SBRI Healthcare, an NHS England funded initiative to develop innovative products that address unmet health needs, today announced a further 11 companies will benefit from SBRI Healthcare funding this year in a competition to address challenges in older people with multiple-morbidities.
Looking to accelerate the development and NHS adoption of new technologies, the £1 million phase 1 award will be shared by small businesses working in the priority problem areas of: Falls, Incontinence and Decline in Functional Ability.
With awards of up to £100,000 each, the successful companies (and supporting Academic Health Science Network) are:
- Falls: Rinicare Ltd (North West Coast AHSN) and Safekeeping Solutions (West Midland AHSN)
- Incontinence: Docobo Ltd (Kent, Surrey & Sussex AHSN), Lucid Group Ltd (Greater Manchester AHSN), JVS Products Ltd (Wessex AHSN) and Sky Medical Technology Ltd (Oxford AHSN)
- Functional Ability: Ally Labs Ltd (Imperial College AHSN), Buckingham Healthcare (Wessex AHSN), Acute Technology Ltd (East Midlands AHSN), Q2C Ltd (Imperial College AHSN) and 11 Health & Technologies Ltd (Oxford AHSN)
Click here for further details on the above companies...
SBRI Healthcare works with leading healthcare players to identify areas where technology can be applied to address major healthcare challenges. The 11 successful projects have been selected on their potential value to the health service and on the improved outcomes delivered to patients. The companies will be supported and fully funded to demonstrate the technical feasibility of their proposed concept for a six month development phase. Those businesses demonstrating best value and greatest technical feasibility in phase 1 will progress through to phase 2 to be further supported and funded to take their technologies through to commercialisation.
“We are pleased to see companies stepping forward with innovative ideas to address one of the biggest challenges that the NHS faces at the moment – supporting older people who are living longer but also living with a range of chronic conditions,” commented Lorna Green, commercial director at North West Coast AHSN who assisted with the competition. “The ideas that SBRI Healthcare are supporting will hopefully help patients in the future with a range of issues including falls, incontinence and mobility.”
Karen Livingstone, Director of SBRI Healthcare commented: “2015 has been another strong year for SBRI Healthcare and we are particularly pleased to have been able to support so many innovative companies given the financial pressures on the NHS. This year the programme has awarded 28 contracts across the various phases of the competition, awarding £15M to 26 companies addressing known healthcare challenges. We are excited for 2016 with the launch of new competition rounds, funding for the next phases of current competitions and seeing more technologies developed with SBRI Healthcare support reaching patients.”
The competition theme areas have been chosen in partnership with AHSNs across England and specifically for this programme; Falls - Health Innovation Network (South London AHSN); Decline in Functional Ability - Eastern AHSN; and Urinary and Faecal Incontinence - West of England, UCL Partners and North West Coast AHSNs.