← Not you? Choose again Climb27 · 30 June & 1 July 2027 · The Festival for Business Growth
Put your spinouts in front of industry and investors
Two days with growth businesses, investors, councils and programmes that want university partners, a University Zone with its own stage, and the Forging Ahead network behind it.
Partner with ClimbUK
Packages on request
Partner with ClimbUKor book a call with our partner managerDelegate tickets at the current release price. University Zone packages on request.
What Climb27 does for a commercialisation team
A University Zone of your own.
At Climb26 the University Zone, partnered with Barclays, had its own stage, its own networking, stands and a programme curated by Forging Ahead and ClimbUK. Climb27 builds on it.
Industry that wants to partner.
Scaling companies, corporates and investors are in the room to do business, and every one of them can be requested for a meeting by your team.
Investors for your spinouts.
Angels and funds attend to meet companies. A spinout with a team and a market gets the same investor meetings as any other company here, plus the showcase stage.
Three things you need
What does your commercialisation team need?
01
Industry partners who follow through
Interactions with business keep rising, but collaboration income has not, and the regulator's focus is on new income.
The University Zone sits inside a business festival, not a conference about business. The companies on the floor are the ones with a budget for research partnerships, and your team requests the meetings directly.
- Meet-the-university roundtables with scaling companies
- Corporate partners on the floor to find them
- Private bookable meeting spaces for the serious conversations
02
Investment for spinouts
Spinout funding is harder to find, and investors who understand deep tech are rarer still.
The showcase stage in the University Zone puts your spinouts in front of investors who came to meet companies, and Investor Speed Networking pairs founders with investors from their field.
- Spinout showcase on the University Zone stage
- Investor Speed Networking for spinout founders
- Angels, funds and lenders listed for your founders to request
03
Evidence for leadership
Spend is checked hard. The case needs connections that would not otherwise have happened.
You take back the introductions: every meeting your team and your spinouts had, who they met, and the partner activity on site, in the impact report the partnerships team prepares after the event.
- An impact report after the event
- Meetings logged for everyone you bring
- Spinouts that met investors in person
Exclusive partner
Forging Ahead
ClimbUK is the exclusive event partner of the Forging Ahead project and the universities associated with it, the Midlands Innovation programme that puts university research and spinouts on the road to market. The University Zone programme is curated with Forging Ahead so that what happens on its stage is what commercialisation teams asked for.
Who's in the room
Growth businesses and investors come here to do business. That is who your team meets.
Scaling companies
- What they bring
- the growing businesses of the North and beyond: trading, hiring, raising, selling, and buying help to do it.
- What they want
- advisers, suppliers, investors and buyers who can move them on this year.
Companies raising equity
- What they bring
- a round in preparation or open now, a product in the market and a team behind it.
- What they want
- investors to build a relationship with, and advice on the pitch, the numbers and the terms.
Investors
- What they bring
- an appetite for real deal flow and portfolio experience. They attend to meet companies, not to speak.
- What they want
- companies already trading, founders they can build a relationship with, and co-investors.
Councils and combined authorities
- What they bring
- the businesses they back, growth plans and the people who run business support.
- What they want
- investors and buyers for their companies, partners to deliver with, evidence to report.
Incubators and accelerators
- What they bring
- a cohort of founders, demo-day energy and a funder to report to.
- What they want
- investors, buyers and partners for their founders, and other programmes to work with.
Professional services firms
- What they bring
- legal, finance, advisory and technology expertise, stands, workshops and roundtables.
- What they want
- growing companies that need what they do, and firms to bid alongside.
How the two days work
30 June and 1 July 2027.
Doors open at 09:00; the evening runs as late as you do.
1
Before
Book a call with our partner manager to shape the University Zone package. Tickets unlock the ClimbGroup Event App; your team and your spinouts build their lists and request meetings.
2
Day one, 30 June
09:00: the grand opening performance and the headline partner announcements. The University Zone opens with its own programme, your spinouts take the showcase stage, and the evening is the VIP drinks reception and the ClimbAwards.
3
Day two, 1 July
Investor Speed Networking for spinout founders, meet-the-university roundtables and the follow-up meetings that turn day one into partnerships. wrapped up in the after parties with an unmissable Climb27 experience in the evening. Details to be announced soon.
4
After
Three in four people who come leave with follow-ups that matter: a sale, a partnership, an investment or funding. Every meeting stays in the account of the person who had it, the partnerships team sends the impact report, and the printed programme keeps your university's name in front of every ticket holder.
Business with a party. Not a party for business.
The festival aspect came second. ClimbUK grew out of the Investor Ladder events that have run since 2016, where founders and investors met because they had business to do. We are one of the first business festivals in the UK, built around that: the deals, the introductions and the advice come first, and the opening performance, the ClimbAwards, the drinks receptions and the after parties exist because business gets done faster between people who have enjoyed each other's company.
The grand opening
Day one opens on the main stage with a live performance and the headline partner announcements. Nobody is late for this one.
Roundtables and workshops
Curated rooms of ten to twenty people with the same problem, led by someone who has solved it.
Investor Speed Networking
A timed round of short meetings with investors who opted in. No deck, no slides, a conversation.
Still on the fence?
Connections that would not otherwise have happened: meetings logged for everyone you bring, spinouts that met investors in person, and the partner activity on site, all in the impact report after the event.
On the connections. A research partnership with a scaling company, an investor meeting for a spinout or a corporate that wants your lab is worth more than the ticket, and these are the people a commercialisation team cannot reach from campus.
There are dedicated sections and sessions for students, with student tickets to match. Reach out and we will tell you what is on for them.
Yes. Standard tickets are in the shop, four or more bought together save 25%, and a University Zone partnership includes tickets and the showcase slot.
Yes. Climb27 is CPD certified and accredited at event level, so your hours on site count towards your professional development without chasing a certificate for each session.
Climb27's programme is curated to what matters in the weeks before the event, and we publish each session once we are certain the room will benefit from it. Some events lock their agenda years out; by the time the doors open the world has moved. In fast-moving fields like AI, a session planned twelve months ahead teaches what every tool you use already does. We would rather hold the slot and fill it with what you need on the day. Tickets bought now cover the full programme, and the main stage moments are announced as they are confirmed.
Still deciding?
Three in four people who come leave with follow-ups that matter: a sale, a partnership, an investment or funding.
Thirty minutes with the team answers the rest. Ask anything, from the programme to who else is coming.
Pick your route
30 June and 1 July 2027. Pick the route that fits.
Partner with ClimbUK
A stand, a stage slot, a workshop or a showcase, built round what you want from the two days, with tickets included.
Partner with ClimbUKor book a call with our partner manager
Bring your network
Your own page on climb-uk.com, a discount code made for your audience, and every ticket you bring tracked to you.
Join the affiliate programmeDelegate tickets
Put your spinouts in the room.
Partner with ClimbUK or bring your team. 30 June and 1 July 2027.