CWOW 2026 Wraps Up: A Week of Life Sciences Across Oxford, London and Cambridge

Cambridge, UK – June 2026

Cambridge Wide Open Week (CWOW) 2026 – a week of life sciences @ the home of life sciences expanded beyond Cambridge for the first time, sharing the spirit and buzz of its week-long, interactive festival with Oxford and London and bringing together three of the UK’s most influential innovation ecosystems.

Held from 11–19 June 2026, CWOW welcomed more than 5,000 attendees across 37 venues, delivering over 280 sessions and bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, academics, policymakers, operators, local communities and the wider biotech and techbio community from across the UK and beyond.

Building on the momentum of previous years, the week told the live story of one of the world’s most productive life sciences corridors, connecting the people, places and companies shaping the future of science, technology and innovation. With 250+ participating companies and 24 venture capital, accelerator and venture builders, CWOW offered a rare lens into the ecosystems driving global innovation across Oxford, London and Cambridge. The ethos is that of a dialogue and not a lecture between all the stakeholders that make up the life science community including the residents in and around keg clusters.

The four-day Ventures Tour formed the backbone of the programme, showcasing more than 110 biotech and techbio companies through investor showcases and venture presentations spanning therapeutics, AI-enabled drug discovery, diagnostics and platform technologies. From seed-stage startups to Series A/B scale-ups, the programme created opportunities for founders to engage directly with investors, industry leaders and ecosystem partners across the Oxford-Cambridge-London corridor.

The week also attracted interest from international delegations, investors and ecosystem leaders representing more than 10 countries, including the United States, Japan, Thailand, China, Singapore, South Korea, Belgium, Asia, and several European markets, reinforcing the growing global profile of the Oxford-Cambridge-London life sciences corridor.

Thursday & Friday: Ventures Tour – Oxford and London

The CWOW began in Oxford, where investors, founders and ecosystem leaders gathered for the first day of the Ventures Tour.

Opening remarks from Sarah Haywood, Managing Director of Advanced Oxford, reflected on Oxford’s ambitions around innovation and growth, while Dr Olga Kozlova, Director of Innovation and Engagement at the University of Oxford, shared perspectives on entrepreneurship, partnerships and translating world-class research into real-world impact through platforms like Oxford Equinox.

Investor showcases hosted by Oxford Science Enterprises, Oxford Venture Angels, Longwall Ventures, Oxford University Innovation and Oxford Technology Management featured some of the region’s most promising ventures, providing opportunities for founders to engage directly with investors and ecosystem influencers. Claire Brown, Partner, Life Sciences, opened the Oxford Science Enterprises showcase, while Benedicte Menn, Senior Investment Manager welcomed attendees to the Oxford University Innovation session.

The day concluded with a drinks networking reception hosted by BioUK (OBN) at Grassroots, where founders, investors and operators continued conversations sparked throughout the programme.

The following day, the journey continued in London, bringing together venture capitalists, angel investors, founders, people from the public policy side of things including DBT, Office for Investment and industry leaders from across the capital’s life sciences ecosystem.

Keynote speakers Lord Richard Harrington and Mike King, Head of Investment for South East England, reflected on the growing importance of collaboration across the Oxford-Cambridge-London corridor. Opening remarks from Angela Kukula, CEO of MedCity, set the scene for a series of investor showcases hosted by KQ Labs at The Francis Crick Institute, Mercia Ventures, Foresight Group, LifeArc Ventures and Pioneer Group. Companies spanning AI-enabled drug discovery, therapeutics, diagnostics and platform technologies presented to investors and strategic partners, highlighting the breadth of innovation emerging across the UK.

Jo Mills, Head of KQ Labs, opened the day’s first showcase, while Tim Davis, Regional Head of Primary Markets at the London Stock Exchange Group, welcomed attendees to the Foresight Group session. Hannah Tapsell Chapman and Lee Lindley then opened the Mercia Ventures programme.

The London Ventures Tour concluded with an evening networking reception hosted by Pioneer Group at the iconic Victoria House, bringing together investors, entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders in a relaxed setting.

Monday & Tuesday: Ventures Tour – Cambridge

The Ventures Tour then arrived in Cambridge for two days of investor showcases, networking and ecosystem exchange across the city’s world-renowned life sciences community.

The Cambridge programme opened with keynote contributions from George Freeman FRSA FRGS MP, Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and Shaun Grady, Chair of AstraZeneca UK, who shared perspectives on Cambridge’s global leadership in science, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Kathryn Chapman, Executive Director of Innovate Cambridge, delivered opening remarks ahead of the first day’s programme, while Perman Jorayev and Amelia Armour of Amadeus Capital Partners welcomed attendees to the opening investor showcase.

Across the two days, investor showcases hosted by Amadeus Capital Partners, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Start Codon, Cambridge Angels, Cambridge Enterprise, Parkwalk Advisors, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Accelerate Cambridge, o2h Ventures, Meltwind, Cancer Research Horizons, BioSpark, Innovate UK Business Growth and Accelerate @ Babraham highlighted some of the region’s most exciting biotech and techbio ventures.

On day two, Andy Williams, Chair of Ox-Cam Supercluster Board, delivered the keynote address, while Kristin-Anne Rutter, Executive Director, Cambridge University Health Partner, and Jason Mellad, Co-founder and CEO of OtoImmune, welcomed attendees to the day’s programme.

The Cambridge Ventures Tour concluded each evening with drinks networking receptions hosted by BioSpark at The Lab and by Affinia at The Hilton, where founders, investors and ecosystem partners gathered to exchange ideas, build relationships and explore new opportunities for collaboration.

Wednesday: Cambridge Wide Open Day – Season 4

Back for its fourth season, Cambridge Wide Open Day (CWOD) welcomed more than 900 attendees across 15+ venues, 120+ participating companies delivering over 150 sessions through a diverse programme of talks, tours, demonstrations, workshops, networking events and panel discussions, opening doors to provide rare, behind-the-scenes access to the people and organisations shaping one of the world’s leading life sciences ecosystems.

The day opened with keynote contributions from Peter Freeman, Chair of the Cambridge Growth Company, and Jason Mellad, alongside opening remarks from Tony Jones, CEO of One Nucleus, Pippa Heylings MP, Harriet Fear, Faye Holland, Partnership Director at the Cambridge x Manchester Partnership, and Anne Bailey, CEO of Form the Future.

From local communities and families to international investors, researchers and entrepreneurs, attendees gained a unique insight into the science, innovation and entrepreneurship taking place across research campuses, science parks, laboratories and innovation hubs throughout the region.

A notable milestone during Cambridge Wide Open Day was the launch of the Cambridge Stock Exchange Project (CSEP). Through its newly announced partnership with JP Jenkins — an FCA-authorised operator of the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) — CSEP harnesses this financial infrastructure to support a route to regulated secondary market liquidity for growth-stage UK private companies, designed to keep value within the innovation ecosystems where these companies were built.

Among the highlights of the day was a keynote from Professor Wolf Reik, Director of Altos Labs Cambridge Institute of Science at Granta Park, who opened the programme at Granta Park with insights into cutting-edge advances in cellular rejuvenation, ageing research and the future of regenerative medicine.

The day also featured a Creative Disruption Forum and a tour of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst alongside a first-of-its-kind pitch session where startups pitched to Human and AI investors

CWOD concluded with the much-loved Summer Garden Party at Hauxton House, Mill SciTech Park, where more than 800 attendees including participants of the CWOD, founders, investors, researchers, residents, public policy and the wider community came together to celebrate the collaborative spirit that underpins the ecosystem.

Thursday: TechBio, Biotech & Pharma Day

Thursday brought together leaders from across the biotech, techbio and pharmaceutical sectors for a day of discussion, collaboration and knowledge exchange.

BIA TechBio X and AstraZeneca Exchange, hosted at The Discovery Centre on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, brought together senior R&D leaders, platform founders, investors and ecosystem partners to explore the future of AI-enabled drug discovery, synthetic biology, cell and gene therapies, and techbio commercialisation. AstraZeneca Exchange opened with a keynote from Shaun Grady, Chair of AstraZeneca UK, followed by presentations from Steve Rees, Senior Vice-President of Discovery Biology at AstraZeneca, Matt Allen, Ox-Cam Supercluster Board, Faye Holland CambridgexManchester Partnership, and other key ecosystem influencers, offering insights into AstraZeneca’s innovation priorities and opportunities for collaboration across the wider life sciences ecosystems including around the world, while highlighting how AZ’s advances in drug discovery are translating into meaningful impact for patients and human health worldwide.

The Creative Disruption Forum brought together experts exploring new approaches to modern drug discovery, while CONEXEN Cambridge, hosted by Merlin Place (Kadans), welcomed founders, investors and industry professionals to discuss funding opportunities and the evolving UK life sciences landscape.

The day also included a special event hosted by the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, highlighting how global collaboration and scientific innovation continue to accelerate progress in cancer research and treatment.

Friday: Community Day

CWOW concluded on Friday 19 June with Community Day, delivered in partnership with Form the Future.

Hosted at Cambridge Research Park, the programme welcomed local students for a day of career talks, workshops, lab tours and speed networking sessions with professionals from across the life sciences ecosystem. The activities aimed to ignite curiosity and showcase the breadth of opportunities available within science, technology and innovation.

The day also featured a live podcast and panel discussion hosted by Eastern Promise at Hauxton House, where Mike Rigby and Harriet Fear explored Cambridge’s evolving innovation ecosystem and its role on the global stage.

The programme provided a fitting conclusion to the week, reinforcing CWOW’s mission to celebrate today’s innovation while helping inspire the next generation of scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators.

Reflecting on the Week

Reflecting on the week, Prashant Shah, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the o2h Group, said:

“What started as a single day to tell the story of the real lived experience of working in the life science sector has now evolved into a week of life sciences at the home of life sciences and, this year, beyond Cambridge into Oxford and London. We have revised the working title of CWOW to Combined Ways of Working reflecting the imperative to work together more closely across our high density innovation ecosystems.

The format and ethos is more of a playful/mischievous dialogue rather than that of a lecture. We wish to add a little more porosity and make the impact, culture and buzz of these ecosystems more accessible. There is a consilience of technology, AI, advanced modalities, talent, capital and government coming together to create a renaissance of innovation in the UK.

It has been wonderful to see founders, scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, students and local communities come together to celebrate the people, places and companies that make up these buzzing ecosystems.

The Ventures Tours brought a unique dimension to the week, with more than 100 companies presenting across Oxford, London and Cambridge and creating opportunities for founders to engage directly with investors, industry leaders and the wider ecosystem across the Oxford-Cambridge-London corridor.

CWOW remains a bottom-up, grassroots, community-driven endeavour. We created it to celebrate what is already here, provide a rare lens into these innovation clusters and be inspired by what comes next. We are grateful to all the venues, speakers, sponsors, partners and participants who helped bring this shared story to life.”

Thank You to Our Sponsors & Partners

Cambridge Wide Open Week 2026 was made possible through the support, belief and collaboration of an incredible network of sponsors, ecosystem partners and community organisations.

Mills & Reeve returned as Title Sponsor, continuing its long-standing support of the Cambridge innovation ecosystem and helping enable the growth of CWOW across the Oxford-Cambridge-London corridor.

Keltie, Wellcome Genome Campus, Appleyard Lees, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Kadans, Deloitte, Modern Networks, Collaborative Drug Discovery, ET Capital, Cambition, Affinia, Tamarind Executive Search and RGDscience Ltd supported the week through sponsorship, programming, venues and community engagement, helping founders, researchers and innovators connect across the ecosystem.

The Crick, Pioneer Group, Deloitte, The Glasshouse and Inventa hosted key events throughout the week, while Cambridge Management Consulting, Cambridge Tech Podcast and Zyme Communications helped amplify the stories, people and innovations shaping the Oxford-Cambridge-London corridor.

Building on the momentum of this year’s event, planning is already underway for Cambridge Wide Open Week 2027, which is expected to take place from 10–18 June 2027, continuing its mission to celebrate the people, places and companies shaping the future of the UK’s life sciences ecosystem.

For more information, visit www.cambridgewideopenweek.com.

Media Coverage:

We thank the following publications for featuring the Cambridge Wide Open Week 2026. Explore the related articles using the links below:

About o2h group:

The o2h group seeds new ideas in life science and technology. The purpose is to contribute to novel science to address unmet therapeutic needs through funding, incubation, and collaborative execution. o2h operates in the pre-clinical phase between idea generation and the identification of lead/development candidates, drawing on core strengths across chemistry, biology and technology.

The group also remains committed to reinvesting resources, energy, gratitude and support into the heritage ecosystems from which it emerged, as well as the wider global ecosystems in which it operates.

At o2h co-discovery, we have a proprietary operating system for fast tracking new ideas to a development candidate. The core is an insight driven integrated multi-modality drug discovery platform that combines novel capability with strategic partners embedded in AI enabled backbone to create a unique workflow.

The o2h group is co-located in Cambridge, UK and in Ahmedabad, India and has six verticals covering: ventures, discovery, technology, incubate, community and therapeutics.

For more information, please see – www.o2h.com and www.o2hdiscovery.co