The UK and UAE have, in recent years, bound themselves together via a series of significant economic commitments. 

Against a backdrop of rising ambition for developing preventative healthcare systems, growing appetite among investors in healthcare and an evolving regulatory landscape, the health and life sciences sector offers one of the most promising – and complex – opportunities for closer partnership.

Browne Jacobson, in partnership with Middle East law firm Al Tamimi & Company, convened a roundtable bringing together senior leaders from across the NHS, life sciences bodies, and international legal and policy experts.

The discussion explored what is working, what is not, and what practical steps could unlock the next generation of UK-UAE collaboration in health and life sciences.

It builds on previous thought leadership projects by Browne Jacobson with partners, including the Advancing inward investment into the UK health sector white paper, and collaborations with the UAE-UK Business Council on reports analysing opportunities for deeper working between those countries on cancer care and AI in healthcare.

Attendees

• Sara Nelson, Programme Director, Health Innovation Network (South London).
• Bradley Jones, CEO, UAE-UK Business Council.
• Kawther Taleb, Head of Policy and Campaigns, UAE-UK Business Council.
• Sophie Kennedy, International and Partnerships Lead, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
• Louis Kamfer, Deputy CEO, NHS Central East ICB.
• Dr Chris Martin OBE, Chairman, Life Sciences Hub Wales.
• Cari-Anne Quinn, CEO, Life Sciences Hub Wales.
• Andrea Tithecott, Partner, Al Tamimi & Company.
• Representatives from Browne Jacobson.

Setting the scene

The roundtable on 8 September 2026 formed part of a broader series of events – spanning London Life Sciences Week, Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit, and the World Health Expo in Dubai – designed to generate momentum around international health and life sciences partnerships, and to translate bilateral goodwill into practical collaboration.

The UAE's life sciences sector is already valued at about $87bn, according to Mobility Foresights, with government and sovereign wealth strategies targeting growth to $162bn by 2031. That ambition is being driven by a combination of sovereign wealth fund capital, direct government investment and international partnerships. The UK, for its part, is home to some of the world's most respected NHS clinical institutions, and a deep research and development ecosystem – but one that comes with its own considerable complexities.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shared realisation that health systems can’t operate in isolation. Preventative health, data-driven medicine and the commercialisation of life sciences innovation have all pushed health systems and industry closer together. 

The question for this roundtable was not whether the opportunity exists – there is a broad consensus it does – but how to navigate the barriers that stand between ambition and delivery.

What is already working in cross-border health and life sciences collaboration

International legal experience in the UAE suggests that, in practice, the barriers to UK-UAE health partnerships are surmountable. 

A range of models have been successfully deployed – procured projects, formal partnerships, collaboration agreements and knowledge transfer arrangements – and in each case, challenges have ultimately been overcome.

NHS trusts have already begun signing contracts with UAE and other international territories. Where this has worked well, it has often been because organisations have been deliberate about managing risk – in some cases opting for UK-only delivery of training and service provision as an initial model, before deepening the relationship. 

This staged approach has allowed institutions to build confidence and governance frameworks before committing to more complex cross-border arrangements.

Barriers to progress

Navigating NHS complexity

For international partners, the NHS presents a genuinely puzzling landscape. Its sheer scale, without a single point of entry, and its procurement and governance requirements can make engagement feel labyrinthine. 

Board buy-in is often hard-won, and the risk appetite of a trust can shift significantly when senior leadership changes. 

What works for one NHS organisation does not automatically transfer to another: there are 26 integrated care boards across England, and if an innovation or partnership model succeeds in one, it may nonetheless have to be re-procured and re-justified from scratch in another. 

This fragmentation is a structural barrier that is particularly acute in areas such as ageing population care, where scaling new treatments and commercialising opportunities quickly matters enormously to long-term NHS self-sufficiency.

For international partners used to more streamlined procurement environments, this complexity can be a deterrent. The UK frequently signals that it is "open for business", but the experience of trying to work within NHS structures does not always reflect that message.

Data sharing

Data is perhaps the single most contested issue in cross-border healthcare collaboration. NHS data is extraordinarily rich and holds genuine commercial value – but the question of how to share it internationally, with who and on what terms remains unresolved at a systemic level.

Public trust is a central concern. Patients need to understand what is being done with their data and why. 

Secure data environments, established at the outset of any project, can help address this, but they require investment and clear governance frameworks.

There is also a cultural and political dimension as any perception that UK health data is being made available to overseas commercial interests risks public backlash. Organisations must therefore be clear about the distinction between research-oriented data sharing and commercial data licensing.

The UAE faces a symmetrical challenge. The Emirati Genome Program aims to sequence the whole-genome data of more than one million UAE nationals. Authorities are, as a result, equally careful about choosing partners for data sharing, seeking to ensure the best outcomes in a safe and controlled environment.

Both sides, in other words, are starting from a position of caution. This creates an opportunity for a bilateral data-sharing framework that provides both parties with confidence, rather than requiring the details to be negotiated project by project.

Regulation and knowledge gaps

A recurring theme was the lack of regulatory knowledge on both sides. UK organisations often do not fully understand the regulatory environment in the UAE, and vice versa. 

This is not merely an academic concern – without trusted advisers who understand both systems, organisations can spend significant time and resource re-learning lessons that others have already worked through. 

Partnerships with law firms, trade bodies and intermediaries who operate across both jurisdictions are regarded as essential in bridging this gap.

UK participants can also face difficulty accessing UAE procurement processes, which differ considerably from those in the UK. 

Identifying priorities

The sheer scale of opportunity in UAE life sciences can itself be a barrier. The challenge is often not identifying that opportunities exist, but deciding where to focus. 

Without a structured understanding of which opportunities align with an organisation's capabilities, the breadth of the UAE's ambitions can feel overwhelming rather than energising.

One approach is thematic prioritisation: identifying which areas of life sciences are most advanced in each geography – genomics, for example, is a significant focus in the UAE – and matching these with the specific strengths of UK and devolved institutions and businesses. 

This kind of structured matchmaking, informed by advisers with visibility of both markets, could help guide industry partners more effectively than a broad, open-ended invitation to engage.

Opportunities and pathways forward

A bilateral data sharing framework

The most concrete structural proposal to emerge from the roundtable was the development of a bilateral data sharing agreement between the UK and UAE. 

Both countries operate regulatory environments that draw on similar principles – the UAE's data protection framework shares significant common ground with the UK's adaptation of GDPR – which makes the case for a data adequacy-style agreement credible and practically achievable.

Such an agreement would not only reduce the transaction cost of individual projects, but create a stable foundation for the kind of at-scale, long-term collaboration that both sides are seeking. 

Regulatory sandboxes focused on applying new technologies in real-world healthcare settings could provide a practical mechanism for testing and refining shared approaches before committing them to formal frameworks.

Leveraging the free trade agreement

A free trade agreement was negotiated between the UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in May 2026, with a dedicated chapter on life sciences. 

The next stage of implementation – translation into Arabic and domestic enactment across the six GCC member states – is ongoing. 

The UAE has indicated its intention to build on this with a bilateral economic partnership encompassing technology, data and health. 

This creates a live policy window in which health and life sciences leaders can shape how those commitments are translated into practical mechanisms.

Investment and innovation at scale

Since the UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership was launched in 2021, UAE sovereign wealth funds have invested approximately £30bn into UK businesses, with about £1bn directed towards life sciences. 

As that five-year programme approaches its conclusion, attention is turning to what comes next – with early signals pointing towards artificial intelligence and health technology as priorities.

Beyond large-scale infrastructure investment, there is a growing interest in medium-scale private equity investment in UK innovation, particularly where companies are open to equity arrangements in exchange for capital and access to the UAE market. 

For UK life sciences companies, especially those emerging from academic and NHS innovation ecosystems, this represents a potentially significant route to scale that does not depend on navigating NHS procurement.

Simplification and navigation

A consistent message across the roundtable was the need to simplify. Both sides acknowledge that the complexity of their respective systems is a deterrent, but neither side believes the solution lies in wholesale reform. 

Rather, the priority should be on creating trusted navigation routes through advisers, trade bodies and bilateral partnerships, allowing organisations to benefit from existing frameworks without having to map them from scratch each time.

This means being forensic about opportunities – understanding their scale, timeline and risk profile before committing resources, and developing a structured approach to matching UK capabilities with UAE priorities rather than approaching the market on a purely reactive basis.

Final thoughts

There is genuine appetite on both sides for deeper collaboration in health and life sciences. The legal frameworks, investment flows and policy architecture are all moving in the right direction. 

What is needed now is demystification of procurement routes, regulatory requirements, data governance and the respective health systems – alongside practical tools that allow organisations to act on the opportunity without starting from first principles each time.

A bilateral data sharing agreement, thematic prioritisation of partnership opportunities and clearer navigation support for both UK and UAE participants would each make a material difference in converting this ambition into delivery. To further discuss the future of UK-UAE partnership in the health and life sciences sector, please contact our specialist international trade team.