What big ideas have shaped our 2026 so far?

To answer the question in our headline: rather than a singular centre of gravity, innovation needs an ecosystem. One which spans far and wide across the UK, enables global connectivity, and creates clear pathways from breakthrough research to real-world impact. Crucially, as innovation accelerates, the ecosystem supporting it must stay just as agile. 

For Sister, in 2026 so far, this has come to life through bold conversations, shifting paradigms, and big questions about how we build, scale, and collaborate in a world that’s changing at pace. From the stages of SXSW and London Tech Week to launching landmark research, bridging international hubs, and backing founders solving global challenges, Sister has been right at the centre of these conversations.

As we move deeper into the year, here is a look back at the big ideas shaping our 2026 so far – and how we’re putting them into practice.

1. Growth lies beyond the Golden Triangle

As the UK enters a new chapter under Andy Burnham’s leadership, regional innovation is taking centre stage in the national agenda. At Sister, we’re proud to be right at the helm, using our voice and insights to actively shape conversations across the country. 

In April, we launched our landmark report: ‘Innovation Nation: The Regional Engines for National Growth’, underpinned by quantitative data developed by Beauhurst. Sharing insights from over 30 innovation experts and leaders, this report explored how the UK’s future will be driven by fast-growing regional cities specialising in areas like life sciences, AI and materials science.

This vision has continued to spark interest across the headlines ever since.

As our report launched, The Times published a deep dive on its findings, shining the regional spotlight on Bristol and Edinburgh which had the fastest-growing number of employees in innovative UK firms over the past five years. The Times then returned to Sister a few months later to visit the Renold Building and hear directly from our community about what makes Manchester a great place to grow a business, as well as what’s needed to further support early stage companies. 

Meanwhile, our Head of Innovation, Dr. Karim Bahou, championed one of our core beliefs in a bold letter to the Financial Times exploring how “Growth lies beyond the Golden Triangle”.  While a profile in Business Leader perfectly captured Sister’s collaborative ecosystem and our focus on turning world-class research into real-world impact.

Manchester’s rise is demonstrating a permanent shift in how the UK builds its economic future. The map of innovation is being redrawn, and we’re delighted to be holding the pen. 

1. The spin-out playbook is being rewritten 

Redrawing the map of innovation is only half the battle. We also have to change how we build the businesses within it. The UK doesn’t lack talent or ambition; it simply lacks the systemic machinery to commercialise them at scale.

This is something which Dr. Karim Bahou and Professor Aline Miller joined national panels to discuss at London Tech Week. Their discussion explored unlocking the next £100 billion in spin-out value and what’s defining the future of UK tech and innovation. Karim then brought that momentum to Climb26, the UK’s festival of business growth and innovation, to speak about the power of collaboration between industry and academia.

Alongside pioneering founders and investors, we championed a clear formula for unlocking the UK's scientific potential: 

• Protect founder ownership and reduce university equity

• Fuel symbiotic collaboration between industry, investors and academia

• Foster cross-regional alliances like the Cambridge x Manchester partnership

• Equip entrepreneurs with the skills and shared infrastructure needed to scale

• Catalyse spin-out growth through government procurement and tax incentives 

The message is clear: The era of academia working in a vacuum is over. The future belongs to an integrated ecosystem where universities, investors, and regions scale breakthrough science in lock-step. 

1. The ingredients for a new AI era

This summer the Sister team travelled down to SXSW London for exciting conversations at the intersection of technology, innovation, creativity and culture. During the week, we also hosted our second exclusive roundtable dinner during SXSW London. Moderated by Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor of The Sunday Times, this convened some of the brightest minds to dive deeper into our thought leadership report and discuss ‘The New Map of Innovation: Looking Beyond The Traditional Tech Capitals.’

While our roundtable explored how the most exciting innovation is shifting out of major tech capitals around the world and into regional hubs, SXSW London also delivered some serious food-for-thought on what’s next – with AI unsurprisingly a hot topic of discussion. 

Across many of the sessions our team attended, the conversation moved far beyond simple software updates, instead painting a vivid picture of how AI could reshape how we live, work, and learn.

The three key themes that stood out to us in conversations on AI:

• Transformation. Redefining how we work, innovate and grow: At the ‘Reinvention Window: Future Stories from the Age of AI’ session – speakers Marc Warner, CEO & Global CTO of Faculty & Accenture, and CNBC reporter Kai Nicol-Schwarz explored how AI transformation is not a technology challenge, but a business reinvention challenge, moving from automating what exists to redesigning how work gets done entirely.

• Agility. Evolving at the speed of emerging tech: During the ‘Fast-Tracking AI & STEM Skills for the Next Generation’ session – including Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President and Chief Impact Officer at IBM; Jason Arthur, CEO of Mission 44; we learnt how education systems aren’t keeping pace with AI technology acceleration, with schools lacking the industry partnerships needed to understand these rapid tech changes.

• Convergence. Where digital intelligence meets physical reality: At the ‘Why the Next Evolution Begins with How We See’ session – led by Roman Axelrod, founder of XPANCEO –  we heard how the deep tech company is developing smart contact lenses that act as the ‘ultimate invisible computing platform for the AI era,’ creating a vision-based ‘intelligent layer’ which acts as a real-time data overlay (time, navigation, health metrics) when needed. 

The key takeaway? The true potential of the AI era won't be unlocked by a fixed set of ingredients. It demands an ever-evolving spectrum of them, alongside the open-minded agility to adapt, collaborate, and react as new opportunities emerge.

1. Innovation needs local roots and global routes

While world-class ideas might be born locally, scaling them requires a global runway. The next generation of high-growth companies needs to be able to scale across borders to unlock a new chapter of growth.

That is exactly why Sister signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Platform94 (Galway’s largest innovation hub) earlier this year. Designed to bridge two of Europe’s most vibrant tech ecosystems, this partnership enables Manchester and Galway based start-up businesses to easily expand overseas – offering reciprocal workspace access, dedicated market entry support, and direct knowledge exchange. With more partnerships in the pipeline, watch this space. 

We brought this mission to life further recently as we took over Venture Café Manchester’s Thursday Gathering to host ‘Scaling Innovation Across Borders’.  This event connected business leaders across Manchester and Ireland and highlighted the growth and partnership opportunities on offer. Together, we explored tangible routes to market, how connecting SMEs and corporates can enable cross-border growth, and direct insights from leaders actually making it happen. 

True innovation needs both local roots and global routes; thriving on connection, not isolation.

Looking ahead: Big ideas need big communities

If 2026 has proven anything so far, it’s that big ideas don't take root in isolation and real progress is never a solo effort. As we step into the latter part of the year, this remains our guiding star: bringing world-class ideas together with the partners, capital, and community needed to scale them.

Because if there’s one core belief that connects everything we’ve done so far, it’s that it takes a community to raise an idea.

Here’s to a remarkable 2026 so far. We’re sure the best is yet to come!