West Yorkshire Healthtech Cluster Relaunches for Growth

A group spanning Leeds universities, NHS trusts, global names and start-ups has been revived to raise the sector’s profile, backed by a £160m investment zone

One of the UK’s largest health technology clusters is making a fresh push for investment. The West Yorkshire healthtech cluster group has relaunched, uniting leaders from the region’s universities, NHS trusts, innovation bodies and companies ranging from global names to start-ups. The regional sector is home to more than 300 businesses, employs over 16,000 people and generates around £3bn in annual revenue, according to the Combined Authority’s own figures. The relaunch is designed to raise the sector’s profile, attract capital and speed the path from research to the bedside — with Leeds firmly at its centre.

Why This Matters For Leeds

Health technology is one of the areas where Leeds has a genuine national edge, anchored by NHS England’s base in the city, three universities and a dense web of trusts and data assets. For founders, professional services firms and property developers alike, a growing healthtech sector means customers, deals and demand for specialist space in the city.

What the West Yorkshire Healthtech Relaunch Involves

First formed in 2019 and led by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, the group brings together more than 40 organisations. They include the universities of Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield, Leeds Beckett, Leeds and Kirklees councils, the Combined Authority, NHS trusts, and companies from global players such as DePuy Synthes and Optum to homegrown names including Radar Healthcare, Paxman, PinPoint Data and Aire Logic. It is co-chaired by Richard Paxman of Paxman and Edward Bellamy of Radar Healthcare. The cluster has already helped deliver the HealthTech Launchpad, an Innovate UK programme offering grants of up to £1m, and shaped the EPSRC-funded Yorkshire MedTech programme. Its November conference in Leeds drew more than 300 delegates. The relaunch aims to strengthen those links and promote the region nationally and abroad.

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“West Yorkshire is one of the UK’s largest and most influential healthtech clusters, with a growing global reputation for healthcare innovation.”

— Edward Bellamy, Chief Executive of Radar Healthcare and Co-Chair, West Yorkshire Healthtech Cluster Group

The £160m Backing Behind the Sector

The relaunch does not happen in isolation. Cluster organisations helped secure the region’s £160m Healthtech Investment Zone, a ten-year programme supporting spinouts, start-ups and scale-ups while funding new research, office and laboratory space across the region. That builds on the sector’s existing weight in digital health, medical devices, diagnostics and health data, and on Leeds’ particular strengths in data and AI. A more visible, better-coordinated West Yorkshire healthtech cluster is the mechanism its leaders are betting on to do exactly that.