Industry Partnership and Sponsorship Opportunity: Dragon's Heart Institute Spread & Scale Academy 2026

Opportunity for organisations to become industry partners, sponsors and marketplace exhibitors at the Dragon's Heart Institute Spread & Scale Academy 2026, taking place from 12-14 October 2026 at St David's Hotel, Cardiff Bay.

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP), on behalf of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and the Dragon's Heart Institute, invites expressions of interest from organisations wishing to become industry partners, sponsors and marketplace exhibitors at the Spread & Scale Academy 2026, taking place from 12 to 14 October 2026 at St David's Hotel, Cardiff Bay.

The Spread & Scale Academy is a three-day intensive programme designed to support health and social care teams to spread, adopt and scale proven innovations and service improvements. Delivered by the Dragon's Heart Institute in partnership with the Billions Institute, the Academy brings together multidisciplinary teams from health, social care, local government, the third sector and partner organisations who are actively leading transformation and improvement projects.

Since 2019, the Academy has trained over 1,000 learners across 241 project teams, achieving significant impact including the spread of solutions across organisations, financial savings and environmental benefits.

This opportunity offers organisations direct engagement with more than 100 delegates including senior leaders, clinicians, managers, improvement specialists and transformation teams from across Wales. Delegates attend with active projects and are seeking ideas, expertise, technologies and partnerships that can help them accelerate improvement and innovation.

Areas of Interest

Expressions of interest are welcomed from organisations whose expertise, products or services support innovation and transformation within health and social care, including:

Digital and technology solutions

Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics

Medical technology and digital health innovation

Life sciences and pharmaceutical organisations

Improvement, transformation and implementation support services

Workforce development and capability-building organisations

Organisations operating in other relevant sectors that can demonstrate value to Academy delegates are also encouraged to express interest.

Partnership Opportunities

This notice is issued to seek expressions of interest only.

This is not a procurement exercise and does not constitute a call for competition.

Participation in the Academy as a sponsor, exhibitor or industry partner does not provide any preferential access to procurement opportunities, purchasing decisions or future contracts with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership or any other NHS body.

Any future procurement activity arising from delegate projects would be conducted separately through appropriate public sector procurement routes in accordance with applicable legislation and organisational governance requirements. This partnership opportunity is intended solely to facilitate learning, networking, collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Where expressions of interest exceed the number of available partnership opportunities, submissions will be evaluated against published criteria.

Additional Information

Further details regarding sponsorship packages, exhibition arrangements, event attendance and associated benefits will be provided to interested organisations following receipt of expressions of interest.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and NWSSP look forward to engaging with organisations that can contribute to the success of this event and support innovation, partnership working and improved outcomes across healthcare services.

Contact Details

Expressions of interest should be submitted via email to: Sarah Yellen sarah.yellen@wales.nhs.uk, once EOI is received a Template will be shared for organisations to complete and submit by the closing date of Submission deadline: Friday 28 August 2026

For enquiries regarding the Academy:

Huw Griffiths

Head of the Dragon's Heart Institute

dragons.heart@wales.nhs.uk

Further information about the programme is available at: https://dragonsheart.org/programme/spread-and-scale/