What we do

The Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) is a unique partnership between the patients groups, government bodies, industry and NHS bodies , working together to streamline the adoption of new innovations in healthcare. Our core funding is ultimately supervised by the AAC through the NHS and Office for Life Sciences representatives on its board.

NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) aims to accelerate innovation and business growth of health and care innovators to help enhance patient experiences and outcomes, improve our NHS and grow employment in the UK. Health Innovation East works with NIA fellows and helps support the development and implementation of their products across our region.

We work with the Department of International Trade on expositions to promote innovations from the region and further international trade opportunities in addition to attract inward investment and position our region as a location for innovative businesses to settle.

The Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry‘s (ABPI) mission is to make the UK the best place in the world to research, develop and use new medicines and vaccines. We have worked with the ABPI to run industry and engagement workshops and develop innovator resources.

The Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) is the UK’s leading industry association for health technology. Health Innovation East has worked with ABHI to develop a landscape review for MedTech innovations and collaborating to deliver Insights to Impact Masterclass: market access in the NHS.

The British In Vitro Diagnostic Association (BIVDA) is the national industry association for manufacturers and distributors of diagnostic tests in the UK. Health Innovation East worked with BIVDA and IMedConsultancy to deliver our Insights to Impact Masterclass: medical device and in vitro diagnostic regulations.

SBRI Healthcare is an initiative delivered in partnership between the Health Innovation Network and the Accelerated Access Collaborative to support a programme of competitions inviting companies to come forward with ideas and new technologies that have the potential to address know NHS challenges.

Innovate UK is the UK’s national innovation agency – they support business-led innovation in all sectors, technologies and UK regions. We have worked with Innovate UK to move innovation forwards together.

The AHSCs are regional partnerships bringing together expertise from universities and NHS organisations to improve health and care services. The AHSCs work closely with each other, the Health Innovation Network and NIHR infrastructure to drive research and innovation forward.

Health Innovation East holds a close relationship with Cambridge University Health Partners (CUHP) – one of eight Academic Health Science Centres (AHSCs) in England and the only one in our region. We work frequently with CUHP, both to pilot innovations in the region and to market the story of the Cambridge health and life sciences cluster to attract industry investment.

The NIHR ARC East of England is one of 15 Applied Research Collaborations funded by NIHR, the largest funder of health and care research in the UK. The ARC is hosted by Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and four universities in our region and brings together many of our regional NHS organisations, patient charities and relevant industry partners. ARCs support applied health and care research that responds to and meets the needs of local populations and local health and care systems.

We work closely with the ARC in a number of areas and our CEO Piers Ricketts and Sarah Robinson, Director of Delivery, are both members of the ARC board.

NHS East Genomics unites patient care teams, scientists, researchers and educators to deliver the benefits of innovative and high quality genomic medicine to communities across the East Midlands and East of England. We work closely with East Genomics, providing a platform to manage their contacts, send out email campaigns, host events.

Cambridge Judge Business School is a world leader in business research and education inspired by the values of scholarly excellence, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

We partnered with Cambridge Judge Business School Entrepreneurship Centre and Idea Space to deliver a Venture Creation Weekend for clinicians and innovators from allied health professions. Delegates were matched with potential found team members in a supportive, safe but challenging space, to explore and validate their ideas.

Macmillan Cancer Support raises money to provide cancer services, research while campaigning to achieve better cancer care and to support the cancer workforce.

To help identify promising cancer innovations that could make a big difference for those affected by cancer, we have worked with Macmillan, hosting an innovation exchange event and collaborating with the Health Innovation Network on an Innovation challenge to pitch ideas to improve cancer care.

The Health Innovation Network and the AAC partnered with Heart UK to launch a new education programme for healthcare professionals called Tackling Cholesterol Together. The programme provides a comprehensive and varied education programme for healthcare professionals to support NHS England and NHS Improvement 3-year lipids workstream.

Health Innovation East works closely with Stroke Association UK – a stroke charity providing specialist support to help people rebuild their lives after a stroke. We work closely with Stroke Association UK in delivering the East of England Stroke Forum.

CamRARE brings together stakeholders from families, research, industry, business, healthcare and patient advocacy groups making a real and positive difference in the lives of people with rare diseases. We partnered with the CamRARE to understand where innovation can improve the lives of people affected by rare diseases, inviting innovators to share their solutions to these challenges.

Health Tech Enterprise delivers technology advisory services and innovation management to the NHS and industry. Health Innovation commissions Health Tech Enterprise’s services to conduct economic evaluations for innovations.

The Babraham campus is one of the UK’s leading places to support early-stage bioscience enterprise and is distinct in its co-location of bioscience companies with the Babraham Institute. At the Babraham Institute our commercial director, Dr Lou Jopling, supports the translation and entrepreneurship from a basic research environment into a more commercial culture for scientist develop, company spin outs and economic growth.

Norwich Research Park is one of the largest single-site concentrations of research in food, genomics and health in Europe. The park brings together four independent internationally-renowned research institute: John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute, Earlham Institute and The Sainsbury Laboratory; with University of East Anglia (UEA) and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH).

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst provides networks, support and expertise to enable life science ecosystem to connect, grow and succeed in the development and commercialisation of life changing interventions.