South’s healthcare innovators take business ideas to the next level

Healthcare innovators from the south of England discovered how to take their cutting-edge technology and business ideas to the next level when they met in Southampton.

The three-day Healthcare Innovation Programme for health professionals, health and life science academics and small businesses, was hosted by university business incubator SETsquared and the Wessex Academic Health Science Network (AHSN).

The intensive course, which took place in the University of Southampton Science Park recently, provided nine healthcare ventures with the skills to take their innovative proposals to business realisation.

Delegates took-part in sessions that covered customer analysis, funding strategies, building a business case and market analysis. There was also the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to an experienced panel and to network with other innovators.

Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, attended on the last day to celebrate the achievements of each innovator on the programme and present certificates to participants.

She said: “It was an honour to attend the Healthcare Innovation Programme and find out more from the healthcare innovators about their original business ideas.

“I am delighted that SETsquared and the Wessex AHSN continue to bring this course to Southampton as it’s a fantastic resource for those working on innovations that will hopefully go on to benefit many aspects of healthcare.”

Simon Bond, innovation director at SETsquared, said: “We’re delighted to be able to deliver this world class training programme again in Southampton with the Wessex AHSN.

“The calibre of innovators that we’ve seen this time has been as high as ever and we were very impressed with each of the participants’ passion for bringing substantive benefits to the healthcare sector.”

Andy Burroughs, director of wealth and enterprise at Wessex AHSN said: “The Healthcare Innovation Programme is invaluable for those looking to shape the next generation of healthcare. The innovations we’ve seen on this course have the potential to revolutionise aspects of healthcare and improve benefits to service users as well as save money for the NHS.”

SETsquared, the world’s number one university business incubator, joined forces with four Academic Health Science Networks in the South of England in 2014 to set up the revolutionary new programme that could see more effective and better value healthcare technologies benefiting patients quicker than ever. 

About SETsquared
SETsquared is a long-standing partnership between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey which specialises in growing high-tech start-ups through its incubation programme and other business acceleration services. SETsquared provides mentoring, access to investors and corporate innovators and a wide range of industry experts through its network and training programmes.

Its business incubation programme is ranked by the University Business Incubator Index as the best in the world and over the last decade it has helped over 1,000 high-tech start-ups to develop and raise more than a £1bn of investment.

Independent research carried out by Warwick Economics estimates the economic impact of SETsquared member companies to be £3.8bn over this period, with the creation of 9,000 jobs and that these companies will go on to deliver a further £8.6bn of impact to the UK economy in the decade ahead.