Funders reunite at Med-Tech Innovation Expo

Chris Rowe, Innovation Lead – Precision Medicine at Innovate UK, and Ian Newington, Assistant Director of Innovation at the NIHR, outline what to expect from themselves and SBRI at the Med-Tech Innovation Expo.

For the third year running the NIHR, UKRI and SBRI have come together to exhibit on stand C28 at the Healthcare Med-Tech Innovation Expo, sponsoring a start-up zone and helping innovators with “Unlocking NHS Access” will provide a Main Stage session.

Creating innovation that has been successfully adopted by the NHS is not just a question of developing the best technical solution, product or service. As a generalization it can be said that technology is only 20% of the ‘exam question’, and even if you get top marks for technology, you still may not clear the exam. It is important that companies appreciate these issues and address them early in their development process.

Applications for funding from our three organizations will force you to think about things like IP, regulatory approval, patient involvement, and commercialization and adoption. Through our networks and partnerships, we can bring the expertise, resources, advice and mentorship to help you engage with the NHS to help bring your innovative technologies to patients.

Who will you see at Stand C28

When you come to talk to us on the stand, you will see three different logos, three different color schemes and three different slide-loops on the screen. Plus, of course, the cheering teams represent the organizations behind the acronym:

The NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) was established in 2006 to “create a health research system in which the NHS supports outstanding individuals, working in world-class facilities, leading the way focused on the needs of patients” conducts research and the public”.

Funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, we work in partnership with the NHS, universities, local government, other research funds, patients and the public to deliver world-leading health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing enabled and distributed. and promotes economic development.

Our work focuses on early translational research, clinical research and applied health and social care research, focused on England but working closely with devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We are also a major funder of applied health research in low and middle income countries, mainly with support from the UK government.

• Talk to us for funding for product development (for example through the i4i program) and to support your regulatory approval and market access and access to people who can advise, collaborate or design and conduct clinical studies Can help lead.

UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) was launched in April 2018 and is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The organization brings together seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

The nine councils work together to deliver an ambitious agenda, drawing on our great depth and breadth of expertise and the vast diversity of our portfolio, across disciplines and sector-specific priorities and to sustain and champion the creativity and vibrancy of communities. Our councils shape and deliver both regional and domain-specific support.

Whether through Research Council grants, quality-related block grants from Research England, or grants and wider support for innovative businesses from Innovate UK, we work closely with our stakeholders to understand the opportunities and needs of all different parts of the research and innovation landscape. work together. Maintaining the health, breadth and depth of the system.

• Come and talk to us about grant funding, investment, or loan opportunities as well as business support for your fast-growing business (Innovate UK Edge) or collaboration and networking (KTN).

The Small Business Research Initiative Healthcare (SBRI Healthcare) is an accelerated access collaborative initiative managed by the Innovation Team of LGC Grant Management Group, delivered in partnership with Academic Health Sciences Networks (AHSNs). It provides funding and support to develop and accelerate innovations that meet health and social care needs identified by NHS England. Competitions are open to any type of organization including academics, NHS providers, charities and corporates, but are particularly suited to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Projects will require a robust commercialization plan and will be supported through a phased approach that covers business feasibility, prototype development, and generation of early clinical evidence as well as subsequent phases through supporting real-world implementation. Enables testing of the products of To date SBRI Healthcare has supported over 324 innovations with £129 million+ funding, generated 162 patents, leveraged over £607 million of private investment, created and retained 1776+ jobs and Has improved outcomes for millions of patients.

• Come and talk to us about funding opportunities, how SBRI works and how new technology is delivering to meet the needs of the NHS. In addition, we provide some support to the companies we finance.

start-up zone and pitch

Check out the companies in the Start-up Zone that almost all have received funding from one or more of our programs.

Unlocking NHS Access

The keynote forum session we’re hosting is designed to address two issues around how the NHS spends things and assess new technology, which will help inform your business model, And you need to be involved in the NHS to make your pitch.

It draws on the ‘lock and key’ analogy (Figs 1 and 2) as a useful way to think about the issues that may affect the success of ‘unlock’, both from the perspective of the company (the key) and the NHS (the lock). Must be eligible for adoption. NHS. What we are hoping to do with this session is attempt to develop a more ‘transparent lock’, ie make it easier for you to understand the internal settings of an NHS lock so that it is easier to work out what the ‘PIN settings’ are. for your innovation.

The message to emphasize is that most of the issues that will determine the success of your innovation in NHS adoption are not related to technical performance, although this is clearly essential. The above image shows the areas that companies are best positioned to deal with themselves, these being in the dominant ‘bow’, such as IP management, regulation and manufacturing. The ‘Cut’ section shows areas that are important for NHS adoption but often difficult for companies to understand, including coding, tariff, procurement and decommissioning issues. This is not an exhaustive list but shows some of the areas we want to review on keynote presentations.

The illustrations above show how the lock and key system works, there needs to be an alignment between the pin and the key cut, the pins represent the NHS requirements for adoption and the cuts show that the company has met these requirements. How well done. Without alignment of all points the key cannot open the lock, even with most of the points in perfect alignment. The opaque nature of ‘NHS Lock’ means that companies find it difficult to get a correct key cut, we need a more transparent NHS Lock.

NIHR, SBRI Healthcare and Innovate UK will be exhibiting at the Med-Tech Innovation Expo on stand C28 at the NEC, Birmingham on 7-8 June. Register for free at www.med-techexpo.com.