Healthcare technology saves lives. The Healthcare Innovation Programme could change yours.

Have you got an idea for a new healthcare technology?

SETsquared is working with Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) to help you develop your idea into a business and secure your first customers either in the NHS or the commercial market.

Technology pervades every area of our lives, from the way we shop, the way we communicate with friends and family right through to the way we travel and use household appliances. But the area where technology is making the most impact is in healthcare.

Within two to three years, nearly three million people in the UK are expected to have three long-term medical conditions like diabetes and dementia.  This will put an enormous strain on NHS health and care services. That’s where technology comes in.

We’ve already seen the rise in use of health apps, smartphones as diagnostic tools and wearable fitness trackers. Moving forwards people suffering from chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease or high blood pressure will start to be constantly monitored remotely through wearable skin sensors and smartphone apps: home-based technologies that support individuals (and their carers) to manage their long-term conditions.

In collaboration with the West of England and Wessex AHSNs, SETsquared is providing intensive three and four-day business training courses in 2017 to help entrepreneurs (healthcare professionals, academics and business owners) develop their ideas for healthcare products or services. Free places are currently available on courses in the Wessex and West of England regions (see dates below).

Immersive and interactive, these training courses will enable you to develop your business idea, analyse your market and potential customers, develop a compelling pitch and look at funding strategies.

It culminates with the opportunity to pitch to a panel of investors and healthcare experts, who will provide invaluable feedback for you to take your business forward.

You’ll come away armed with an outline business plan, an elevator pitch, a detailed outline of your potential customers, as well as a five-minute commercial pitch presentation.

To give you some inspiration here are some of the projects that have previously taken part in the Healthcare Innovation Programme:

• EasyVideo which enables adults with learning disabilities to scan a QR code on household items with any smart device and it plays a video of how to use it.
  
• getUbetter a suite of smart apps to help people self-manage back, ankle, shoulder and knee injuries.
  
• Say It app a pronunciation app which was initially designed for foreign students but applications in speech therapy and clinical settings are now being explored.
  
• Veloscient an iPad-driven clinical notes tool

The support doesn’t end there. SETSquared and the AHSNs are committed to providing comprehensive business support to healthcare and life sciences start-ups throughout their lifecycle. So once you’ve completed a Healthcare Innovation Programme, there are plenty of other options to keep your venture moving forward. Working together, the AHSNs and SETSquared can provide access to NHS experts, mentoring, tailored business support and access to investors.

The deadline to apply for the Wessex programme is 31 January 2017, so get your application in soon. Applications for the West of England course are now open and the deadline is 6 March 2017.

This is your opportunity to transform an idea into a reality, changing your life and possibly saving the lives of other.

Places on these courses are sponsored by the AHSNs, so are free of charge to the participants but spaces are allocated on a competitive basis.

• Apply for the Wessex Programme (Dates: 9, 10 and 14 February 2017)
• Apply for the West of England Programme (Dates: 10, 12, 15 and 19 May)