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 InterestExpressions of interest are welcomed from organisations whose expertise, products or services support innovation and transformation within health and social care, including:Digital and technology solutionsArtificial intelligence and advanced analyticsMedical technology and digital health innovationLife sciences and pharmaceutical organisationsImprovement, transformation and implementation support servicesWorkforce development and capability-building organisationsOrganisations operating in other relevant sectors that can demonstrate value to Academy delegates are also encouraged to express interest.Partnership OpportunitiesThis 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.