The MedTech Conference 2026 in Boston: CEOs, Investors and Why GPOs Matter

The MedTech Conference (#MTC26) takes place October 18-21 in Boston, bringing the medical technology industry together to make connections, raise capital and move business forward. This guide covers when and where it happens, who is attending, the CEOs Unplugged sessions, the investors attending, and how group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and Strategic GPO Consultants fit in.

What Is The MedTech Conference?

The MedTech Conference is the medical technology industry’s flagship annual gathering, hosted by AdvaMed, the Advance Medical Technology Association. Led by President and CEO Scott Whitaker, AdvaMed is the world’s largest trade association for medical technology companies.

Its tagline, “Where MedTech Does Business,” reflects its purpose. It helps medtech companies connect with partners and investors, learn from regulators and executives, and move products from idea to market.

The conference covers the full MedTech journey, from early-stage innovation to commercialization, across 7+ stages. Topics include:

• AI and digital health
• Diagnostics
• Regulatory strategy and policy
• Market access and commercialization
• Investment and growth
• Cybersecurity
• Global expansion

The conference is built around four main experiences:

• Education sessions and keynotes: Expert-led sessions, including CEOs Unplugged and the FDA CDRH Town Hall.
• The Medtech Campus: The hub for company presentations, start-up showcases, and exhibits.
• Partnering and networking: One-on-one meetings arranged through the MyMedTech platform, plus receptions and curated networking events.
• The Patient Pavilion: Patient stories that show what MedTech innovation makes possible, in line with this year’s “MedTech Moves Us” theme.

Every part of the MedTech ecosystem has a reason to be there, from founders and investors to regulators, and clinicians.

Who Is Attending

The organizers expect more than 4,000 leaders from over 1,800 companies in 40+ countries, including more than 1,000 C-suite leaders and CEOs.

The agenda features 400+ expert speakers across more than 20 topics, including AI and digital health, investment, commercialization, global expansion and diagnostics. The Tuesday lunch keynote brings together executives from Boston Scientific, ResMed and Insulet to discuss the future of medtech growth, including AI-enabled innovation, connected health, ambulatory surgery center (ASC) trends and strategic M&A.

Regulators will be in the room. The 2026 FDA CDRH Town Hall is a Wednesday breakfast keynote with senior leaders from the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Dr. Michelle Tarver, Director of CDRH, moderates.

The panel includes Angela Krueger, Deputy Director for Regulatory Policy, Office of Product Evaluation and Quality (OPEQ) and Suzanne Schwartz, MD, MBA, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Technology Innovation. Topics to be discussed include CDRH’s priorities, digital health, device evaluation, and how industry can partner with the center.

Other featured regulatory sessions cover QMSR implementation, global harmonization with regulators from Singapore, Japan, Brazil, Canada and the UK, the FDA’s De Novo program and global regulatory convergence.

Small and emerging companies are a stated focus, with chances to meet investors and strategic partners. Attendees also include scientists, academics, clinicians, policymakers, suppliers, media, and early-career professionals.

CEOs Unplugged: The Sessions to Watch

CEOs Unplugged is one of the conference’s most anticipated programs. Across 14 sessions, CEOs and senior executives give candid, unscripted perspectives on investment, innovation, partnerships, and growth.

The 2026 speaker lineup includes leaders from Abbott, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Insulet, Dexcom, Stryker, BD and Siemens Healthineers. Two sessions are especially relevant for founders, investors and commercial teams.

Lessons from Building, Scaling and Exiting MedTech Companies

Sponsored by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

This panel looks at the high-stakes decisions behind building a medtech company: when to raise, when to expand globally, when to go public, and when to merge or sell. It brings together CEOs who have built transformative businesses and a banker who has managed the sector’s transactions, IPOs and strategic financings.

Speakers:

• Keith Pagnani, Co-Head of M&A, North America, Sullivan & Cromwell
• Ramin Mousavi, Founder & Chairman of NovoMed Partners and former President & CEO of CathWorks
• Yassaman Salas, Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs
• Katie Szyman, Senior Advisor, Danaher

Resilient by Design: Navigating Uncertainty in MedTech Supply Chains

Sponsored by Kearney

Tariffs, regionalization pressures, natural disasters and volatile inputs are pushing medtech companies from cost-optimized supply chains toward resilience. The session covers single-source risk, balancing global efficiency with regional proximity, and how analytics and AI improve visibility.

Speakers:

• Erik Blazic, Partner and Global Lead, Medtech, Kearney
• Heather Knight, Chief Commercial Officer, Solventum
• Jon Rennert, Chairman, ZOLL Medical
• Christopher Toth, CEO, Vantive

Check the official schedule for the day and time of each session.

The Investors Coming to Boston

Medtech is capital-intensive. Trials, regulatory submissions, manufacturing and launches all cost money long before revenue arrives, so investor access is one of the conference’s biggest draws.

• Who: Angels, venture capital, private equity, institutional investors and investment banks, plus strategic players such as Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Abbott. More than 200 investors have confirmed attendance, and the list is still growing.
• How access works: Qualified investors receive complimentary All-Access registration. Registered attendees can view the investor list before arriving.
• What’s new: AdvaMed has expanded investor programming in collaboration with Bank of America, including three investor-focused panels on topics such as private equity, valuation trends and capital deployment.
• Where founders pitch: The program includes 40+ company presentations of nine minutes each, 65 startups in the MedTech Innovator showcase and 20+ corporate reverse pitches.
• Where meetings happen: Meetings are arranged through the MyMedTech partnering platform, available to All-Access attendees.

Tips for founders

• Register early and set up your partnering profile right away.
• Match your stage, therapeutic area and check size to each investor’s focus rather than sending blanket requests.
• Prepare a one-minute pitch, a clear regulatory pathway and evidence of traction.
• Attend the “Building, Scaling and Exiting” session to hear how investors and bankers think about raising and exits.
• Don’t ignore strategics. A corporate development meeting can lead to a partnership, a distribution deal or an acquisition.
• Follow up within days, while the conversation is fresh.

How GPOs Are Connected to the Conference

Regulation gets a product to market and investors fund the journey, but neither makes a hospital buy the device. In the U.S., that step runs through Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs).

A Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) combines the aggregated buying power of many hospital members and negotiates supplier contracts for group pricing and terms. The critical point is that GPOs control access to aporximately 97% of U.S. hospitals.

For a device company, a GPO contract is often the milestone that turns an approved, funded product into revenue. A product can be FDA-cleared and well-funded and still struggle to scale if it isn’t included on the healthcare GPO contracts. Medtech companies without GPO (Group Purchasing Contracts) often struggle to scale efficiently, as they are essentially locked out of the market. The end result- restricted access to large scale enterprise level sales, significantly increasing the cost and time of customer acquisition.

The conference covers each stage of the innovative medtech device journey:

• Regulatory sessions answer whether a product can be sold.
• The investor program answers whether it can be funded.
• Partnering and CEOs Unplugged answer who will buy, distribute or partner on it.

One of the CEOs Unplugged sessions points straight at the purchasing question. “Lessons from Building, Scaling and Exiting” is about the growth and exit decisions that investors judge on commercial traction. Investors often ask not only “Will the FDA clear it?” but “How will health systems buy it?”

How Strategic GPO Consultants Is Related to the Conference

Strategic GPO Consultants, led by medtech industry veteran Dr. Nora Sugintas, is the nation’s most experienced and credentialed GPO Consulting Firm. The firm helps innovative medtech, medical capital equipment, and medical device companies grow revenue and market share across GPOs, integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and major health systems. The firm provides:

• Strategy for GPO contract acquisition, growth and retention
• Market intelligence to identify the ideal GPO and IDN targets
• GPO contract negotiation, implementation, commercialization and optimization
• Advisory for private equity firms, plus go-to-market strategy for emerging medtech companies

The overlap with the conference audience is direct. Emerging and mid-sized device companies are the firm’s core clients, and the conference focuses on them. CEOs are the audience its advisory work is built for. Investors and private equity are a group the firm advises directly. Dr. Sugintas has more than four decades of experience in healthcare GPOs and has secured milestone contract awards with HealthTrust, Premier, Vizient, Intalere and MAGNET.

Why Think About GPOs Before Boston?

If you attend to raise funding or find partners, expect to be asked how you will sell to health systems. Founders who can name the GPOs that matter for their category, describe their contract status and explain how their product lowers a health system’s total cost of ownership will be more credible.

Heading to Boston?

Talk to Strategic GPO Consultants about your GPO and IDN strategy before the conference.

Plan Your Trip

• Review the 2026 agenda and map out your sessions, including CEOs Unplugged.
• Browse the company and attendee lists, which are searchable by sector, specialty or name.
• Schedule meetings early. Partnering is where much of the value sits.
• Leave room for the unplanned. Many good conversations happen at receptions and over coffee.

Final Thoughts

The MedTech Conference 2026 puts thousands of decision-makers, 200+ investors, 14 CEOs Unplugged sessions, and the leaders of the FDA’s device center in one Boston convention center for four days. For a MedTech company, the path from approval to funding to hospital sales runs through those conversations.

If your business touches medical technology, October 18-21 in Boston is where the conversation will be.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. When and where is the conference?

October 18-21, 2026, at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. It is hosted by AdvaMed, The Medtech Association, led by President and CEO Scott Whitaker.

2. Who attends?

Over 4,000 leaders from 1,800+ companies and 40+ countries, including 1,000+ C-suite leaders and CEOs, plus investors, regulators, founders, clinicians and academics.

3. What is CEOs Unplugged?

A series of 14 candid, unscripted executive sessions on investment, growth, supply chains, ambulatory care and more, with leaders from companies such as Abbott, Stryker, Medtronic and Boston Scientific.

4. How many investors are attending, and how do I meet them?

More than 200 investors have confirmed. Register, then request one-on-one meetings through the MyMedTech platform.

5. What does a GPO have to do with a medtech conference?

The most critical part of medtech commercialization is GPO strategy. A GPO contract is what turns an approved, funded medical device into revenue.