Lab Innovations: The UK’s largest annual laboratory trade show platforms sustainability and technology advances

The laboratory industry’s premier trade show in the UK will return to the NEC, Birmingham, on October 30 and 31, 2024, to celebrate sustainability and technological innovations. Lab personnel from across Britain and Ireland will come together at Lab Innovations to engage with more than 200 leading companies. Free visitor registration is open now for tickets to world-leading conference theatres, including dedicated biotechnology and quality infrastructure forums, and the prestigious Lab Awards.

Lab innovations 2024 promises record-breaking attendance with over 200 exhibitors claiming stands around the NEC. Many industry-leading brands have been confirmed to exhibit, including Waters, ThermoFisher, Scientific Laboratory Supplies (SLS), Sartorius, Avantor, Festo, IKA, Shimadzu, Integra Biosciences, Analytix and Verulam Scientific.

Theatre programmes and new stages

Lab Innovations offers five free-to-attend theatre stages. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Theatre, the Live Lab and the Insights & Innovation Theatre all make their triumphant return.

Dedicated forums for biotechnology and Quality Infrastructure are two exciting new additions. The QI forum is hosted in partnership with the UK’s National Quality Infrastructure (UKAS, BSI & NPL) and will provide insights into lab accreditation, quality, technical assessments and the future of AI in labs.

The Biotech Exchange, associate sponsored by Waters, will see some of the world’s largest biotech organisations assemble to discuss pressing issues such as biobanking, the future of genomics, AI’s place in biotech and sustainability in drug development.

The SmartLab area made its debut at Lab Innovations 2023 to great acclaim. This area showcases everything involving smart technologies, such as AI, digitisation, robotics and automation.

The Sustainable Lab is back, run as always by Green Light Laboratories. Andy Evans, director of GLL, has been advising laboratory end users on environmental laboratory practices for sustainability and savings for over a decade.

After attracting many environmentally conscious visitors in 2023, the Sustainability Trail will feature once again beside those exhibitors’ stands with the most sustainable solutions to offer.

The Lab Awards

The Lab Awards, in partnership with Laboratory News, are back once again to recognise the companies at the top of fields such as sustainability, collaboration and innovation. The presentation ceremony will take place on the show floor at 3:30pm on October 30, the first day of the show.

All the most popular award categories from previous years will return, including Lab Technician of the Year, sponsored by SLS, and Best Collaborative Project, sponsored by Innovate UK, in addition to 11 other categories celebrating individuals, labs and suppliers.

“The Lab Awards, and the wider Lab Innovations show, don’t exist without the marvellous people that we want to applaud with these awards,” said Simon Farnfield, event director at Lab Innovations. “This is their opportunity to receive the plaudits that they deserve for tireless and innovative work all year round.”

Visitor registration for Lab Innovations is open now and you can sign up here for your ticket to the largest congregation of the British and Irish laboratory community. Sustainability, automation, innovation and celebration are all on the agenda at the NEC, Birmingham on November 1 and 2: will you join us?