The UCAM innovation and business acceleration hub, UCAM HiTech, belonging to the High Technology Incubator Network of the INCYDE Foundation, is holding this Wednesday and Thursday a new edition of the LifeTech Summit, the national forum that connects science and technology-based startups with investment funds, corporations, and public and private institutions. The event once again turns the Region of Murcia into a point of reference for innovation applied to health, food, and sports, with a particular focus on healthcare projects.
The response from the ecosystem has exceeded the organization's forecasts. The Summit reached 400 registered participants, after closing registration due to capacity limits, confirming the growing interest in a format based on pre-scheduled meetings, specialized networking, round tables, and project presentations to investors.

The inauguration featured the participation of the president of UCAM, María Dolores García Mascarell, and Marisa López Aragón, Minister of Business, Employment, and Social Economy of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia. The president of UCAM focused on the areas that generate the most interest in this meeting: “Both sports and nutrition are basic pillars without which health deteriorates rapidly; they are the supports of a tripod that provides a great quality of life to people. Therefore, in all the research developed in these areas, we are not only willing to promote and finance it with our own teams, but also to welcome it at this Summit".
The impact that these types of events and startups generate on the economy was highlighted in the intervention of the Minister of Business, Employment, and Social Economy: “Inverstors, scientists, and entrepreneurs connect effectively here, allowing all the knowledge generated to be transformed into the real economy”, noting that “thanks to the drive of UCAM, the community has consolidated as a highly competitive health ecosystem that already has 28 startups specialized in healthcare innovation and a combined turnover reaching 7.5 million euros”. Carlos Caballero, director of UCAM HiTech, pointed out that “LifeTech Summit is focused on supporting projects in early stages in the field of life sciences, noting that the National Deep Tech Plan has just been announced, and the health part is a fundamental part".
 

More startups and investors and a strong presence of the health sector

The event has a mobilizable investment capacity of over 60 million euros, especially oriented towards early stages, with 40% of startups in the seed phase. Health marks the profile of this edition, with nearly 80% of the participating startups focused on this field and a prominent presence of projects born in universities, hospitals, and research centers. The solutions range from artificial intelligence tools to improve diagnosis, biosensors, and clinical monitoring technologies, to new medical devices, digital health platforms, genomic diagnostics, nanomedicine, and developments linked to biomedical research, along with sustainable food proposals and agricultural biotechnology.

LifeTech Summit 2026 is supported by INFO Region of Murcia, CaixaBank DayOne, CMG MedDev, Herrero & Asociados / H&A IP, Letslaw, IDEA Design Mindset, and BigBan Investors Spain as sponsors. Also collaborating are the INCYDE Foundation, Grupo Fuertes, Grupo Zamora —Licor 43 and Martin Miller’s Gin—, Toñifruit, Innoventures Capital, Cambridge Biocapital, Telefónica, Cantalar, Quesos Collados, and HEALTHPRENEURS.

Strategic meetings and technology transfer

The program for the first day included one-to-one meetings with investors and corporates, networking spaces, and two high-level round tables. The first, ‘Capital for the difficult: the great investment opportunity in deep tech projects’, analyzed the role of specialized investment in high-complexity scientific projects, with representatives from BigBan Investors Spain, Clave Capital, Capital Cell, Cambridge Biocapital, and Inveready. The second, ‘The healthcare entrepreneur's path: beyond financing,’ addressed the regulatory, clinical, commercial, and industrial property challenges faced by health startups, with the participation of professionals linked to CMG MedDev, Herrero & Asociados, the Donostia University Hospital, Coral Comunidad, and specialized strategic consultancy in MedTech.