Opportunity East: The Infrastructure and Investment Conference

Building on the success of our debut event in March 2025, the Opportunity East conference returns as the essential gathering to unite public and private sector leaders in shaping the future of the East of England.   

The conference will be held on the 5th March 2026 at The Hold – Home of the Suffolk Archives. 

The East of England requires a unified voice to secure the infrastructure investment it needs to thrive. This conference will help create that united vision by bringing together local authority leaders, industry experts, parliamentarians and infrastructure projects.

With local elections taking place and strategic authorities in the East being set up, this chance for regional partners to meet, discuss critical infrastructure needs, and establish consensus on priorities before key decisions are made. The active collaboration between public bodies and private sector partners that this conference enables will be essential to ensuring the East of England’s infrastructure ambitions are realised. 

Join us to:

• Shape a compelling regional investment narrative for the East of England
• Identify and prioritise transformational infrastructure projects
• Build strategic partnerships between local authorities and private investors
• Unlock opportunities for inward investment across the region

The conference will include keynote speeches, interactive workshops, exhibition spaces, and networking.

Following the event, attendees are warmly invited to join us for post-conference drinks and canapes from 15:30 – 16:30. This informal networking is open to all attendees and is graciously provided by our headline sponsor Skanska.

Agenda to follow shortly.

Audience: Ministers and MPs, chief executives and senior planning and economic development directors (from local authorities in the East of England), academia, private sector and third sector industry partners in the East of England. This event is by invitation only.

Cost: This conference is free to attend. However, for cancellations less than 7 working days before the event date, or non attendance on the day, there will be a cancellation fee of £100 plus VAT. Please click here to view the ‘Events Booking and Cancellation Policy’.

Spaces are limited (2 per organisation) so we encourage you to register your details below as quickly as possible as spaces are being allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. 

If you have any queries, please contact Jayne Cole, Events Manager, Local Government East, email; events@localgoveasteng.gov.uk