Earlier this month, the Enterprise East (HEE) innovation cluster announced that the MedTech NAVIGATOR Innovation Grant Scheme, backed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), will provide Tekihealth Solutions, NS Innovations, Flush-Tech, Yourgene Health, Tangi0 and Anidium with funding to accelerate their growth.
This latest funding boost brings the overall value of the projects supported by the programme to over £200,000.
The selected innovations will focus on healthcare priorities such as COVID-19, cancer diagnosis, cardiology and stroke prevention.
Teki-Hub, a telemedicine device developed by Tekihealth Solutions, will assist clinicians in remotely assessing care home residents. Tangi0 offers a VR-based mirror therapy App for stroke patients, while NS Innovations will focus on a rehabilitation and exercise device called SoftPower for people with limited physical abilities. Flush-Tech is developing a fluid monitoring project to reduce dehydration-related illnesses and acute kidney injury, Yourgene Health offers an oncology gene panel, which uses liquid biopsy to identify mutations in tumours, while Anidium’s YoHeartTM project offers an innovative remote ECG solution.
The innovative projects were shortlisted by the Innovation Centre for their ability to offer collaborative working solutions and facilitate knowledge transfer between SMEs, NHS services and universities, which will translate into more effective development of medical technologies and their introduction to the growing healthtech market.
Funding for early stage medical technology innovations is crucial according to Joop Tanis, Director of MedTech Consulting at HEE, who explained that product development in this phase is often precarious due to lack of funding and often overshadows the expertise available in the clinical and research communities. Funding these projects provides much-needed solutions to some of the most pressing areas of care, but also shows other potential innovators how collaboration can make smart ideas become reality.
Tanis expressed his enthusiasm to see the winners of the funding round move on to the next phase of developing their healthcare solutions, while he encouraged future innovators to be prepared to participate in the next round of grants worth £300,000 to be announced in the coming months.