The BIG South London Business, Innovation & Growth Summit returns on Wednesday, 27 November, at LSBU Electric House, Croydon, to explore how collaboration and partnership can drive meaningful improvements in healthcare throughout the region.

This free-to-attend event boasts an inspiring line-up of speakers and panellists who will tackle a range of pressing healthcare topics, including what the future of health will look like and the role of new technologies such as virtual wards, AI and machine learning, healthcare workforce retention and upskills, delivering Net Zero in healthcare settings and health inequalities in South London.

South London boasts several world-leading health assets, including the London Cancer Hub in Sutton, St George’s, City of London University, St. Mary’s University Medical School, and Epsom & St Helier Hospital. The Summit will highlight innovation from these leading centres and, more broadly, from entrepreneurs and innovators who are already changing the region’s healthcare system through the Innovation Zone and lightning pitches.

Matthew Hamilton, Director of the South London Partnership, the organisation which set up BIG South London, says: “This year’s Summit is an excellent opportunity to bring together stakeholders from across the public and private sector to examine pressing opportunities and challenges within healthcare in South London. It will undoubtedly spark new synergies and partnerships, which will drive future initiatives. One of our key topics will be innovation, which is pivotal in improving service delivery, patient experience and delivering efficiencies.”

London South Bank University (LSBU), one of BIG South London’s university partners, will be hosting the event at its Croydon Campus. Professor Rodney Day, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation at LSBU, comments: “LSBU has a proud track record of providing leading healthcare education and research. We are training around a quarter of London’s nurses as well as the next generation of healthcare professionals in chiropractic and social work. Our University Research Centre in Health & Wellbeing actively addresses health, social justice, and wellbeing issues, and the evaluation of health interventions and challenges facing our society.  Our research in the Energy, Materials & Environment Research Centre is leading the conversation around technology and innovation in health, and the implications of changing temperatures on healthcare systems. It’s fitting, therefore, to welcome the health sector to Electric House for the third Business, Innovation and Growth Summit.”

To showcase the impact of innovation in health, LSBU and its partners will showcase its state-of-the-art 5G and IOT technology within its React Innovation Centre, which is being used to model solutions for remote care, earlier prevention or detection of illness, admission avoidance, and digitalisation of hospital care pathways.

Councillor Gareth Roberts, chair of the South London Partnership, the organisation that set up BIG South London, added: “Health is a critical topic for South London. The South London Partnership boroughs and Wandsworth are working hard with NHS partners to improve the health and wellbeing of South London’s residents and communities and ensure a high-quality, integrated, and financially sustainable health and care system. But we must widen the lens. There are trailblazing academics, entrepreneurs and charitable and social ventures working on innovative technologies and projects that could change the face of healthcare and support our communities to lead healthier lives. I’m looking forward to an afternoon of problem-solving, thought-provoking discussions and forming new partnerships and collaborations.”

An exhibition and series of lightening pitches will run alongside the main programme featuring South London-based health innovators and projects which are developing products and services which are shaping the future of healthcare and its workforce.

The Summit is open to anyone working in or interested in health and care—clinicians, businesses, investors, charities, academic researchers, students, start-ups, policymakers, and individuals from the wider South London community.

Register your free place