Health Innovation Campus looking to engage with SMEs

Lancaster University’s new £44m Health Innovation Campus is meeting the ambitious target of engaging with 300 Lancashire SMEs.

A committed team is already engaging with partners to identify and work on innovative projects across Lancashire, and more than 35 companies have now accessed fully-funded support, through a £2m grant from the European Regional Development Fund.

The university believes that a collaborative approach, bringing together businesses with researchers and health providers to work together on solving significant health problems, is crucial to the initiative's success.

Dr Sherry Kothari, director of the Health Innovation Campus, said: “The Campus will be a catalyst for improving health outcomes locally and fostering economic growth.

“It is clear that there is a need to do things differently and, in collaboration with our partners, the Health Innovation Campus will embrace this opportunity. Our objectives to address health inequalities, empower people to better manage their health, create healthier environments and encourage innovation in early diagnoses and interventions resonate with the NHS long term plan.

“Lancaster University has long been an economic anchor and driver of innovation. The Health Innovation Campus will continue to engage with business leaders to develop innovative new products, services and processes for the health and wellbeing sector."

Support available to businesses currently draws on two key areas of excellence for the University - Business and Information and Communication Technologies. Engagement activities with local companies have so far included two-day workshops designed to bring industry leaders together to explore local health challenges and begin to develop innovative, person-centred solutions.