Tag: InnoScot Health

Edinburgh universities can play ‘strong and unrelenting’ role in Healthier Communities 2030 commitment 

The Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow ‘must play a strong and unrelenting role, with collaboration to the fore’ as part of a landmark commitment to building healthier communities and a more diversely skilled NHS Scotland.

That’s the view of leading innovation agency InnoScot Health after the Russell Group – which represents both universities – laid out its Healthier Communities 2030 plan last week.

This aims to deliver a better future by “working in partnership with the NHS, national and local government, industry and the communities they serve,” in turn producing “more medics, scientists and start-ups” by 2030.

InnoScot Health believes that both Scottish universities can leverage their expertise in innovation, research, and international partnerships to make a huge contribution to that commitment by helping improve patient outcomes while delivering a major boost to the country’s economy.

Innovation Commercialisation Manager Fiona Schaefer said: “The Russell Group has made significant pledges including the training of 181,000 graduates across its universities in subjects critical to health and care, while widening access to those professions for students of all backgrounds.

“As part of that commitment, the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh will be taking a leading role in creating more highly skilled jobs and bringing external investment into Scotland’s communities by supporting life sciences companies to create new technologies and treatments.

“The commitment will also be delivered in partnership with communities through local engagement events, helping to shape ambitions aligned directly to community need and lived experiences.

“I am in no doubt that both universities’ world-leading insights can also expand Scottish healthcare’s talent pipeline, making for a more innovative, more diversely skilled NHS working closer than ever with academia and industry.”

The Russell Group says that among its commitment to producing 181,000 graduates will be doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, social scientists, technology specialists, and engineers, aimed at “directly addressing workforce shortages across the NHS and public health”.

The universities, it says, will also harness their research expertise “to develop more cutting-edge medicines, treatments and technologies that save lives, and bring new business investment”.

It will also help academics and students start new companies, creating jobs and growth in communities.

Against the backdrop of an ageing population, it warned that “without action, pressures on our public health systems will continue to grow faster than the workforce and innovation that sustains them”.

Fiona added: “It is vital that NHS, industry and academia work collaboratively and this robust commitment represents a key example of how to meaningfully strengthen those partnerships for the benefit of Scotland’s patients and wider society.

“Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation and the country’s reliance on creating, growing, and retaining healthcare and life sciences talent has never been greater.”

‘Collaborative innovation is the true winner’ as Scottish universities increasingly link up 

A raft of new partnerships launched across Scotland’s academic ecosystem means that ‘collaborative innovation is the true winner’, according to an NHS Scotland partner. 

Last week, it was announced that the University of Glasgow would be partnering with Glasgow Caledonian University to “enhance the two institutions’ capacity for entrepreneurship, innovation, and commercialisation” through what is being called the ‘Innovation Exchange’. 

Earlier this month too, a consortium of seven institutions jointly launched the Shared Academic Knowledge Exchange Services (ShaKEs) initiative, bringing together Queen Margaret University (QMU), Abertay University, the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), Robert Gordon University, The Glasgow School of Art, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Edinburgh College. 

Their aim is to “strengthen commercialisation and innovation across Scotland’s modern and smaller universities and the college sector”. 

Scotland’s National Innovation Week in September further saw the announcement of a new partnership between three Edinburgh further education institutions with their collective goal being “to support innovation and entrepreneurship”. 

Edinburgh Napier University, Queen Margaret University, and Edinburgh College, College, said they expect the link-up in the capital will be “contributing to Scotland’s economic development, while benefitting our students, communities and industry partners”. 

Formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health believes the new partnerships are encouraging steps towards an ever more aligned triple helix of NHS, industry, and academia. 

The organisation’s Innovation Commercialisation Manager, Fiona Schaefer said: “We have spoken for some time about the need for key institutions and enterprises to strengthen connections across Scotland for the benefit of all, and we’re now seeing that increasingly happening in academia. 

“These are vital relationships that can help to underpin a healthier, more prosperous, and sustainable country. Collaborative support and the pooling of knowledge are essential to achieving that goal, so the forging of closer networks is a pleasing development. 

“Scotland’s urgent need for more collaborative innovation is set to the true winner here.”  

The Innovation Exchange is a five-year pilot partnership between Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian Universities, supported by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). 

Central to the Exchange is the development of a robust pipeline of social and commercial enterprises with a shared commitment to progressive thinking.  

The unifying of seven institutions as a result of the ShaKEs initiative will meanwhile allow the sharing of “specialist expertise and professional services to unlock new pathways for research impact, skills development, and economic growth”.  

It aims to translate research into real-world impact for health and social care, amongst other sectors, by honing expertise in areas such as intellectual property that are required to commercialise projects. 

Echoing those goals, the new partnership between Edinburgh Napier University, Queen Margaret University, and Edinburgh College, will support innovation and entrepreneurship in line with nationwide plans to boost Scotland’s economic development. 

The agreement will enhance work towards ambitions laid out in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Regional Innovation Action Plan and the Scottish Government’s National Innovation Strategy by strengthening entrepreneurial skills and networks. 

InnoScot Health previously linked up with Edinburgh Napier University and Heriot-Watt University on an initiative – labelled a “first of its kind research collaboration” – which saw engineering and nursing students pooling capabilities and know-how to hone breakthrough healthcare ideas. 

It is also a partner with Heriot-Watt University and University of Dundee in the Tay Health Tech collaborative programme which aims to break down barriers to healthcare and health inequalities through the development of technological solutions.  

Fiona added: “It will be exciting to witness the acceleration of cutting-edge research and innovation which results from these many exciting new academic partnerships, no doubt positively impacting triple helix ambitions.

“We wish them well in those endeavours.” 

World Glaucoma Week offers up clear vision for inspiring more eyecare innovation

World Glaucoma Week (9–15 March) is ‘Uniting for a Glaucoma-Free World’ with eyecare innovation high on the list of priorities amid an estimated 150,000 people in Scotland living with the condition.

Supported by formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health, the annual initiative of the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) aims to raise awareness of what is considered the leading global cause of preventable irreversible blindness. 

Last year, InnoScot Health welcomed a £2 million Scottish Government investment aimed at reducing short-term ophthalmology waiting times – but still believes that the focus must remain on embedding longer-term innovation.

The organisation says that the Scottish population has historically suffered from chronic long-term eye diseases, and the multi-faceted, often interlinked issues causing them now requires more advanced approaches alongside efforts to enhance awareness and encourage regular eye tests.

Innovation Manager Frances Ramsay insists that forward-thinking ophthalmic solutions can instil a more sustainable service that helps to prevent further exacerbation of waiting times in future and detect glaucoma in its earliest stages.

She believes World Glaucoma Week is a key annual event for encouraging better preventative understanding and collaborative thinking.

Frances said: “It is undoubtedly an exciting time for innovation in the field of glaucoma detection and treatment, all aimed at improving early diagnosis and more effective management of the disease. Scotland has to be alive to the possibilities.

“Worldwide, we are seeing an increasing focus on such advancements as artificial intelligence-powered image analysis for early detection, genetic testing for risk assessment, and novel drug delivery systems.

“While some of these solutions are not available to us yet, we should be setting our sights on laying the groundwork for their eventual implementation now, creating a more resilient health service.

“World Glaucoma Week is also a reminder that the NHS Scotland workforce can drive that work by leveraging its vast knowledge and deep understanding of patient needs, together with analysis of where bottlenecks occur and identification of smarter, more innovative approaches to solving them.

“NHS Scotland staff with a vision for ophthalmic innovation must be encouraged to use World Glaucoma Week as their focus for inspiring lasting change during this pivotal period of renewal.”

Scotland’s launch of the NHS Community Glaucoma Service in 2023 has demonstrated the potential of independent prescribing optometrists to support eye care at a national level, helping up to 20,000 stable glaucoma patients to be discharged from hospital eye services into the community.

However, ophthalmic innovation from within NHS Scotland can yet unlock more solutions amid an increasing number of treatments for glaucoma patients, including fresh laser-led and minimally invasive procedures.

Frances continued: “Progressive thinking can transform pressured ophthalmic services, and the 180,000-strong NHS Scotland workforce can take a lead on grasping its possibilities in this priority area.

“Ophthalmology responds to a complex mixture of treating the increasing needs of an ageing population, management of life-long issues, and one-off surgical interventions.

“In order to ease demand, Scotland’s forward-thinking workforce should feel empowered to make a vital contribution to an eye-opening future through the submission of ideas, whether simple or complex.”

Encouraging NHS Scotland’s diverse workforce to come up with new ideas that achieve better outcomes in pressured ophthalmology is vital and at the heart of InnoScot Health’s latest innovation call.

The call offers a package of support to health and social care staff, including advice and guidance in such areas as intellectual property protection, regulation, funding, project management, and commercialisation.

‘Introduction of NHS Scotland app must inspire charge to further digital innovation across the country’

NHS Scotland’s new ‘Digital Front Door’ app must inspire the charge to further interconnected innovation, a formal health service partner insists.

NHS Lanarkshire has been chosen to pilot the platform which is aimed primarily at giving patients more access to, and control over, their own care, as well as the ability to interact with a range of different services, while cutting waiting times across Scotland.

First Minister John Swinney recently pledged to fully launch the National Digital Front Door – which will include access to health and social care data – later this year.

Outlining government plans for NHS renewal, he called the app “a much-needed addition to improve patients’ interaction with the NHS”.

He added: “Over time, it will become an ever more central, ever more important access and managing point for care in Scotland.”

Formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health believes that a digital first approach to care is exactly what is required for a modern, interactive health service which empowers patients while reducing the need for travel and in-person appointments – with vast potential to go further.

Executive Chair Graham Watson said: “The Digital Front Door app is set to be a very welcome addition and is a natural step towards patient-centred empowerment that reduces health service pressures.

“It can also be a springboard to so much more, acting as a central tenet of NHS Scotland’s digital innovation ambitions, helping to inspire fresh, interlinked workforce-led ideas which aim for greater efficiency, better use of resource, and improved patient outcomes.

“I believe the potential is huge with the Digital Front Door complementing the integration of a wide spectrum of new technologies across NHS Scotland– from artificial intelligence to telemedicine advances, virtual reality and robotics.”

The app announcement formed part of the First Minister’s speech on the overall renewal of the NHS, including assurances that increased use of digital solutions and technology would improve capacity, and delivery for health and social care services.

Mr Watson insists that the Digital Front Door can be immediately transformative for Scotland’s patients. “The app holds the promise of much-needed support in areas such as digital dermatology, mental health, and the management of long-term conditions, to name just a few examples of how it can work flexibly around daily demands,” he said.

“I am in no doubt that the ability for people to access their health information online and manage their data, alongside options for interacting with services, and receiving notifications will be life-changing for the people of Scotland.

“The NHS Lanarkshire pilot is a very positive development prior to wider rollout for an ambitious, digital first health service.”

Professor Jann Gardner, former NHS Lanarkshire Chief Executive, welcomed the opportunity to trial the app. She said: “This launch is an exciting step forward, broadening patient access to care and giving people greater control over their healthcare journey.”

The NHS Scotland Event to be held on 9 June in Glasgow will explore work being taken forward on ‘Delivering a stronger digital first approach to all our health and social care services – improving access to services through innovation and technology’.

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Edinburgh AI eyecare innovation to be ‘game-changer’ for NHS staff and patients

A formal NHS Scotland partner has welcomed the prospect of eyecare waiting times being cut thanks to new artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, calling it ‘a real showcase of homegrown expertise’.

Edinburgh-based Eye to the Future’s clinical software support tools are designed to help optometrists optimise referrals to hospital eye services during a critical period which has seen NHS ophthalmology waiting lists grow by 138% since 2012.

The company’s innovative, collaboration-driven technology – incorporating background technology developed by the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee – analyses images from routine eye examinations to help identify early signs of conditions like glaucoma and reduce blindness.

It has also commanded widespread interest which has led to strong support – from universities and eye care professionals to Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Edge, Innovate UK, and more.

InnoScot Health’s Innovation Manager Frances Ramsay believes that Eye to the Future, a culmination of 20 years of collaborative research, represents an important Scottish success story.

She said: “Harnessing the potential of software like this could be a game-changer for both NHS Scotland staff and patients by optimising existing resources and adopting a more efficient approach to tackling backlogs.

“Eye to the Future has benefited from a package of support to transform academic research into commercial technology. This very much mirrors our approach at InnoScot Health – tapping into the vast knowledge and expertise across NHS Scotland, before collaborating further to turn ideas into commercial reality, and importantly, improving patient outcomes.

“It shows how just one individual’s moment of inspiration can lead to a big impact when the knowledge and support of others is drawn upon to catalyse great ideas, echoing our own assistance for pressured ophthalmology through the encouragement of Scotland’s next generation of clinical entrepreneurs.”

Professor Emanuele Trucco, co-founder of Eye to the Future said: “Only 24% of NHS eye units currently believe they have enough consultants to meet demand.

“By using sophisticated analytics tools to help optometrists make more accurate referral decisions, we can ensure the right patients get specialist care at the right time, while reducing unnecessary hospital appointments. This is crucial as every delay risks worsening eye conditions and ultimately irreversible sight loss.”

Eye to the Future was named runner-up in the Converge Challenge category of the 2022 Converge Awards, which works in close partnership with universities to encourage academic entrepreneurs.

Through Converge, the company received funding – part of a broader package of support – to help accelerate, what Professor Trucco called, “academic research towards real commercial impact,” while benefitting from “valuable insights into how our technology could make a meaningful difference to patients and clinicians”.

Frances continued: “We wish Eye to the Future well as it prepares to launch its product this year, with a pilot currently underway at Glasgow Caledonian University’s School of Optometry.”

More innovative solutions are needed to tackle growing pressure on NHS eye care across Scotland with ideas welcomed through InnoScot Health’s ophthalmology innovation call. It offers a package of support for NHS Scotland staff including advice and guidance in areas of intellectual property protection, regulation, funding, project management, and commercialisation.

The organisation has supported and worked with innovators on solutions including Peekaboo Vision, an app created by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and the iGrading platform, a diabetic retinopathy screening tool developed alongside NHS Grampian and the University of Aberdeen.

World Cancer Day is chance for NHS to be ‘United by Unique’ innovation for more people-centred care

World Cancer Day is an opportunity to inspire Scotland’s diverse healthcare innovators to unite for patient equity in the fight against the country’s leading cause of death, says an NHS partner.

Taking place today on Saturday 4 February, the theme of World Cancer Day 2025 is ‘United by Unique’ with organisers, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), believing that the day’s focus on a people-centred, tailored approach to cancer care is a vital one.

With around 16,000 people in Scotland dying from cancer every year, UICC say that everyone’s experience of it is unique and are encouraging the sharing of personal stories and help in shaping the call to action. 

Formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health insists that health service innovators must also be ‘United by Unique’ in putting forward their ideas to improve cancer care, highlighting the diverse skillsets that the country’s workforce can draw on in finding new ways to identify and treat cancer.

Executive Chair of InnoScot Health, Graham Watson said: “The World Cancer Day 2025 campaign explores different dimensions of people-centred cancer care and new ways of making a difference. That represents real opportunity for positive change.

“Healthcare innovators here in Scotland can reach out, answer that call with their unique perspectives, and make real progress in reducing the global impact of cancer, in turn helping to realise equity of access to innovative treatments.

“It is paramount that NHS Scotland patients get the care they need, and innovation holds the potential to offer more equal access to new treatments and technologies, while empowering patients to actively participate in the decision-making process.

“Scotland is also uniquely placed to contribute to such patient-centred, innovation-driven endeavours by bringing together the NHS, industry, and academia thanks to its history of effective collaboration, and lack of geographical barriers.”

UICC is dedicated to taking a lead in uniting the cancer community to reduce the disease’s global burden and integrating cancer control into the world health and development agenda.

World Cancer Day 2025 is the start of a three-year journey – from raising awareness to taking action, according to UICC.

Mr Watson added: “This important date will be marked by hundreds of events happening across the globe, all envisioning a future for cancer care where the needs of people and communities come first.

“The World Cancer Day ethos of ‘United by Unique’ is something that touches us all – and it can be a meaningful call to action for NHS Scotland innovators who can feel inspired in the knowledge that their unique thinking is more welcome than ever in tackling challenges.

“This includes sustaining the significant progress made in the fight against cancer in recent years.

“InnoScot Health believes that fresh ideas have the power to significantly improve health and social care, while supporting an ambitious, forward-thinking NHS.”

On World Cancer Day, InnoScot Health is encouraging healthcare staff to make a difference to NHS Scotland by submitting new ideas with innovative potential.

Incredible, life-changing projects are already underway across the country, including artificial intelligence (AI) being leveraged for the development of a 25-minute skin cancer diagnosis test, analysis of chest X-rays in near real time, and a new screening method that combines laser analysis with AI to identify patients in the earlier stage of breast cancer.

It is all part of collective efforts to use technology to drive forward cancer diagnosis, treatment and care with Scotland’s Chief Scientist for Health Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak recently highlighting that AI innovation in cancer was continuing to develop apace in Scotland.

She commented: “These programmes are developing and progressing and will be perhaps gaining momentum as we go forward.”

NHS Scotland to make ‘major green strides’ this year due to innovation

NHS Scotland is poised to make “major strides” across 2025 in its drive to reduce emissions through breakthrough innovation, a health service partner believes.

After pledging to become a net zero organisation by 2040, the NHS continues to make significant gains through a variety of initiatives including new technologies, new ways of working, and a deep focus on reducing emissions.

A formal partner of NHS Scotland, InnoScot Health says that innovative approaches for more environmentally sustainable care continue to be embedded at greater pace.

Innovation Manager Frances Ramsay said: “There have been some very positive developments across NHS Scotland in recent times which, looked at collectively, add up to a picture of the health service making major strides on the road to lower emissions – from new thinking in building and transport emissions to more reusables and greater upcycling at all levels.

“Its electric fleet is ever-expanding. As of April 2024, 45% of NHS Scotland’s vehicles were electric, representing a significant increase from the figure of 19% in October 2022, and that will only rise.

“Emissions from the energy used to heat and power NHS buildings continue to fall steadily, as do medical gas emissions, including the replacement of anaesthetic gas Desflurane with a less harmful gas which is now saving emissions equivalent to powering 1,700 homes every year.

“In fact, NHS Scotland won the European Sustainable Healthcare Project of the Year award in 2023 after becoming the first national health service in the UK to stop using Desflurane.

“It also means greater cost efficiency with the National Green Theatre Programme supporting health boards to achieve not only annual reductions of around 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide generated from surgery but also financial savings of around £6 million. These better practices significantly add up as we increasingly look to 2040.”

InnoScot Health continues to champion and encourage greener workforce innovation, recently helping to develop a breakthrough with midwives working at St John’s Hospital in Livingston which aids skin-to-skin contact while allowing birthing partners to keep newborns warm by utilising upcycled staff fleeces as a covering material altered onto new scrubs.

Alongside NHS Lothian’s Research and Development team, InnoScot Health helped protect and register the design, meaning that Cozy Cuddle Scrubs (by Stacey)™ are now well-placed to become more widely available through manufacturing partners.

Frances continued: “With so many projects coming to fruition, there is much to be proud of and so much innovation potential in the drive towards a net zero NHS Scotland.

“We want to inspire and encourage that vital push as much as possible by lending our support to the 180,000-strong workforce – and who better to deliver net zero than the people who are closest to the issues and can see first-hand how emissions-producing processes are contributing to climate change?”

Pioneering staff at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital recently announced their role in co-designing friendly and reusable theatre caps made from sustainable plant-based material as part of a research project led by the University of Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt University.

The project primarily aims to reduce waste created by the 800,000 single-use theatre cap products disposed of annually by Scottish hospitals, demonstrating the power of innovation-driven collaboration for sustainable design, as well as the potential for further rollout across the country.

InnoScot Health’s own sustainability call aims to inspire health and social care professionals to come forward with their ideas for greener ways of working that can help the health service adapt and strengthen.

Challenge of boosting treatment by a fifth to cut NHS backlog could be ‘huge incentive to innovators’

New analysis indicating that healthcare treatment needs to be boosted by a fifth to eliminate COVID backlogs could represent ‘a huge incentive to ambitious innovators’, insists an NHS Scotland partner. 

Researchers believe that the Scottish health service must aim to treat at least 20 per cent more non-emergency hospital cases over the next three years in order to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Experts from the Universities of Edinburgh, Strathclyde, and Oxford suggest in their Scotland-wide study – published in The Lancet – that successfully targeting an additional 32,300 cases per year by the end of 2026 could clear the COVID-19-related backlogs.

Formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health insists that helping to accelerate workforce-led innovation represents a key facet in meeting that challenge, aligning with the study’s suggestion of adopting “broader system-level strategies” in tandem with additional capacity.

Regulatory Project Manager Paula Sweeten insists that it’s “a sizeable ambition, but an achievable one too if supported by incisive decision-making and the right encouragement of impactful innovation”.

She said: “We believe that inspiring and supporting the 180,000-strong NHS Scotland workforce to innovate in a major way can help to make the required difference to waiting lists which were significantly exacerbated by the pandemic.

“Indeed, this new research states that referrals waiting to receive non-urgent treatment rose by a huge 73 per cent over the four years from 2019 as services were placed under tremendous strain.

“Overcoming that legacy of having to focus health service resource on COVID-19 for successive years remains a massive challenge of course – and we need to be realistic about what can be achieved with current investment in Scotland – but innovation opportunities are undoubtedly part of the solution.

“Those working within NHS Scotland are well-placed to identify those opportunities, leveraging not only the daily insights of individuals who are closest to challenges, but the vast collective experience and knowledge across every health board to establish more efficient, forward-looking practices.”

Researchers found that the medical specialties where most patients waited more than 12 weeks for both inpatient and outpatient appointments were Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT), General Surgery, Gynaecology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Urology. 

InnoScot Health has seen a growing number of innovations submitted by health and social care staff in the fields of gynaecology and surgery, and insists that the workforce is an important driver of not just adopting new innovations, but coming up with those initial ideas themselves. 

Study lead, Dr Syed Ahmar Shah of the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, noted that NHS Scotland requires “a holistic approach, including system-wide strategies like better demand management, prioritising cases by clinical urgency, and improving overall efficiency”.

A multifaceted approach is needed, the researchers concluded, combining capacity increases with other measures including improvement of waiting list management, promotion of preventive healthcare, and workforce strategies aimed at recruitment and retention. 

Digital health solutions such as telemedicine may help to manage less urgent cases, while innovative scheduling practices could optimise resource use, they noted.

Dr Shah added that there is a need “to set realistic recovery plans and ensure adequate funding for their implementation”.

Paula continued: “InnoScot Health believes improved collaboration across the Scottish system, with empowered innovators at its heart, is vital in the push for more efficient approaches and smarter use of resource.

“We consider that to be a huge incentive to many of NHS Scotland’s most entrepreneurial-minded, ambitious innovators who have ideas to share and are keen to spearhead sweeping change.

“This country was founded on groundbreaking ideas, and our organisation is committed to ensuring dynamic healthcare innovation is very much to the fore at this vital time of transformation. 

“By uniting our accelerative expertise with the workforce ideas and delivering real value from healthcare innovation, we can collectively aim to improve patient outcomes while finding tailored solutions to optimise clinical time as part of a more sustainable NHS Scotland.”

Webinar examines the key role of higher education in supporting enhanced healthcare innovation

InnoScot Health’s last ‘lunch & learn’ session for the first half of 2024 is entitled Engaging students in healthcare innovation for an improved NHS and will provide interesting perspectives on this key facet of turning ideas into health service improvements. 

Hosted on Microsoft Teams on Wednesday 26 June from 12 until 12.45pm, the free to join webinar will be introduced by Innovation Manager, Fiona Schaefer. 

She will discuss InnoScot Health’s work over the past two years in providing more than 10 teams of students from Heriot-Watt University Engineering Design and Manufacture and Glasgow School of Art’s product design manufacture students with real world project briefs from NHS innovators. 

Fiona will be joined by two guest speakers: 

  • Dr Faezeh Shalchy, Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences who has been providing academic support to engineering design and manufacturing students working on healthcare projects 
  • Lorraine Thomson, Business Engagement Manager at Interface who works with organisations to match them to Scotland’s world-leading academic expertise, helping to turn innovative ideas into reality 

Fiona said: “Over the past couple of years, InnoScot Health has successfully engaged with students at Heriot-Watt University and Glasgow School of Art. This has resulted in enduring collaborative relationships and this webinar will provide a showcase of successes to date. 

“We’re also delighted to have great guest speakers – Dr Shalchy who is a forward-thinking engineer specialising in projects which aim to enhance lives. 

“Interface will also provide engaging views which draw on its role as a central hub connecting industry and academia, often leading to enhanced healthcare innovation. 

“A Q&A section will round off the webinar, allowing attendees to probe and receive guidance on their own particular areas of interest.” 

“While InnoScot Health is pausing its webinar series for the summer holiday season and recommencing in late August, we’re already looking to the autumn for innovation challenges which could suit engagement with engineering students to explore a new concept, test ideas, or explore solutions to a pressing problem.” 

Next generation of innovators inspired by support from collaborative health and social care initiative

Formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health is proud to be part of a collaborative programme aiming to develop fresh health and social care innovations that can help solve clinical problems. 

Led by Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Napier Universities with InnoScot Health support, the initiative – labelled a “first of its kind research collaboration” – has seen engineering and nursing students pooling capabilities and know-how to hone breakthrough ideas. 

It is hoped that the programme could help to progress innovations into products, leading to better patient outcomes while aiding healthcare staff in integrating innovative approaches into their daily activities. 

InnoScot Health signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Heriot-Watt’s Medical Device Manufacturing Centre (MDMC) in 2022, leveraging significant expertise to accelerate medical and healthcare opportunities. 

The organisation has now helped to encourage what it calls “the next generation of health and social care innovators” by providing real world project briefs to teams of Heriot-Watt engineering students while helping them build consulting and client engagement skills.  

The promising ideas from NHS Scotland innovators were first submitted to InnoScot Health, which has since acted as their client and liaison point. 

The learnings of the student engineering project teams – enhanced by clinical insights from Edinburgh Napier University’s nursing students and access to its specialised clinical simulation facilities – are now expected to lead to improved co-designed projects. 

There are currently three ideas being developed, each of which have originated from different health boards across the country – a catheter redesign from NHS Fife; cannula cuff from NHS Forth Valley; and wobble stool from NHS Grampian. 

InnoScot Health Innovation Manager Fiona Schaefer said: “Collaborating on this Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Napier University link-up offers an excellent and important opportunity for engineering students to learn more about the demands of health and social care, to understand how products are used, and see a simulated NHS environment in action. 

“Likewise, nursing students and healthcare professionals can offer feedback on prototypes with the opportunity to test them more easily and safely than would have been possible by going into hospitals and healthcare settings.  

“At the same time, they have also been encouraged to think about innovation, to realise that they have a lot to offer, and recognise the value of their know-how for future career progression. We hope this inspires them to see opportunities to develop new ideas when they soon start working in health and social care as registered healthcare professionals.” 

She added: “Developing NHS ideas with student teams offers a great way to take forward early ideas to get closer to practical solutions. It’s clear that all three teams are really engaged, and we’re excited by the possibilities.

“I have also recently spoken to Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy Masters students who have innovation modules as part of their course so hope there may be new avenues of innovation to explore with them too.” 

Maïwenn Kersaudy-Kerhoas a Professor in Microfluidic Engineering at Heriot-Watt University and the lead academic for its new global research institute in Health and Care Technologies, has been described by InnoScot Health as “instrumental” in realising the link-up with Edinburgh Napier University through its Professor of Simulation and Clinical Skills, Cathal Breen. 

Maïwenn said: “This collaboration will ensure an excellent student experience and we are very enthusiastic about the interface between nursing and engineering. 

“Nurses are the closest to patient needs on a daily basis. By championing this first-hand knowledge and expertise, we enable nurses to co-create and help deliver innovation. Alongside this, our engineering students benefit from detailed real-world feedback on their health and care engineering concepts.” 

Cathal Breen, Professor of Simulation and Clinical Skills at Edinburgh Napier, said: “Nurses are an untapped reservoir of innovative solutions for the health and care sector. 

“In this new agreement, our students will identify potentially suitable clinical problems and work with engineering students at Heriot-Watt to design solutions to real-life clinical problems. It is hugely exciting.”