Further £1 million awarded to develop innovative new technologies to help older people with multiple-morbidities

SBRI Healthcare, an NHS England funded initiative to develop innovative products and services that address unmet health needs, today announced a further 11 companies will benefit from SBRI Healthcare funding this year in a competition to address challenges in older people with multiple-morbidities. Looking to accelerate the development and NHS adoption of new technologies, the £1 million phase 1 award will be shared by small businesses working in the priority problem areas of: Falls, Incontinence and Decline in Functional Ability.

With awards of up to £100,000 each, the successful companies (and supporting Academic Health Science Network) are:
Falls: Rinicare Ltd (North West Coast AHSN) and Safekeeping Solutions (West Midland AHSN)

Incontinence: Docobo Ltd (Kent, Surrey & Sussex AHSN), Lucid Group Ltd (Greater Manchester AHSN), JVS Products Ltd (Wessex AHSN) and Sky Medical Technology Ltd (Oxford AHSN)

Functional Ability: Eddy Labs Ltd (Imperial College AHSN), Buckingham Healthcare (Wessex AHSN), Acute Technology Ltd (East Midlands AHSN), Q2C Ltd (Imperial College AHSN) and 11 Health & Technologies Ltd (Oxford AHSN)

SBRI Healthcare works with leading healthcare players to identify areas where technology can be applied to address major healthcare challenges. The 11 successful projects have been selected on their potential value to the health service and on the improved outcomes delivered to patients. The companies will be supported and fully funded to demonstrate the technical feasibility of their proposed concept for a six month development phase. Those businesses demonstrating best value and greatest technical feasibility in phase 1 will progress through to phase 2 to be further supported and funded to take their technologies through to commercialisation.

“We are pleased to see companies stepping forward with innovative ideas to address one of the biggest challenges that the NHS faces at the moment – supporting older people who are living longer but also living with a range of chronic conditions,” commented Lorna Green, commercial director at North West Coast AHSN who assisted with the competition. “The ideas that SBRI Healthcare are supporting will hopefully help patients in the future with a range of issues including falls, incontinence and mobility.”

Karen Livingstone, Director of SBRI Healthcare commented: “2015 has been another strong year for SBRI Healthcare and we are particularly pleased to have been able to support so many innovative companies given the financial pressures on the NHS. This year the programme has awarded xx contracts across the various phases of the competition, awarding £XX to xx companies addressing known healthcare challenges. We are excited for 2017 with the launch of two new competitions, funding for the next phases of current competitions and seeing more technologies developed with SBRI Healthcare support reaching patients.”

The competition theme areas have been chosen in partnership with AHSNs across England and specifically for this programme; Falls - Health Innovation Network (South London AHSN); Decline in Functional Ability - Eastern AHSN; and Urinary and Faecal Incontinence - West of England, UCL Partners and North West Coast AHSNs.

“The NHS is looking at progressive and radical ways to reshape the way urgent and emergency care is delivered with vanguard sites leading the way in testing new solutions. With pressure on these services growing we want to ensure that the innovative companies are enabled to develop their ideas and solutions,” commented Karen Livingstone, Director of SBRI Healthcare. “The new competition invites companies to specifically turn their minds to developing products that will help patients, clinicians and managers deliver high-quality and efficient urgent and emergency care. We welcome bids from all sectors and are particularly keen to invite companies working in non-health fields to consider whether the technologies they are developing could be applied to the challenges we face for urgent care.”

SBRI Healthcare competition theme areas are chosen in partnership with the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) across England and this programme is jointly led by South West and Greater Manchester AHSNs.

To find out more visit www.sbrihealthcare.co.uk

Contacts:
SBRI Healthcare
Chris Armstrong
Health Enterprise East
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +44 (0) 1223 597813

Media contact
Sarah Jeffery
Zyme Communications
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +44 (0) 7771 730919


About SBRI Healthcare

The Small Business Research Initiative for Healthcare (SBRI Healthcare) is an NHS England initiative, championed by the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), whose role is to promote UK economic growth by spreading innovation and best practice across the NHS. The SBRI Healthcare competitions are launched on a biannual basis and result in fully funded development contracts between the awarded company and NHS England to meet known healthcare need.

Generally taking a three-phased development approach, projects start with a 6 month feasibility phase and can then move on to more detailed product development. Phase 1 contracts for feasibility testing are valued at up to £100,000 and last for six months. Phase 2 contracts for prototype development are worth up to £1 million over one year. Phase 3 contracts are intended to accelerate product adoption, with up to a further £1 million over 12 months, providing the opportunity for validation in NHS settings. While the public sector has the right to license the resultant technology, its intellectual property (IP) remains with the company, thereby enabling successful businesses to grow.

Funding for SBRI Healthcare has been secured from NHS England. The programme is directed by the Eastern Academic Health Science Network (EAHSN) on behalf of NHS England and the other regional AHSNs. Health Enterprise East is the management partner and supports the EAHSN to handle the applications, assessments and delivery against contracts.

Previous SBRI Healthcare competitions have called for technological and innovative solutions to, for example, change people’s behaviour in order to reduce the impact of obesity and alcohol related diseases, how to live well with dementia and improved medicine management.


About Academic Health Science Networks www.ahsnnetwork.com

There are 15 AHSNs across England. They connect academics, NHS, researchers and industry to accelerate the process of innovation and facilitate the adoption and spread of innovative ideas and technologies across large populations. They are driven by two imperatives: improving health and generating economic growth in their regions. SBRI Healthcare competitions are designed, supported and promoted in partnership with the AHSNs.


About Health Enterprise East and Competition details www.hee.co.uk

Health Enterprise East (HEE) is committed to improving healthcare through the provision of professional business and innovation management services. The HEE team works with NHS organisations nationally and Med Tech companies globally to support the development of innovative products and services which meet currently unmet healthcare needs.

Having pioneered and successfully run the initiative for the East of England since its launch in 2009, HEE now oversees the national SBRI Healthcare programme bringing together businesses, the healthcare industry and the NHS. Information on future competitions can be found on the SBRI Healthcare and the Health Enterprise East websites.