; Co-director, SynbiCITE; Director, London BioFoundry
Dr Velia Siciliano, Principal Investigator, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

For the in person event click on the link below and for the online event please register here.

📅 Date and Time: Thursday, 4th June 2026, 11:00 – 12:00

📍Location: Online

Event Info:

MyCare.scot represents a step-change in how citizens access public services. In this session on Thursday, 4th June we will explore the kind of digital leadership required to design and deliver a truly seamless front door – one that is grounded in user needs, enabled by effective system integration, and driven through strong cross-organisational collaboration and transformation.

Join this webinar with Greg Thomson, Programme Director for Digital Front Door at Public Services Delivery Scotland, as he shares practical insights from leading a high-profile national programme – and take the opportunity to ask questions about the Programme and MyCare.scot.

📅 Date and Time: Tuesday, 24th November 2026

📍Location: Edinburgh International Conference Centre

Event Info:

Digital Scotland is the annual summit for technology and policy leaders engaged in building Scotland’s future public services. In 2025 we showcased the new national Digital Strategy, designed and led by Scottish Government and the local government umbrella organisation, COSLA.

Keynote Speakers for 2025:

Ivan Mckee, Minister for Public Finance, Scottish Government
Joe Griffin, Permanent Secretary, Scottish Government
Geoff Huggins, Digital Director, Scottish Government
Ann-Marie Gallacher, Chief Information Officer, NHS

We take a deep dive on the constantly-evolving story of AI, and its implications for public services, with emerging use cases and inspiring examples of how that technology – and others – are reshaping the citizen experience. Featuring over 70 speakers, 100 exhibitors and 1,200 delegates, the conference is the biggest forum for public sector technology leaders, with case studies from across the UK, as well as partner nations, including Denmark, Estonia and Finland.

The conference tapped into the public tech zeitgeist – covering the latest from the global GovTech movement, digital ID, cloud services, payments, AI, IoT and Cybersecurity.

Digital Scotland is the meeting place where government ministers interact with technology upstarts and disruptors engaged and motivated by the goal of creating world-class digital experiences for citizens of the future. Be part of the conversation.

Learning objectives:

Understand the strategic direction for government digital policy and programmes with a new national Digital Strategy.
Hear how GovTech leaders from across the UK and Europe are pursuing technology-led transformation of government services.
Experience best-in-class technology projects from an array of public services, from healthcare to social services, local government, environment and justice.
Learn playbook approaches to tech implementation from experienced public-sector technology leaders.
Attend industry masterclasses spanning user-centred design, data, AI, cloud, cybersecurity and IoT

Our Events

Upcoming Innovation Events

Rebuilding lives after stroke: Global opportunities for research

CivTech Round 11 Demo Day

Innovation in Long-Term Care and Smart Homes

Public Sector AI 2026

UNITE Webinar: Inclusive Communication & Gender Biases in Digital Health

Futurescot AI Challenge 2026 Webinar

Navigating the new Clinical Trial Regulations: ACCORD Q&A Webinar

MDMC Conference 2026

Using AI tools for complaint management

Datafest 2026

Engineering biology to improve health - Implementation showcase & networking lunch

FORUM Sir Colin Dollery Lecture 2026: Engineering biology to improve health

Leadership Webinar - From Vision to Delivery: Leadership Insights from the Digital Front Door Programme

DigitalScotland 2026