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London: Cleveland Clinic brought together global leaders in biotechnology, healthcare, academia, government and industry at today’s Life Science Summit to explore the transformative forces shaping the future of therapeutics.

During the international event – held at the Lanesborough Hotel near Cleveland Clinic London – Cleveland Clinic leaders also announced several new or expanded collaborations and shared details about Cleveland Clinic London’s new cancer centre.

The summit highlighted advancements in areas such as AI-driven drug discovery, personalized medicine and cancer treatments, offering attendees unique insights into the science, strategy and societal impact of modern medicine. With a dynamic mix of keynote addresses, scientific presentations and panel discussions, the event was designed to foster collaboration and highlight opportunities to fast-track the translation of research into transformative therapies.

“The Life Science Summit reflects our commitment to advancing medicine across the globe through innovation and collaboration,” said Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic and holder of the Morton L. Mandel CEO Chair. “By bringing together international leaders from across disciplines, we aim to foster meaningful dialogue and accelerate progress in developing treatments that improve the lives of patients around the world.”

Panel discussions focused on topics such as AI, precision medicine, and next-generation therapies, as well as trends in life sciences investment. Highlighted sessions included:

• Leveraging AI in Therapeutics: Use of generative models, automation and real-world data, as well as challenges like data quality, regulation and ethics. The session highlighted the importance of cross-sector collaboration in harnessing AI’s potential in transforming therapeutics.
• Therapeutics in Oncology: Key trends shaping cancer therapeutics, highlighting innovation, translation and clinical impact. Experts from academia, biotech and healthcare discussed breakthroughs, emerging targets and strategies to accelerate new treatments.
• Future of Tailored Therapeutics: A discussion on how genomics, AI and tailored therapeutics are advancing healthcare with precise diagnostics, personalized treatments and improved patient outcomes.
• Investors Forum: Insights into life sciences IPOs and the rising demand for breakthrough therapies and precision medicine.
• Biotech in Britain: A look at innovation, investment and policy fueling the UK’s biotech sector.

The summit also featured a Cleveland Clinic Portfolio Showcase, highlighting cutting-edge therapies and technologies being developed through Cleveland Clinic Innovations.

Other new partnerships and updates were shared during the event and highlighted Cleveland Clinic’s steadfast progress in expanding state-of-the-art clinical care and robust life sciences research in the UK. These included:

• New collaboration with Khosla Ventures: Cleveland Clinic and Khosla Ventures announced a strategic collaboration that connects the international health system with one of Silicon Valley’s leading investors in healthcare and technology. The new relationship combines the organizations’ unique strengths, aiming to reimagine healthcare delivery and create solutions that address some of the most pressing challenges in the field.
• Expanded collaboration with LifeArc: Building on a successful relationship since 2019, Cleveland Clinic and LifeArc, a UK-based self-funded medical research organisation, have identified new areas of mutual interest and will work together to drive innovation in key fields, including the development of new monoclonal antibody-based treatments and the provision of continuous education to clinician scientists. Through this new agreement, the organizations aim to create a robust pipeline for translating laboratory discoveries into life-changing treatments for patients.
• Discussion of cancer services in London with the construction of new cancer centre: As the latest Cleveland Clinic London location, offering one of the most comprehensive cancer programs in the UK Independent market, the new cancer centre will deliver the most advanced treatments. Multidisciplinary cancer care will include surgical oncology, medical oncology and haematology including systemic cancer therapies, such as immunotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapies and radiotherapy tailored to each patient. Construction is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025, with completion anticipated by the end of 2027.

As part of a global research enterprise, Cleveland Clinic London has made clinical research an integral component of daily operations, achieving several firsts in the UK private healthcare sector. Currently, 46 investigator-sponsored and commercial studies are open across all major specialties, with over 1,000 patients recruited to clinical trials by the end of 2024, including NHS portfolio multicentre studies. Additionally, Cleveland Clinic London caregivers authored more than 1,100 peer-reviewed papers in 2024.

Building on Cleveland Clinic’s partnership with IBM and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, Cleveland Clinic London is advancing AI-driven research to improve patient outcomes. In a pilot study, a research team is examining how common hospital procedures impact overall health and quality of life. Researchers are using clinical and advanced imaging data provided by Cleveland Clinic London BioResource, a repository which provides patients with the opportunity to consent to enhanced longitudinal data collection and analysis. Researchers aim to develop sophisticated AI models for multi-disease analysis, ultimately enhancing understanding and care for patients.

The Life Science Summit was supported by sponsorships from AstraZeneca, Bank of America, and Flagship Pioneering, as well as Jones Day and LifeArc.

The American hardware industry is undergoing a renaissance. New players are emerging across aerospace, automotive, defense, and beyond—and they must iterate more quickly, and with more complexity, than ever before. Just as software developers needed new tools to move from a waterfall framework to the more flexible agile approach, hardware now needs a different type of collaborative platform—one that can instantly align requirements across systems to build safely, reliably, and quickly. 

That’s why Flow Engineering is poised to have a generational impact.

Whether it’s an electric vehicle, a rocket, or a robot, building complex hardware requires full context throughout the system: changing the thermal parameters for a single component, for example, can have a ripple effect through the rest of the design. But the legacy products used to track these requirements are clunky artifacts of a bygone era and simply don’t measure up. Engineers are reluctant to use them, and they make development cycles, already famously long in hardware, even longer.

Today’s electric vehicles have more in common with computers than internal combustion vehicles. And Flow founder Pari Singh knows that, like software, hardware’s future is agile. His insights are making Flow the default requirements management platform for the next generation of hardware companies.

Built specifically for agile hardware teams, Flow serves as a modern system of record, automatically verifying changes and propagating them downstream. Its magic lies in the collaboration it enables. Flow feels natural and intuitive for systems engineers and their domain-specific colleagues alike, and integrates with a full suite of engineering tools. Teams can break down silos and iterate continuously, working together and with outside partners in real time, all from a single source of truth. As with software development, these shorter feedback loops dramatically reduce time to market—which gives Flow’s customers a critical competitive advantage.

Born and raised in London and obsessed with engineering from a young age, Pari was a 22-year-old Imperial College graduate when he launched a design consultancy for hybrid rocket engines. He built a tool to do in two hours what took others twelve weeks. This led to the innovative idea behind Flow. As we at Sequoia have gotten to know Pari, we’ve found him to be clear-thinking, driven, and resilient. He is also relentless in his pursuit of top talent and building a truly special team—which is fortunate given the company’s rapid growth.

Flow is working with top companies across space, defense, nuclear, aero, and robotics, including Rivian, Joby, Astranis, and Radiant Nuclear. As this next generation of hardware businesses continues to scale, we at Sequoia are pleased to lead the Series A to help Flow accelerate their success. The team is hiring now both in London and at their new HQ in San Francisco.

Through the combined effort of systems engineers and their colleagues, a collection of pumps, valves, and pipes can become a spaceship—and the future of hardware engineering itself will require the same kind of extraordinary collaboration. In this industry-wide effort to build the hardware of tomorrow, we believe Pari and the team at Flow are leading the way.