Aims & objectives
The Cumbria and Lancashire Health Tech Hub is a joint University / Industry initiative aimed at enhancing the development and utilisation of new products to support innovation in health and social care. The Hub has been initiated by staff within the Faculties of Health & Social Care and Science & Technology at the University of Central Lancashire, in collaboration with partners in the Industrial and NHS sectors.
Purpose of the Health Tech Hub
The purpose of the Hub is to:
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Enable the generation of new ideas, new approaches and novel applications of technologies to health and social care in the future.
This will be achieved by brokering interaction between industry, academia, the health professions and the public to identify unmet needs and develop potential innovations or solutions.
The Hub will enhance opportunities for end-user involvement in identifying areas of need for new or improved technologies and in early concept development.
The Hub will operate under appropriate conditions to support IP management and protection.
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Refine and improve existing prototypes and solutions by enabling collaboration between companies, academic researchers or end users with relevant expertise or experience.
The Hub will broker and support the formation of cross-sectoral groups or individuals with appropriate complementary expertise to work together on specific projects, and enable interaction with supply chains as required.
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Enable Industry to utilise a comprehensive interdisciplinary platform of academic and clinical skills and techniques for product trial and evaluation.
The Hub will enable Industry to access and appropriately utilise the University’s broad range of expertise in tools and techniques for evaluating the impact of health technologies and interventions at both individual and population level.
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Provide “Roadmaps” for product development and procurement.
The Hub will develop roadmaps as a guide for innovation, product development and procurement resulting from ideas generated either in Industry, the University or the NHS. The roadmaps will indicate key steps, points for decision-making and available resources to support each stage of development.
Additional benefits of the Hub will include enabling companies to become more knowledge intensive, to access appropriate expertise and facilities located within the University and to enhance their presentation of products to the health sector, encouraging two-way exploitation of technologies and expertise, and supporting involvement with the service sector.
The Hub will actively seek involvement not only from companies with established interests and activities within the broad field of health and social care, but also from companies seeking to diversify into this field, or into closely-related fields e.g. Healthy Settings, Healthy Lifestyles, as well as other Higher Education Institutes with relevant expertise.
Rationale and strategic context
The potential mutual benefits of establishing cross-sectoral partnerships, organisations or institutions are well-recognised (e.g. Partnerships for Research and Innovation between Industries and Universities: a guide to better practice CBI Publications 2001; UK EQUAL partnership) and provide the underpinning rationale for the establishment of an increasing number of centres elsewhere in the UK aimed at promoting this interface, often focused around defined themes. The Lambert Report highlighted the major need for the UK to increase the capacity and capability of its industrial sector to utilise knowledge in order to enhance the process of “translating knowledge into practice” whilst the Healthcare Industries Task Force has recently again highlighted the fundamental need for substantially increased levels of shared value and behaviour between clinical, industrial and academic communities as a key element in “The 2020 Vision” of Healthcare within the UK.
The Health Tech Hub is one of a number of initiatives now underway within the North West region aimed at addressing these issues and establishing the reputation of the NW as a region which possesses quality and distinctive capability in this field.
The Health Tech Hub will complement and, as appropriate, link with other such initiatives at regional level whilst maintaining its primary focus upon supporting the activities of organisations and networks based predominantly in Lancashire and Cumbria.
Health Tech Hub Steering Group