Nelson Advisors invited to Judge the PitchFest Awards at ReWired 2027

Nelson Advisors Partner Lloyd Price has been invited to Judge the PitchFest Awards at ReWired 2027. This is the 4th time Lloyd has Judged the prestigious awards, highlighting the pedigree of UK Digital Health and MedTech companies.

Source: https://digitalhealthrewired.com/

Digital Health Rewired, the UK's largest digital health and NHS technology event, returns to Hall 2 of the NEC in Birmingham on 16–17th March 2027. Now firmly established as the sector's key meeting point, Rewired has grown to attract more than 4,500 attendees, over 180 exhibitors, and 350+ speakers, with 95% of NHS trusts represented on the show floor or in the audience. Access Group returns as co-headline sponsor for a third consecutive year, reflecting the event's deepening ties to NHS digital transformation programmes across 45 trusts.

The 2027 programme is structured around eight themes that map closely to the priorities dominating NHS digital strategy right now: Digital Transformation, AI, Digital Leadership, Data & Digital, EPR Implementation & Optimisation, Digital Frontline, Neighbourhoods, and Cyber & Infrastructure. That spread signals where the conversation has moved — beyond pilot projects and towards scaled AI deployment, interoperable data, workforce-facing "digital frontline" tools, and the practicalities of keeping increasingly connected systems secure. For anyone advising healthtech vendors or NHS bodies on partnerships, procurement or market entry, the agenda is a useful proxy for where NHS digital budgets and attention are heading in 2027.

Alongside the keynotes and exhibition, Rewired's Pitchfest Awards have become one of the most closely watched fixtures of the event. Pitchfest is a live startup pitch competition: a shortlist of early-stage and scaling health tech companies pitch in front of a judging panel of NHS leaders, investors and industry figures, with the audience of NHS decision-makers and innovation teams watching alongside. At Rewired 2026, eight finalists took the stage on the NEC floor, including Astron Health, Cogniss, Into-Action.Health, Jigsaw Medical, LightHearted AI, Mavis Technologies and Upskill.Health. The judging panel drew on figures from Future Health Intelligence, the NHS Innovation Accelerator, Innovate UK, Moorfields Eye Hospital and venture capital, giving finalists direct exposure to the people who actually fund and buy into the NHS.

The 2026 winner was Daye, a women's health biotech company founded by Valentina Milanova, recognised for its diagnostic tampon — an at-home test for detecting high-risk HPV, the leading cause of cervical cancer. The win came with tangible NHS access rather than just a trophy: expert advisory support from CW+ and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust's innovation team, plus the chance to develop and run a project within the trust itself. In previous years, Pitchfest has also run a "revenue-generating" category alongside its main track, recognising that judging pre-revenue innovation and commercially proven products side by side doesn't always do either justice — Daysix took that category at Rewired 2025.

For founders, Pitchfest offers something scarcer than prize money: a direct route into NHS trusts, credibility with an audience of buyers and investors, and validation in a market notoriously hard to break into. For everyone else at Rewired — trust digital leaders, system integrators, and advisors like Nelson Advisors working across NHS digital M&A and partnerships — Pitchfest is worth watching as an early signal of which health tech categories, from femtech to AI-driven diagnostics, are about to get serious NHS traction. Applications and shortlist announcements for the 2027 edition typically open in the months leading up to the March event, so it's worth keeping an eye on Digital Health Rewired's own channels as the date approaches.