Accelerating Health and Social Care Innovation in Wales

Accelerating health and social care innovation.

Why Wales?

Where innovation in life sciences shapes a healthier tomorrow.

Who is Life Sciences Hub Wales?

The catalyst for innovation across health and social care in Wales.

A look at Wales’ innovation landscape

An introduction to the facilities, organisations and institutions working in the innovation space across Wales.

Case Studies:

Cardiff Health Partners

Health innovation, anchored in Cardiff, connected for global impact.

Commercial Research Delivery Wales

Streamlined access to clinical trials in Wales.

Llanfrechfa Innovation, Technology and Medi-Park

High-tech global hub for healthcare innovation and research.

M-SParc

Igniting ambition and innovation for a sustainable Wales.

National Institute for Sport and Health

A global testbed for sport-health innovation.

Pentre Awel

A groundbreaking multi-use space for innovation

Wales: where innovation in life sciences shapes a healthier tomorrow

Wales offers world-leading research, connected support systems , a pro-business environment and a growing network of biotech and medtech companies, making it an ideal location for life sciences businesses to establish and scale.

We’re committed to unlocking the full potential of our integrated national health system, which serves 3.2 million people. Our focus is speed, simplicity, and lower costs—for clinical trials and for testing, developing, and deploying innovative solutions. We’re realistic about the challenges but clear on the opportunities - turning cutting-edge research into real-world results. This means

Powerful platforms for discovery

We’re building on exceptional foundations: rich, robust population databanks—some of the most comprehensive health data in the world. We’re developing accessible platforms that integrate genetic and health data, co-developed with industry partners. This is where data becomes discovery – unlocking insights that lead to new cures and transformative treatments.

We’re streamlining processes so patients can join trials sooner and access life-changing medicines quicker. The national innovation adoption pathway provides a structured approach to fostering, managing and scaling innovation and enables the acceleration of evidence generation within the NHS.

new treatments, faster diagnoses, and more impact on people’s lives. Breakthroughs happen in Wales, creating jobs, improving lives, and driving economic growth.

Coordination and collaboration are at our core. We work across sectors, government, and industry, sharing insight and building trust to make Wales a place where innovation delivers for everyone.

“

For nearly 50 years, Wales’ evolving ecosystem and access to a skilled and diverse workforce has powered Cytiva in Cardiff and global life sciences innovation. ”

John

Clarke, Global Head of Government Affairs and Policy, Cytiva

People, partnerships and proactive support

Welsh universities conduct world-leading research in neuroscience, population health, drug discovery, and nanotechnology. Companies can tap into a highly skilled workforce in research, product development, and advanced manufacturing, supported by a strong pipeline of life sciences graduates, working proactively with industry.

Our NHS is organised to support the development and adoption of innovation with leaders in research innovation and value based health and care across all health boards.

The Welsh Government provides bespoke support tailored to your needs—from initial investment through every stage of growth. We pride ourselves on long-term relationships built on understanding and meeting your requirements.

Perfect places to prosper

Life sciences companies in Wales benefit from significant cost advantages, plus access to investmentready sites for laboratories, manufacturing, and commercial headquarters. Our advanced infrastructure and collaborative environment support companies of all sizes. Most importantly, your people can thrive here. We offer exceptional quality of life, affordable living standards, and excellent connectivity to major UK and global hubs.

Our national health system serves 3.2 million people

Join our connected cluster

Invest in a compact, collaborationready ecosystem. Learn more at hello@lshubwales.com.

Life Sciences Hub Wales: making our nation

a

place of choice for health and social care innovation and investment

We’re Life Sciences Hub Wales. We’re here to accelerate innovation reaching the frontline of care, encouraging new ways of working collaboratively across the system to facilitate economic growth and better health.

How

do we make this happen?

We’re connectors, facilitators, and drivers. We support industry, health and social care organisations, government and academic institutions who share our goal: to manage, limit and prevent poor health, through the adoption of new innovations.

Our open dialogue with frontline providers means we have a deep understanding of the most critical challenges and priorities health and social care face.

Our relationships with key academic institutions mean access to testing, knowledge and research is made simpler. So, when innovators approach us, we’ll help them to shape their ideas to make them most relevant to an end user. Or we’ll take those frontline needs and priorities to innovators for dedicated development, too.

The other important thing we do is bring all these groups to the table, to listen, share and explore. Put simply, we match health and social care needs with innovation to drive progress, together.

We work across two programme areas: Precision Medicine and Digital, AI & Robotics. Running across both programmes is the theme of cancer, where better detection, diagnosis and treatment is a key priority.

“

Life Sciences Hub Wales continues to be a catalyst for innovation across health and social care, through its dedicated support programmes, projects, and partnerships. Its work is not only enhancing outcomes but is also bolstering our economy. ”

Jeremy Miles MS, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

Our services

• Partnership development and facilitation: forming and maintaining strategic partnerships, special interest groups, long-term working agreements, alongside delivering workshops and supporting cross-sector events.

• Market intelligence: gathering and analysing insights on market trends, customer needs and the broader industry landscape. This knowledge shapes strategies, identifies risks and finds new growth opportunities.

• Funding advice and support: helping innovators to navigate the complex landscape of funding opportunities for health and social care projects.

• Project management support: facilitating product and service evaluation in health and social care and managing partners to accelerate their innovation adoption.

Our track record in 2024/25

Driving economic growth in Wales

• Delivering £3.895 million Welsh Company GVA

• Securing £5.046 million in funding

• Inducing £2.44 million of investment

Making life better for patients in Wales

• 64,606 patients accessing innovation

• 1040 fewer days patients spent in hospital

• 2191 fewer clinical visits Learn more about how Life Sciences Hub Wales can support innovation adoption by emailing hello@lshubwales.com.

across Wales.

Cardiff Health Partners

Health innovation, anchored in Cardiff, connected for global impact

Cardiff Health Partners is a strategic partnership between Cardiff University, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, and Velindre University NHS Trust. It aligns discovery science, clinical care, education, and industry partnerships to accelerate innovation into practice, improve health outcomes and equity, and drive inclusive economic growth.

By connecting world-class research with frontline delivery and a strong regional life sciences base, Cardiff Health Partners acts as the engine that speeds translation, reduces fragmentation and makes Wales a partner of choice for trials, innovation, investment, and talent.

Connected for impact

Cardiff Health Partners is designed to turn collaboration into results. It focuses on Neuroscience and Mental Health, Cancer, and Precision Medicine infrastructurelinking assets and capabilities across the partnership into coherent testbeds and pathways. The model reduces friction through shared governance, streamlined research delivery, and federated data access. The outcome is a gateway for collaboration, faster routes from bench to bedside, and a workforce trained across academic, clinical, and industry settings. This is health improvement and economic growth and regeneration, delivered together.

“ Connecting world-class research with frontline delivery and a strong regional life sciences base. ”

The living laboratory

Cardiff is already delivering firsts and forging proof points. The Cardiff Cancer Research Partnership has launched multiple early-phase clinical trials, with additional industry-led and translational studies. Acting as a front door for trial portfolios across Wales, the Partnership streamlines access and collaboration. Cardiff is also among a select group of global centres delivering first-in-human intracranial advanced therapies, supported by world-class imaging, genomics, and surgical expertise.

This partnership is piloting consent-at-first-contact, shared governance templates, and coalesced discovery platforms to unlock secure, ethical secondary use of genomics, imaging, and biobank assets. These early wins demonstrate delivery at pace, partner readiness, and a pipeline that spans discovery, devices, and data through to adoption.

Join the movement

Cardiff Health Partners offers an exciting, scalable platform with near-term readiness and long-term durability. It brings a coherent pipeline of opportunities across discovery hubs, clinical trial expansion, infrastructure (including digital and data), and workforce development - anchored by flagship, co-located assets with national reach.

Investment will catalyse system-wide benefits: improved population health and access to innovation; stronger regional productivity creating high value jobs; and an internationally visible ecosystem that accelerates partnerships and inward investment.

Cardiff Health Partners will deliver the ambitions of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, Welsh Government’s Economic Mission, and the UK Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.

It will transform:

• Health equity through enabling health service delivery closer to the patient

• Delivery of health promotion at scale through strategic use of technology

• Regional growth and regeneration by creating high-quality jobs and attracting inward investment

find out more.

Commercial Research Delivery Wales

Streamlined access to clinical trials in Wales

The new Commercial Research Delivery Wales (part of Health and Care Research Wales) provides a nationally coordinated service for clinical trials in Wales. Made up of a strong network of facilities and staff embedded across NHS Wales, it is transforming commercial research delivery across the country.

Why conduct clinical

trials

in Wales?

With a booming industry, a government prioritising investment, and universities providing centres of excellence, Wales is strategically positioned to be a global leader in life science research.

With a population of 3.2 million, the size and diversity of Wales creates an ideal testbed for trialling new innovations. It also benefits from a national health and social care system open to collaboration, and a worldclass data and diagnostics infrastructure, including the All-Wales Medical Genomics Service and the SAIL databank.

One Wales delivery model

In 2024, Wales received £22.1 million investment via the VPAG scheme to improve capacity for industrysponsored trials and give Welsh patients access to novel treatments. Commercial Research Delivery Wales is using this to create a centralised ‘One Wales’ approach to clinical trials and streamline processes for commercial sponsors.

Central to this is the Wales Commercial Research Delivery Centre (Wales CRDC) – a collective of the country’s most established and high-performing research facilities. Further research units are also being supported to improve their capacity and will join the centre over time.

“ Wales creates an ideal testbed for trialling new innovations. ”

A new network for delivering research in primary care and community settings is also being developed as part of the Wales CRDC, with 32 specialty leads supporting studies throughout the country.

Streamlined support for industry partners

The Wales CRDC offers a clear pathway into NHS Wales services, providing nationally coordinated site identification and fast feedback from specialty leads and delivery experts. This approach enables rapid study setup and smooth integration and delivery. It also functions as Wales’s official node in the new 21-centre UK-wide CRDC Network, ensuring harmonised processes for sponsors looking to run trials across the UK.

This structure allows Wales to offer the speed and agility of a small, unified nation combined with the scale and reach of the entire UK.

Enabling research excellence

This approach is already transforming care for the people of Wales. For example, in 2024, Wales was first in the UK to launch a groundbreaking clinical trial to test the new mRNA norovirus vaccine. And the highly successful FAKTION trial recently led to the UK and US licensing of Capivasertib, a cutting-edge drug that can extend life for patients with terminal breast cancer. In the last year, more than 15,000 participants took part in over 500 research studies. This work is fostering global collaboration with Wales as a trusted partner. Integration into NHS delivery is also building a more resilient and agile system, capable of responding to future health challenges.

Opportunities for investors and global partners

There are clear opportunities for international partners to engage with a cohesive, data-rich environment engineered to accelerate the delivery of nextgeneration therapies.

For pharmaceutical and life sciences companies

For industry sponsors the ‘One Wales’ model offers one point of contact, one contract and one transparent price for the entire country, drastically reducing the delays and costs associated with multi-site trials. Partners benefit from faster study setup, access to high-quality data, and fast routes to market for new therapies.

For strategic co-investors

There are also opportunities for direct partnerships to help scale the capabilities of this proven, government and industry-backed national system. This includes investing capital to expand the number of trial units able to join the Wales CRDC, and the development of cross-cutting digital infrastructure to better leverage world-class data assets like the SAIL Databank. Find out more

more information about the CRDW or contact industry-research@wales.nhs.uk.

Llanfrechfa Innovation, Technology & Medi-Park

High-tech global hub for healthcare innovation and research

Llanfrechfa Innovation, Technology and Medi-Park will be a global hub for healthcare innovation and research. Located in Cwmbran, in south east Wales, it is uniquely positioned to foster collaboration in high-tech health and life sciences innovation. The site is directly adjacent to a flagship hospital and close to key rail and road routes connecting it to the rest of Wales and the wider United Kingdom.

A purpose-built campus to catalyse innovation

The proposed greenfield site for the park offers the opportunity to create a purpose-built campus within attractive surroundings, with space for future growth and expansion.

Directly adjacent to The Grange University Hospital –the flagship specialist and critical care centre of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board – the plans take inspiration and build on the model for other highly successful research, innovation, science and technology parks which are co-located with strategic hospital sites. These include Edinburgh BioQuarter, Cambridge Science Park, Manchester Science Park and Norwich Research Park.

The proposal provides a unique opportunity to combine healthcare, academia, innovation, research and development, and manufacturing in a single location. It will incorporate lab space, offices and high quality commercial production spaces in one campus, facilitating gains in employment, health outcomes and the economy.

Partners in innovation

A strong partnership has been established between MedeVentures, Torfaen Council, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Welsh Government, Welsh universities and the Cardiff City Region City Deal programme.

The proposal aligns with Welsh Government’s Innovation Strategy and its Prosperity for All economic action plan. It also supports Cardiff City Region’s aim to create a thriving research and development-led medtech cluster. This will be an ecosystem where businesses can work in tandem with cutting-edge research and deliver innovation directly into the NHS, to benefit the health and wellbeing of the region and drive economic growth.

Supercharging the life sciences sector

Plans have been created based on detailed analysis of demand from the vibrant, fast-growing health and life science sector in south Wales.

High quality commercial production spaces will draw on the potential for innovation with new materials, including compound semiconductors which are enabling the development of advanced diagnostic, therapeutic, and research technologies.

Co-location with the 470-bed Grange University Hospital, as well as further health facilities to be provided at the site, offers the potential for extremely close partnerships and cross-pollination of ideas between business and health.

The location and its proximity to excellence in life sciences teaching and academic research also futureproofs the talent pipeline into the hub. Cardiff University, University of South Wales and Cardiff Metropolitan University are all partnering in the development.

Help shape the hub

MedeVentures has agreed heads of terms with a developer/operator of medical and life sciences business parks and aims to submit a planning application during 2026.

The proposal’s alignment with Wales’ Prosperity for All plan – in particular the high technology manufacturing and data centre elements – positions it well in a section of the economy that Welsh Government has committed to proactively work with and support financially.

Investors and sponsors can now engage with the development partners to help shape and develop the innovation hub. This is a prime opportunity to invest in an asset for a high-growth industry, poised to generate substantial economic value. Investment partners will be contributing to a development that benefits not only the local community in south Wales but also advances healthcare and high-tech industry on a global scale.

Find out more

To discuss opportunities please contact Craig.Mead@torfaen.go.uk or Duncan.Smith@torfaen.gov.uk

M-SParc

Igniting ambition and innovation for a sustainable Wales

The Menai Science Park (M-SParc), established in 2016 as Wales’ first science park, is the hub for innovation in north Wales. Its location within Anglesey’s Enterprise Zone and links to Anglesey’s ‘Energy Island’ uniquely position it at the heart of low carbon developments in north Wales.

Cutting edge innovation in a picturesque rural location

M-SParc’s key asset is its state-of-the-art building offering flexible laboratory, workshop and office spaces. Located in scenic north Wales, it offers a unique combination of modern facilities and beautiful surroundings for businesses to establish themselves and their workforce.

M-SParc is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bangor University and is embedded in the academic partnership and business support networks in the region. As a leading university with an international reputation for teaching and research, Bangor brings enhanced opportunities for global collaborations, particularly in research and development (R&D).

Outstanding facilities, wraparound support

Over 70 tenants – covering science and technology from clean energy, to AI, agritech and cancer research –already call M-SParc home. They enjoy outstanding facilities ranging from small offices for start-ups to larger offices, workshops and laboratories for established corporate companies. With conferences, co-working spaces, shared meeting spaces and a cafe, collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas come built in.

The M-SParc team offers unrivalled innovation support across finance, research collaborations, investor readiness, international soft landing and more. They have expertise in energy and digital, and co-ordinate collaborative clusters in agritech, creative, nuclear, wind and hydrogen.

Connected to Wales and beyond

M-SParc has built a national profile, featuring in the Innovation Strategy for Wales, and aligning with crucial strategies such as Bangor 2030 and the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government. Their strategic collaborations with partners span the country – including Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Life Sciences Hub Wales, and the North Wales Medical School – and beyond, including connections with the United Kingdom Science Park Association and MIT Boston.

Opportunities to be part of M-SParc

Expand

M-SParc offers a perfect opportunity for established companies from all over the world to set up an R&D base in Wales. The lower costs of locating in Wales, together with close links with Bangor University, NHS Wales and others, as well as potential synergies with clusters, makes for an attractive place for R&D.

Incubate

M-SParc’s facilities and connections offer the perfect environment for incubating medtech companies, diagnostics firms and others, and offer opportunities to establish trials and test innovation in health care.

The team’s connections and experience facilitate and support innovators in navigating clinical regulations and accessing clinician input, as well as accessing international funding and convening consortia to compete internationally on programmes such as Horizon Europe or similar. They also enable access to support for companies through Welsh Government trade missions and other opportunities for exporting innovations and scaling globally.

Invest in M-SParc 2

Following the success of M-SParc, £2.5m has already been committed by Welsh Government to develop a second building. M-SParc 2 will focus on low/zero carbon innovation, and will further strengthen the facilities and collaborations available through the park. Additional funding is being sought for capacity-building – including low carbon staffing, business support and facility management – as well as fitting out laboratories, offices and workshops.

Investment and/or sponsorship supporting M-SParc 2 will allow M-SParc to scale its capacity in low-carbon, diagnostic, agritech and environmental innovation at a time when both Welsh Government and UK policies emphasise this. With freeport status in a strategic ‘Enterprise Zone’ location, the expansion represents an attractive investment opportunity for private investors and national funding bodies alike.

The National Institute for Sport and Health

A global testbed for sport-health innovation

NISH is the National Institute for Sport and Health. Established in 2024, with a state-of-the-art headquarters in Swansea, it positions Wales as a global destination for sport and health innovation and offers a clear route for investment, collaboration, and adoption.

Bridging sports science and clinical innovation

Many technologies developed for sport have health applications too, and vice versa. By embedding sport and health innovation together, with built-in synergy between academia, hospitals, sports performance and high-tech innovation, NISH has created a unique setting which actively encourages cross-pollination at every stage.

The intersection of sport and health is an underdeveloped area of innovation. NISH is using its novel approach to empower innovators, attract investment and improve population health. Crucially, NISH is embedding sport as a driver of health innovation and creating a compelling, scalable model that links wellbeing with economic growth.

World-class infrastructure

Co-located at Swansea University, Singleton Hospital, and the Swansea Bay Sports Park, NISH brings together laboratories, elite training facilities and clinical research environments. This includes:

• desk, office and lab space for sports, health and tech companies within NISH’s flagship headquarters

• access to a wide range of cutting-edge facilities at Swansea University, including clinical imaging and analytical technology, SUSIM (a world-leading simulation and immersive learning centre) and specialist clinical trials and research expertise

• Olympic-standard facilities in the Swansea Bay Sports Park, including the Sport Wales National Centre and regional performance hubs

• strong digital infrastructure (powered by 5G and a partnership with Vodafone) to support community testing of AI and wearable tech in real world environments.

Wales’ strong academic base ensures a pipeline of talent spanning sports science, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, data science, and healthcare. NISH builds on this by fostering new training pathways that combine sport, health, and digital innovation, including the latest AI-enabled methodologies.

This means NISH offers access to both infrastructure and a skilled, future-ready workforce, capable of delivering innovation at scale.

A testbed for sport-health solutions

Innovators from across medtech, sports science, digital health and diagnostics are supported and nurtured in this unique ecosystem. This creates a thriving and sustainable innovation landscape and maximises use of resources.

Partnerships with community health charities, NHS Wales and national sports bodies also provide a clear route for testing and adoption. By embedding testbed capabilities, NISH is speeding up clinical trials and creating a competitive advantage for companies based in Wales.

This unique environment is already leading to cuttingedge developments, for example, an innovation pathway that applies elite athlete recovery technologies to conditions such as stroke and dementia. NISH is also convening projects to target major population health challenges (including obesity, diabetes, and mental health), developing precision diagnostics, and encouraging adoption of AI.

“ NISH is using its novel approach to empower innovators, attract investment and improve population health. ”

Opportunities for investors and global partners

NISH is projected to deliver over 1,200 new jobs and generate £153 million in additional GVA by 2030. There are many opportunities to be part of this work.

Collaborate

Technology, healthcare and sporting partners are invited to join the unique ecosystem at NISH. Whether you’re a budding startup, scaling venture, or an established leader in sport and health tech, NISH is the perfect base from which to connect, collaborate and grow.

Invest

NISH is also actively offering sponsorship and partnership opportunities to investors who want to be at the forefront of innovation in this distinctive area of life sciences. This includes investment in SME growth and opportunities to support new research and innovative clinical trials.

Pentre Awel

A groundbreaking multi-use place for innovation

Pentre Awel is a groundbreaking development, the first of its scope and size in Wales, designed to integrate leisure, business, health, research, education, care and hotel facilities in one location.

A place to work, learn, live and play

The unique ecosystem being created in Llanelli, south west Wales, is adjacent to the stunning coastline at the heart of the Millennium Coastal Park. The 83-acre site is uniquely positioned and designed to provide the highest quality facilities, across a range of uses, split into four zones.

The first zone – Canolfan – opened in October 2025, with facilities for leisure, education, research, healthcare and business. Future zones will include: nursing and residential care; assisted living and business; housing and a 4-star wellness hotel.

This wide-ranging conglomeration expands the life sciences offering beyond existing developments. With a sector-spanning partnership – Carmarthenshire County Council, Hywel Dda University Health Board, TriTech (the Health Board’s research and development arm), Swansea University, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Coleg Sir Gâr – leading the development, Canolfan fosters collaboration, networking and business growth.

Flexible spaces in brand-new facilities

Canolfan not only offers 150,000ft² of office and potential lab space for health, wellbeing and life sciences businesses, but is also home to leisure facilities, a community healthcare centre, and research, education and training facilities. Businesses have the opportunity to tailor their workspace, with options suitable for everything from local startups to large multinationals. An entire floor is dedicated to business incubation and acceleration.

Co-locating with the TriTech research facility, Swansea University’s Health and Wellbeing Academy, Hywel Dda health services, and more, offers unique opportunities for collaboration and innovation – particularly in research, diagnostics and care.

The groundbreaking plan to incorporate nursing, assisted living, leisure and healthcare facilities will create a real-world testbed to pilot innovations in health, wellbeing and social care. One location offers possibilities for research, design, testing and evaluation. In particular, the ecosystem lends itself to exploring solutions for preventative and community care, as well as harnessing digital and AI advancements in healthcare.

“ Canolfan fosters collaboration, networking and business growth. ”

Opportunities for businesses and investors

Innovate in a premium location

Pentre Awel offers the opportunity for businesses to place themselves at the heart of health and care service delivery in west Wales.

Innovative startups will benefit from proximity to Hywel Dda and TriTech’s position as the ‘front door’ into the NHS, including their expertise in medical and technical certification.

Large national and multinational organisations can position themselves within a transformative attentiongrabbing development, already seen as the ‘jewel in the crown’ for Carmarthenshire. Beyond its collaborative and testbed opportunities, the multi-use development offers a high-quality environment for employees and visitors. With swimming and hydrotherapy pools, sports and gym facilities, a cafe, shared meeting/collaboration spaces, landscaped public spaces, and a lakeside walking and cycle path, Pentre Awel offers the chance to be part of a vibrant community in a premium development.

With close links to academia and a well-connected location, businesses can access a strong talent and workforce pipeline, with opportunities via the Swansea Bay City Deal to create bespoke training programmes.

“ The heart of health and care service delivery in west Wales. ”

Invest in a groundbreaking development

With the opening of Canolfan complete, Carmarthenshire County Council has secured partfunding for further fitout and are now seeking £10-15 million additional capital from private and public investors.

There are also opportunities to invest in future development phases, including the planned nursing and assisted living, hotel and residential zones. The Council is open to investment in any single or