Sixty cross-sector partners have been selected to deliver the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, which aims to build economic growth in the science sector. Amongst these are NHS hospitals, multinational companies, research charities and business support networks.

The programme was founded in 2016 with the goal of developing healthcare innovators in the UK to gain commercial skills, knowledge and experience to launch and deploy their business and innovation ideas.

The following nine NHS organisations have been selected as partners to join the programme:

• Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS FT Hospitals
• Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital NHS FT
• Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS FT
• Mid and South Essex Hospitals Group
• Mid and South Essex NHS FT (MSEFT)
• Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership (MSE)
• Milton Keynes University Hospital
• Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS FT
• Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT

WHY IT MATTERS

The programme will provide opportunities for internships, access to NHS test and evaluation sites, academic and commercial facilities, access to funding, knowledge exchange and connection to customers.

Since its inception, over 500 clinical entrepreneurs have been recruited, 247 life science startups have been launched and over £270 million of funding has been raised.

Examples of innovations through the programme include smartphone otoscopes and drones designed to carry medical supplies between NHS sites.

The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme Partners include:

• JHUB Med
• BMJ Group – BMJ Ventures and BMJ innovation journal
• IBM
• Medtronic
• Olympus
• Unipart
• Minima Design
• FutureNova
• e-consult
• ORCHA
• Convenet
• Luminos Ventures
• Octopus Ventures
• GSK
• Deloitte
• Hughes Hall Cambridge
• Strathclyde University
• Pumping Marvellous Foundation
• National Voices
• Shuri network
• Generation Medics
• Health Careers Live
• Orthopaedic Research UK
• North of England Commissioning Support Unit (NECS)
• Shakespeare Martineau
• Oliver and Company
• MediLink Midlands
• Biocity
• Nestle

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Thirty-eight new AI projects have been announced as part of the NHS AI Lab's £140 million AI in Health and Care Awards. A share of £36 million to test AI technology has been invested in projects that aim to help the NHS transform the quality of care and the speed of diagnoses.  

In March, UK health secretary, Matt Hancock announced that a new wave of 30 trusts would join the Digital Aspirants Programme to boost their digital maturity and that seven trusts will receive up to £6 million over the next three years as part of the NHSX programme. 

ON THE RECORD

Chris Chaney, chief executive of CW+, co-lead of the trust’s CW Innovation programme, said: “We are delighted to be a partner with the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme and deliver on our shared vision to transform patient care and experience, as well as support our staff to innovate and bring new ideas to fruition. Our CW Innovation programme – jointly led by the Trust and its charity, CW+ – fast-tracks new technologies and innovations that address the most urgent and fundamental challenges faced by healthcare organisations today.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has catalysed an acceleration in innovation and research and we have advanced at pace to introduce a range of innovations into the day-to-day running of our hospitals. Our collaboration with ARU and the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme represents another exciting milestone for CW Innovation’s expanding portfolio of ‘test and scale’ partnerships that include digital healthcare, AI and machine learning, and remote patient-centred care.”