Accelerators
See what's coming before it's common knowledge.
Venture Investors · Corporate Development & BD · Technology Innovators · CRO Partners · Health Platform Companies
LIFT Series Whale Tank Pitch Competition — the highest-signal event of the week for Accelerators. Build your schedule around LIFT Series sessions and designated connecting time.
Explore LIFT SeriesThe best deals are made before they're obvious.
If your success depends on knowing what's real, what's ready, and what's next—DIA 2026 is your meeting. This is where the science, the regulatory landscape, and the commercial strategy converge in one room, with the full cast of players present.
Evaluate what's actually viable. Build relationships before you need them. And stay ahead of the trends reshaping the landscape—while everyone else is still catching up.
Four reasons Accelerators make DIA a priority
The Conversations Happen Here First
DIA 2026 puts you in direct contact with the scientists, regulatory leaders, and commercial strategists who are closest to what's emerging. The conversations happen here before they show up in deal memos.
Know What Will Actually Make It Through
Understanding which science will actually make it through the regulatory gauntlet—and which won't—is the foundation of any sound investment thesis. DIA gives you direct access to the people setting and shaping that standard.
Build the Relationships Before the Deal
The most valuable relationships in this industry are built before there's a deal on the table. DIA 2026 is the neutral forum where those connections happen across 4,000+ professionals from 50+ countries.
A More Complete Picture of Viability
DIA 2026's cross-functional composition—scientists, regulators, BD leaders, and patient advocates in the same room—gives you a more complete picture of commercial viability than any single-function meeting can offer.
The LIFT Series & Whale Tank Pitch Competition
The Highest-Signal Event of the Week
The LIFT Series is DIA's dedicated platform for biotech innovation, early-stage companies, and the investors and partners who enable them. DIA 2026 features the LIFT Series Whale Tank Pitch Competition—where emerging companies present to a room of investors, BD leaders, and industry decision makers.
For Accelerators, LIFT is the highest-signal event of the week: curated deal flow, direct founder access, and a concentrated view of what the next generation of innovation actually looks like. Attendance at LIFT Series sessions is strongly recommended for anyone whose work involves identifying, funding, or partnering with emerging biotech or clintech.
Learn About LIFT SeriesThe ecosystem is here—all of it
Scientists & R&D Leaders (Builders)
The researchers and development leaders behind the science you evaluate are presenting, networking, and engaging in sessions throughout the week. DIA 2026 creates structured and informal opportunities to pressure-test what's actually viable—directly with the people building it.
Regulators (shaping the pathways for your portfolio)
Regulatory intelligence is investment intelligence. The regulators, policy leaders, and global health authority representatives at DIA 2026 provide a direct read on where approval pathways are heading—information that changes how you think about the risk profile of your portfolio.
Decision Makers (your partners and co-investors)
C-suite and senior strategy leaders from pharma and biotech are here. For corporate development and BD professionals, DIA is one of the few venues where pre-competitive relationship building with potential partners happens at scale.
Patients & Advocates (Connectors)
Patient advocates and patient organization leaders are integrated throughout the DIA 2026 program. For Accelerators evaluating science, understanding the patient and community perspective adds a dimension of due diligence that most investment processes miss entirely.
How to get the most out of your four days
Priority Tracks & Programs
The LIFT Series is the primary destination. Track 8 surfaces the policy trends affecting your portfolio. Track 3 covers the AI and data infrastructure plays reshaping biopharma. Track 5 addresses the novel modality landscape where most early-stage opportunity currently concentrates.
Explore Full Agenda →Formats to Seek Out
- LIFT Series Whale Tank Pitch Competition — curated early-stage company presentations to investor and BD audience
- LIFT Series sessions — innovation and investment-focused programming running throughout the meeting
- Keynote sessions — industry-level strategic signals for portfolio context
- Community Roundtable Discussions — small-group, candid conversations where you can pressure-test ideas, compare notes, and hear what others are seeing in real time
- DIA Celebrate featuring the Inspire Awards (Wednesday, June 17) — the full community evening; unstructured relationship-building at scale
Networking Guidance
Use the DIA app and attendee directory to identify founders, biotech and clintech leaders, and regulatory executives before you arrive. LIFT Series sessions and Whale Tank pitches have designated connecting time—build your schedule around them.
LIFT Series: Where Early-Stage Innovation Meets Investment
The LIFT Series Whale Tank Pitch Competition gives Accelerators a front-row seat to the next generation of biotech and clintech—curated deal flow, direct founder access, and real-time regulatory context to pressure-test every thesis. Sessions have designated connecting time built in. Build your DIA 2026 schedule around LIFT first, then layer in the regulatory and policy sessions that sharpen your portfolio view.