Event Nine
AI and Healthcare: The Next Frontier

Not just recordings — a curated record of ambition, insight, and real industrial momentum.

Opening Keynote

Professor Richard Stubbs
 
Richard leads Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, bringing together the NHS, academia and industry to accelerate the adoption of innovation and drive economic growth. A senior UK leader in health innovation, he sits on the national commission for the regulation of AI in healthcare and is supporting WHO Europe to develop a European-wide Public Health Innovation Platform.
 
Richard is also a member of the International Hospital Federation’s Global Scientific Committee and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Economic Advisory Council, and is an Honorary Visiting Professor at both Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield.

Fireside Chat

 
Professor Wendy Tindale OBE
Wendy leads scientific and innovation activity at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and holds a Chair at the University of Sheffield. Nationally, she is Director of the NIHR Devices for Dignity HealthTech Research Centre in Long-Term Conditions, supporting the development of innovative medical devices and healthcare technologies.
She also leads the national network of 14 NIHR HealthTech Research Centres, bringing together expertise from across the NHS, academia and industry. Within the NHS, Wendy leads a large Clinical Directorate spanning a broad range of scientific services and innovative practices, with AI increasingly central to future healthcare delivery.
 

Panel

Panel Discussion, hosted by David Richards

 
Bringing together leaders from healthcare, research, investment and MedTech, the panel explored how innovation, technology and AI can translate into better patient outcomes.
 
Professor Paul Dimitri, Director of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health, was joined by Professor Chris Toseland, Professor of Cancer Biophysics at the University of Sheffield; Professor Xavier Golay, CEO of Gold Standard Phantoms and Honorary Professor at UCL; Luisa Carvalho, CEO and Co-Founder of Sheffield-based MedTech company Nasalyzer; and Mattia, Investor at Mercia Ventures, specialising in early-stage life sciences and deep tech.
 
Together, they examined the journey from research and emerging technology through investment, clinical validation and adoption, and what it takes to turn scientific innovation into scalable solutions that make a meaningful difference to patient care.

Pitching at The Foundry

Dr Agnethe Seim Olsen, Co-Founder and Managing Director of RobQuant

Agnethe is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of RobQuant, a deep tech company developing solid-state quantum sensors for functional brain scanning.

She holds a PhD in Computer Vision from Cardiff University, with previous research experience at CERN and MIT spanning computational modelling and algorithm development. With more than a decade of experience in data science and machine learning, Agnethe is now focused on translating complex quantum sensing technology into scalable, point-of-care neuroimaging.

Saffron Howdle, CEO and Co-Founder of Bobbi

Saffron is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bobbi, a Sheffield-based femtech startup redefining how women approach fitness.

Founded in 2024, Bobbi is developing a science-informed app that helps women align exercise with their menstrual cycle to support performance, recovery and long-term wellbeing. Working alongside experts, academics and users, Saffron is building technology designed to help women better understand their bodies and train in a way that works with them, rather than against them.

Dr Rachel Furmidge, Co-Founder of LipoHIPE™

Rachel is the Co-Founder of LipoHIPE™, an early-stage MedTech venture developing innovative injectable materials designed to help the body repair soft tissue following burns, major trauma or tumour removal.

Developed from Rachel’s PhD research at the University of Sheffield, LipoHIPE™ supports natural tissue regeneration before gradually breaking down, leaving healthy tissue behind. Alongside Co-Founder Dr Vanessa Hearnden, Rachel is advancing the technology towards pre-clinical validation and has secured support through leading UK innovation programmes and funding initiatives, including Innovate UK’s ICURe, INSIGNEO, the Yorkshire MedTech Place-Based Impact Accelerator and ROYCE MATcelerate HEALTH.

Kieran Bevan, CEO of Puretec

Kieran specialises in accelerating new materials and products from innovation to market, with particular expertise in scaling environmentally friendly technologies across sectors.

He previously founded Cornerstone, an advanced flexible packaging manufacturer supplying major food and consumer brands, and has built his career turning novel materials technologies into commercially viable products. At Puretec, Kieran is focused on taking innovative materials from the lab to commercial reality and building the scalable businesses needed to bring them to market.