Forging innovative partnerships: bridging the gap between healthcare innovation research and implementation in the NHS

Health Innovation East and the Babraham Research Campus have embarked on future focused collaboration to strengthen the pathway between early-stage research and its implementation in the NHS.

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Published: 16th January 2026

Partnering with Babraham Research Campus gives Health Innovation East direct access to one of the UK’s strongest pipelines of early-stage life science and health innovation.

Translational Research

Cambridge University’s Office for Translational Research describes translational research as ‘the process of applying ideas, insights and discoveries generated through scientific inquiry to the treatment or prevention of human disease.

The partnership, between Health Innovation East, the experts in implementing health innovation, and companies in Babraham Research Campus’s dynamic research environment will accelerate innovations towards clinical use. Access to early clinical insight, understanding unmet needs, building robust real-world evidence and aligning with NHS priorities will, ultimately, enable Babraham Research Campus enterprises to deliver tangible impact for patients and the health and care system. Support will be available across the translational pathway – from concept development to real-world implementation.

Landing innovations in the East of England

Health Innovation East have worked alongside Integrated Care Boards in the region to identify ‘Landing Zones’ for the testing and adoption of health innovations. The Landing Zones are strategically designated primary care practices or hospital trust departments, which serve as hubs that foster collaboration between providers and innovators in compliant ways. Babraham Research Campus companies will benefit from exploring real-world environments in which to introduce and refine solutions and accelerate the adoption of evidence-backed innovations into the NHS.

From lab bench to bedside

Leveraging the promise of Landing Zones, the newly forged partnership curates two strands of support – innovator-led and Babraham Research Campus-led – for Campus enterprises.

Innovator-led: tailored support aligned to innovator needs.

Mini advisory boards: Where innovators do not yet have prototypes to test, access to insights from multidisciplinary NHS stakeholders is a powerful alternative. The value of which includes feedback to shape an research and development roadmap and heightened alignment to clinical pathways and NHS pressures.

Health economic analyses: Addressing gaps in evidence for economic or investment returns helps early stage companies strengthen their case for adoption. Established alongside health economists, such economic benefits can be communicated via concise reports which deepen stakeholder engagement. Bespoke ROI calculations may follow which clearly illustrate the potential value of implementing an innovation.

BRC-led: best-in-class interactions to improve innovation capability and translational capacity.

Dedicated Events: connecting Babraham Research Campus’s early-stage innovators with stakeholders right across the health and care ecosystem – to demystify NHS commissioning and investor requirements and strengthen oranisations’ value propositions. Dialogue with subject experts around issues such as clinical adoption will identify opportunities early and helps align them with adoption pathways.

Workshops: focusing on delivering structured, needs-driven innovations. Designed to help early-stage innovators and NHS partners identify, prioritise and address unmet needs, ‘Biodesign’ workshops will see participants secure the skills, tools and language required to design adoption-ready solutions aligned to NHS priorities.

Strategic partnerships like this are essential to advancing evidence-backed innovations into practical healthcare solutions that the NHS can adopt with confidence. We are looking forward to ongoing successes and celebrating innovations adopted.

Joanna Dempsey, Principal Advisor, Industry Partnerships, Health Innovation East

Babraham Research Campus supports UK bioscience through academic research but also with facilities and capabilities for early-stage and growing commercial organisations. Our collaboration with Health Innovation East enables these cutting-edge companies the insights, economic evidence and implementation expertise they need to secure support from investors and the health and care system.

Louise Jopling, Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer, Babraham Research Campus

Learn more

To find out more about how Health Innovation East is working with Babraham Research Campus and how we get the best ideas in health and care to the people places and problems where they are needed most, contact joanna.dempsey@healthinnovationeast.co.uk or innovator.enquiries@healthinnovationeast.co.uk

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