London Tech Week day 3: Let’s use that NHS budget on tech
From NHS waiting lists to global warming, if we get it right we can use technology to address our biggest challenges, writes Russ Shaw in day three of his Tech Week diary
The UK tech ecosystem has always punched above its weight. But whereas in the 2010s it was fintech driving the sector forwards, in recent years, the most exciting, high growth businesses have been those seeking solutions to the major issues facing society.
From the overworked healthcare systems to the climate crisis, UK innovators are turning purpose into profit.
With 6,800 life sciences businesses employing over 300,000 people and contributing £100bn to the economy annually, the healthtech sector represents a pillar of national prosperity.
And the same is true of climatetech, with funding for UK firms last year increasing by 24 per cent – despite a small overall dip in global funding.
These two verticals have formed the focus of proceedings on London Tech Week’s Impact Stage over the last two days.
The UK as a healthtech world leader
I was at the GTA Healthtech group’s event ‘Pathways to Funding’ where, in conjunction with HSBC Innovation Banking, the audience heard how the UK’s research excellence, strong investment ecosystem and NHS infrastructure make up the foundations of a future healthtech world leader.
On day two at the Impact Stage, we heard how London’s ‘golden triangle’ with world-leading research institutions Oxford and Cambridge is enabling speedy transitions from lab to market – spinouts like Infinitopes (£12.8m raised) or Amber Therapeutics ($100m Series A), which are pushing the frontiers of personalised cancer immunotherapy and implantable treatments respectively.
What’s more, we also heard about the significance of the NHS as a unique testing ground for healthtech innovation. As a universal single-payer system, it has the potential for new technologies to be piloted and scaled faster than almost anywhere else.
Companies like Cera Care, a London‑founded digital‑first home‑care provider and one of the UK’s latest unicorns, are doing great work in this space. Its AI-powered support has cut hospitalisations by over 50 per cent and helped the company to secure $150m in January 2025.
But at the moment, short-sighted purchase strategies are holding back investment and preventing more success stories like this from London and the UK more widely.
Spending £10bn a year on the sector, it’s no surprise that the NHS is the UK’s biggest healthtech buyer – and the budget is set to increase after the Chancellor’s announcement today in the Spending Review that NHS funding will rise by three per cent per year.
But its current approach – prioritising the largest providers with the lowest cost products at scale – stifles smaller, innovative competitors.
A better procurement approach – one which values patient outcomes, long-term savings and innovative potential – would improve both the quality of healthtech products and patient outcomes as a result.
New opportunities in greentech
Today, on day three at the Impact Stage, attention turned to climatetech, and the opportunities for the innovative UK companies in this sector at a time when the US’s environment policy is at best unclear.
Only last week, we heard the head of Barclays’ Climate Ventures arm explain that the challenges of the Trump administration’s policy environment mean that US investors are increasingly looking to invest in UK climatetech startups.
This is another economic opportunity which the UK can’t afford to let slip, particularly at a time when net zero targets are either being delayed by governments or abandoned completely.
Ground is being lost in the climate fight – May was the second warmest since records began and technological solutions are needed to turn the tide.
As the second‑largest destination for climate‑tech investment worldwide, London (as well as the wider UK) has both the international standing and ability to draw significant levels of venture capital funding needed to make a difference.
Moments like London Tech Week, with more than 30,000 attendees from over 125 countries, are vital for driving progress and directing funding towards the innovation needed to solve these big issues.
Whether it’s reducing emissions or hospital waiting times, the key is identifying the solutions capable of unlocking significant investment in the technologies needed – and then rolling them out at scale.
Russ Shaw CBE is the founder of Tech London Advocates & Global Tech Advocates and founding partner of London Tech Week