18.05.12
Health Innovation Challenge Fund develops new technology
The NHS is set to benefit from new UK-led technologies, developed through the Health Innovation Challenge fund, supported by the Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust.
Experimental products currently being developed include a system for therapists to monitor arm rehabilitation, gene therapy for a hereditary type of blindness that has just undergone its first clinical trial and an automated blood pressure monitoring system.
Director of the Wellcome Trust, Sir Mark Walport, said: “It is an exciting time for many areas of medical research. Advances in genomics, engineering, imaging and informatics are ripe for introduction into the NHS to improve health and create new economic opportunities.
“The Health Innovation Challenge Fund is enabling us to capitalise on this wealth of scientific discovery and invention and to transform it into patient-focused innovations that will ultimately improve public health.
“The close alignment with the Department of Health brings a unique insight to the challenges faced by the NHS and acts as a stimulus to academia and industry to step up and deliver scalable solutions to prevent, diagnose and treat ill-health.”
Professor Dame Sally C Davies, chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser at the Department of Health, said: “The Health Innovation Challenge Fund helps to speed up the development and adoption of new treatments for NHS patients.
“It plays an important role by targeting areas of unmet – or poorly met – health needs, in areas where there have been few developments or slow improvements.”
The Health Innovation Challenge Fund is open to applications fromUKsmall businesses, university groups and NHS trusts with innovative ideas to improve patient experience.
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