Supporting innovation

Innovation is at the heart of transforming healthcare in the West of England; it is central to what we do.

Over the last five years, England’s 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) have become known as the ‘innovation arm’ of the NHS. The AHSNs operate a national network of Innovation Exchanges to identify common challenges and quickly bring people and organisations together to develop, test and spread solutions.

Here in the West of England, our AHSN has earned a reputation for its ambitious, joined-up vision for healthcare innovation. We bring a whole system approach to matching innovation to locally identified challenges by connecting and brokering relationships between innovators, patients, carers, industry, academia and health and care professionals, we are creating an ‘innovation ecosystem’.

We have a variety of support and tools that you can use to help get your ideas off the ground or help your business grow.

• The Innovation Exchange is our web portal (coming soon) to give easy access to the support we deliver.
• Our business development team can offer advice, signpost you to local assets/resources and facilitate partnerships.
• We have funding and support opportunities available for businesses wanting to innovate in health. These include funded accelerator programmes, open innovation calls and upcoming health challenges.
• And if you are looking for a way to connect with the healthcare community to discuss your involvement, ideas and solutions, hyvr – have your vision realised – our social media platform provides a safe environment to do this.