Women’s Health Technology Summit 2026

Join us as we bring together leaders from healthcare, research, technology, investment, academia, policy, and industry.
About this Event

Women’s Health Technology Summit 2026

Wednesday 16 September 2026 | 12.00pm - 7.00pm

Room 3.44B, Simon Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL

The Women’s Health Technology Summit 2026 will bring together leaders from healthcare, research, technology, investment, academia, policy, and industry to examine the persistent inequality in women’s health outcomes as one of the defining healthcare and social justice challenges of our time, and the role of digital technology in tackling it.

The Summit is inspired by the renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England (2026), which acknowledged the NHS’s “appalling culture of medical misogyny” and recognised that many women experience healthcare systems that dismiss, minimise, or fail to respond adequately to their symptoms and lived experiences. Despite living longer than men, women spend significantly more years in poor health. Delays in diagnosis, unequal treatment pathways, lack of sex-specific research, and gaps in women’s health data continue to reinforce systemic inequalities across healthcare.

Co-hosted by Diversity UK and the University of Manchester’s Greater Manchester Connected Health Ecosystem, the Summit will explore how medical misogyny, underinvestment in women’s health innovation, and bias in emerging technologies can be addressed to improve health outcomes for women and girls across the UK and globally. It will provide a platform for evidence-led debate, cross-sector collaboration, and practical action to accelerate progress towards a fairer, more inclusive, and innovation-driven healthcare system for women and girls.

The event is structured around three interconnected themes:

Theme 1: Tackling Medical Misogyny
This theme will examine how women’s symptoms are too often dismissed or normalised, leading to delayed diagnosis, undertreatment, and avoidable suffering. Discussions will explore the wider gender health gap, including inequalities in cardiovascular care, reproductive health, chronic pain, menopause care, and access to treatment.

Theme 2: Investing in Women’s Health Innovations
This theme will explore how to increase investment in women’s health research and development, improve access to capital for women-led HealthTech and FemTech ventures, and strengthen pathways from research to scalable innovation. A key ambition of the Summit is to help “shift the dial” on women’s health by increasing the pace of progress, sustaining momentum, and advocating for women’s health R&D investment to move into double digit percentages across healthcare innovation and venture funding.

Theme 3: Feminist AI
This theme will examine how AI systems can either reinforce or challenge existing inequalities. Discussions will focus on inclusive design, ethical governance, intersectionality, transparency, accountability, and ensuring women are involved in the design and deployment of AI systems shaping healthcare and society.

The Summit will feature keynote speeches, expert panel discussions, roundtable debates, startup showcases, networking opportunities, and the annual Pankhurst Lecture (TBC), creating a unique platform for collaboration between healthcare leaders, clinicians, researchers, founders, investors, policymakers, charities, and technologists.

Outline Programme

12.00pm - 1.00pm
Registration, networking lunch, technology showcases and demo judging

1.00pm - 1.30pm
Welcome and opening remarks from Summit hosts and Greater Manchester civic leaders

1.30pm – 1.45pm
Opening keynote

1.45pm – 2.30pm

Panel Debate 1: Tackling Medical Misogyny

2.30pm - 3.15pm
Panel Debate 2: Investing in Women’s Health Innovations

3.15pm - 3.45pm
Tea break and networking

3.45pm - 4.30pm
Panel Debate 3: Feminist AI

4.30pm - 4.45pm
Closing reflections and next steps

5.00pm - 6.00pm
The Pankhurst Lecture (TBC)

6.00pm - 7.00pm
Drinks reception and networking

The Women’s Health Technology Summit 2026 is designed for senior leaders, decision makers, innovators, healthcare professionals, investors, researchers, academics, founders, and changemakers committed to improving outcomes for women and girls.

The Summit aims to catalyse action, strengthen partnerships, support innovation, and build momentum towards a future where women’s health is no longer overlooked, underfunded, or underserved, but recognised as central to economic growth, social equity, and the future of healthcare innovation.

Important Information:

A risk assessment can be provided on request.

Photography will take place at this event. If you do not wish to be photographed, please speak to an event organiser upon event registration.

About the Hosts

About Digital Futures: Digital Futures is a highly interdisciplinary network that operates across the whole range of the University’s digital research. We aim to present a coherent overview of The University of Manchester's digital research activity to external stakeholders and bring together research communities to explore new research areas and address strategic opportunities.

Connect with Digital Futures:

Linktree: linktr.ee/uomdigitalfutures

Bluesky: @digitaluom.bsky.social

Linkedin: linkedin.com/showcase/digital-futures-at-the-university-of-manchester

Website: digitalfutures.manchester.ac.uk

Newsletter: tinyurl.com/digitalfuturesuom

About Greater Manchester Connected Health Ecosystem: The Greater Manchester Connected Health Ecosystem is a collaborative network coordinated by the University of Manchester’s Digital Futures and Health Innovation Manchester. It brings together academic expertise, industry partners, NHS health and social care providers and professionals, local government, and patient and service user representatives to deliver an environment that enables impactful and equitable technological innovation to enhance care delivery and health outcomes.

About Diversity UK: is a national equality charity focused on advancing diversity, inclusion, innovation, and social equity across Britain. Through research, thought leadership, debates, and cross-sector collaborations, the organisation has built a strong track record in convening conversations on gender equity, technology, investment, and inclusive innovation. https://diversityuk.org/