The Chief Medical Officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, is to discuss the key role that physical activity has to play in the public health agenda during the opening address of Elevate 2016 next month.

Elevate, which runs from 4-5 May 2016 at London’s Olympia, is intended to become an annual event which ‘elevates’ the importance of physical activity, showcases the best of the industry and encourages cross-sector collaboration.

The attendance of Davies – the government's most senior health advisor – marks a significant coup for the show organisers and offers encouragement of the increasingly prominent profile that physical activity is being afforded in public health discourse. In addition to Davies’ keynote, Public Health England and Sport England have been confirmed as lead supporters, alongside London Sport and The Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health (ISEH).

The focus on physical inactivity as a separate issue to obesity – driven by the work of organisations such as ukactive – has marked a significant sea-change in the public health narrative and follows a University of Cambridge report that found physical inactivity is killing twice as many Europeans as obesity. The event hopes to directly address the complex societal challenge of physical inactivity and foster solutions by bringing together academia, healthcare, government, the physical activity sector and performance experts.

Over the course of the two-day show, thousands of attendees will be able to explore a free exhibition and seminar programme featuring hundreds of speakers. The show will consist of seven feature areas, two attractions and roughly 150 exhibitors, with the latest products on show from the likes of Matrix, Precor, Pulse, Cybex, Ziva, Origin, Power Plate, TRX, Octane, Concept 2, Wattbike and many more.

Elevate will run three seminar streams covering Future Performance, Physical Activity for Health and Wellbeing, and Inclusivity Strategies to Increase Participation. Speakers represent a range of organisations including EIS, UK Sport, Intelligent Health, Life Fitness, Macmillan Cancer, Nuffield Health, British Cycling, Technogym, Juniper Research and Transport for London.

Elevate director Max Quittenton said: “Elevate will be the UK’s first cross-sector event, allowing professionals to come together, learn from each other and experience the latest innovations which will help get the nation moving more.”