Last month we were thrilled to host a major event at Steel City Stadium to kick off Business Finance Week in Yorkshire. Organised by the British Business Bank – specialists in helping smaller businesses in the UK to access the finance they need to grow – the event zoned in on Yorkshire’s burgeoning health innovation space and posed some difficult questions about how we continue to drive this potential. Exploring NHS priorities, barriers to femtech, navigating US markets, and much more, the morning was a catalyst for more conversations and more action. If you missed out, here’s a comprehensive summary of the topics covered, written for us by Cat Smith, Senior Network Manager for Yorkshire and the Humber at the British Business Bank.

Health innovation is one of Yorkshire’s biggest growth sectors. But to turn promise into impact, we need stronger connections between founders, investors, institutions and a vision that takes us beyond regional boundaries.

That was the ambition behind Northern Pulse: Driving Health Innovation Across Yorkshire, held on 30th September 2025 at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park. The event convened founders, investors, life sciences leaders and policymakers to spotlight the region’s health tech strengths, highlight shared challenges and build stronger pathways for collaboration.

Yorkshire’s health innovation edge – and what’s still needed

Yorkshire is already doing impressive things. The event highlighted how innovation in health and life sciences can drive economic growth, improve outcomes and deliver societal values. But as with many growing ecosystems, the journey from proof-to-concept to scale remains fraught with friction.

Here are some of the key themes and my personal reflections from the day:

The data gap in women’s health – a barrier to femtech

One of the most compelling, urgent conversations was the lack of high-quality data in women’s health and how that gap stifles innovation in femtech. Without robust datasets, founders struggle to build evidence, demonstrate impact or access funding. The call for more research, partnerships and targeted investment in this critical space was loud and clear.

Adoption is a major hurdle

Yorkshire and the Humber’s Health Innovation CEO Richard Stubbs emphasised one of the biggest challenges in health innovation: adoption. Even the most transformative technology will struggle to scale if it isn’t aligned with NHS priorities or the realities of how care is delivered. Innovators must understand not just the problem they’re solving, but the system they’re trying to solve it for.

That system, as outlined recently by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, is undergoing a major reform. His plan for the NHS centres on three key shifts: from hospital care to community care, from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention. For founders, that means thinking about how solutions can ease pressure on hospitals by enabling care closer to home, use digital tools and data to make services more efficient, and help people stay healthier for longer.

When innovators work with these priorities in mind, adoption will become far more achievable – and the impact far more meaningful.

Innovation must remain patient-centred

Across all talks and panels, the central message was that health innovation is most transformative when it is lifechanging. In a domain as sensitive and essential as health, a user-centric blueprint isn’t optional; it’s essential.

What founders should expect with US markets

Expanding into the US offers huge potential for health innovators, but it’s not without its challenges. Navigating the FDA approval process, meeting strict cybersecurity and data protection standards and dealing with state-by-state licensing all demand careful preparation. However, when done right, the rewards are significant – but only for those who enter the markets with strong regulatory insight, the right partners and a long-term strategic view.

Women founders and the systemic challenge

It was powerful to see an event in Sheffield with over 60% female representation – a rare feat in the region’s tech and health events. However, systemic challenges remain. Several contributors talked about the “you invest in what you know” bias, and how having more female fund managers might open doors for female-led tech innovation.

The importance of highlighting and signposting

While it’s easy to feel somewhat bogged down by the challenges the industry faces, it’s worth looking at just how far the health innovation sector has come, not just in Yorkshire, but across the UK and, indeed, globally.

My biggest overall takeaway was one of optimism. The first step in making a difference is to understand what we need to do to fix the challenges health innovation currently faces. The mood in the room was one of action. We’re ready to face this head on, and with some of the brightest minds in the sector coming together to highlight key issues and signpost solutions to this, we’re full steam ahead in making a real difference.

Thank you to British Business Bank, Sheffield Technology Parks, Tech SY, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and West Yorkshire Combined Authority for delivering such a fantastic event.

Also to the impressive lineup of speakers – Chris Low, Claire Paxman, Doug Quinn, Richard Stubbs, Robert Higginson, Sophie Copley, Steph Oliver-Beech, Tom Wolfenden, Phillipa Hedley-Takhar – for sharing their wisdom and inspiring conversation.

Finally, thank you to everyone who attended, participated and shared. Let’s keep the momentum building!