Labs’ biggest issues on the table at Lab Innovations 2025

UK’s biggest forum for AI, automation, sustainability, skills, standards, collaboration and more

London, 13/11/2025: The most popular meeting place for the laboratory industry returned to the NEC, Birmingham, on 29 and 30 October to bring the brightest minds and newest innovations together. More than 200 leading companies assembled at Lab Innovations to meet 4,871 visitors, making it the biggest and most attended event in its history. A world-class conference schedule between five theatres, huge names and exciting start-up companies on show and a common goal to solve the industry’s biggest challenges made Lab Innovations 2025 the most successful show yet.

This year’s exhibitors included Imperial College London, Shimadzu, Scientific Laboratory Supplies, Scientific Bioprocessing, Sartorius, LabOS, Eppendorf, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Avantor. In total, 219 exhibitors gathered at the NEC to build relationships with new and existing customers, answer their technical questions to help get the most out of their lab equipment, and to create profitable collaborations to benefit the entire industry.

The col-lab-orate theme knitted together the most pressing issues facing the international laboratory community: the five conference theatres addressed topics on AI and automation; sustainability; skills and development; quality and compliance; and biotechnology. In platforming these discussions, Lab Innovations provides a forum for the whole industry to move forward together.

The show’s co-location with Advanced Engineering helped to attract a variety of visitors in addition to the household names such as AstraZeneca and GSK, as well as an Indian and Chinese trade delegation joined by officials from the Department for Business and Trade. Visitors to each content theatre collected continuous professional development (CPD) learning points, contributing towards accreditation.

“We decided to exhibit because Lab Innovations is really important, in terms of networking and getting our message out there, but also personally the new equipment and innovations that we otherwise wouldn’t come across,” said Lisa Haigh, head of technical operations at Imperial College London, chemistry department.

“A lot of people have already come to us to say they weren’t aware of this service [leasing lab space to SMEs] and wanted to know more about our innovation district. Lab space is a massive issue, so having this platform to share how Imperial College London can help SMEs and start-ups scale up their research without massive investment is so important.”

Speaking programme highlights included author and academic research leader Marc Reid at the Royal Society of Chemistry Theatre, powered by the RSC. His keynote address, ‘A Scientist’s Guide to the Imposter Syndrome’, encouraged the packed audience to consider all the failures along the path to success of inspirational figures from science and history, putting their own perceived ‘failures’ into perspective. Upon taking questions, one audience member said, with audible emotion, “I just have two words to say: thank you.”

Several talks at the topic-specific Biotech Forum, sponsored by Sartorius and Scientific Bioprocessing, and Quality Infrastructure Forum, powered by United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) & National Physical Laboratory (NPL) took on pressing challenges within the industry buzzword topics of AI, sustainability, collaboration, compliance and automation.

Alexandra Mooney, automation and data scientist at Unilever, discussed modern lab architecture for data management for AI training. Laurence Dawkins-Hall, applicant support mentor at the Science Council and science communicator, educated his audience on the short route to professional registration for qualified STEM apprentices.

Sustainability retained its place high on the agenda. GSK senior materials scientist Lauren Schembri shared her journey in implementing the My Green Lab certification as a Lab Lead, and the importance of a standardised approach to sustainability, from the Future of Laboratories Stage, sponsored by My Green Lab and LabOS and powered by Laboratory News.

“Without question, this was the most successful show yet,” said Simon Farnfield, event director for Lab Innovations and Advanced Engineering. “The speakers, exhibitors and visitors I spoke to were all delighted with what they’ve learned and the connections they’ve made. This event was worthy of the title of the UK’s premier laboratory exhibition and exceeding the 2025 performance is set to be a major challenge next year.”

To enquire about featuring at Lab Innovations 2026 and to book your place, visit the show website.