EFEC is laying the foundations of a UK–China Life Sciences Innovation Hub to connect innovators, investors and UK partners.
Last Thursday’s Oxford Med-Tech Fair, hosted by Barclays Oxford Eagle Labs at Inventa — Oxford’s new purpose-built laboratory and office building in the West End innovation district — brought together some of the UK’s most innovative med-tech organisations under one roof. The event generated a lively stream of LinkedIn posts and updates, with exhibitors showcasing their work in regulatory support, funding, product design and clinical testing.
Key exhibitors included Barclays Eagle Labs (host and ecosystem supporter), TBAT Innovation (R&D and grant funding experts), Health Tech Enterprise (connecting innovators to the NHS), Sequel Consultants (business development and digital strategy), Sotas (specialist business development and partnerships), and a broad range of other organisations in regulatory compliance, product design, and clinical trials.
EFEC’s CEO Lily Lin attended on behalf of the UK–China Life Sciences Innovation Hub project, reconnecting with familiar contacts at TBAT and Health Tech Enterprise, and making new connections with exhibitors across regulatory, funding and product development organisations. These conversations with potential UK partners provided a platform to share insights from EFEC’s In2UK framework — highlighting the pain points Chinese innovators face when entering the UK market and how UK partners can help transform that enthusiasm into successful, sustainable ventures.
EFEC (Excellence First Enterprise Consultancy) is in the early stages of developing the UK–China Life Sciences Innovation Hub — a trusted bridge and facilitator between the two economies. Our mission is to connect leaders, identify the right partners, and build meaningful, win-win and sustainable outcomes. We are particularly keen to introduce innovators and investors from China who understand the UK landscape, are willing and able to add value to local systems, and want to partner for long-term success.
Why this matters for UK partners: there is enormous enthusiasm from China for collaboration, but without structured guidance and trusted vetting, only a fraction turns into fruitful outcomes for either side. EFEC’s role is to make that soft landing easier — helping UK partners identify the right clients, reducing risk, and accelerating inward investment and innovation adoption.
Through events like the Oxford Med-Tech Fair, EFEC is demonstrating its ability to build professional networks from the ground up in the life sciences sector — leveraging two decades of UK–China bridge-building in education and innovation to accelerate collaboration in life sciences. This proactive approach is already opening up conversations with accelerators, science parks, investors, and regulators, helping us co-design and test the concept of a UK–China Life Sciences Innovation Hub for a future launch.
We look forward to deepening these relationships, both in Cambridge and beyond, and invite UK partners to join us in shaping the UK–China Life Sciences Innovation Hub — ensuring the UK captures the next wave of global med-tech innovation and investment.
