An AHSN Network supported initiative is exploring opportunities to bring new innovation to women’s health. Accelerating FemTech will support innovators to boost the development of technology solutions to address current challenges in women’s health – from female-specific areas such as maternal health, fertility, gynecological cancers and menopause, to conditions that affect women disproportionally or differently, including osteoporosis or cardiovascular disease.
Accelerate is a 10-week support programme for small / medium-sized companies (SMEs) from across the UK, that have early-stage innovations addressing the current challenges. The programme is being delivered by the Health Innovation Network and other partners, including: DigitalHealth.London, the South West AHSN, the West of England AHSN, Kent Surrey Sussex AHSN, East Midlands AHSN, Yorkshire and Humber AHSN, Health Innovation Manchester and the Academic Health Science Network for North East and North Cumbria. DigitalHealth.London is a collaboration between two of London’s AHSNs – the Health Innovation Network and UCLPartners.
Building on the Health Innovation Network’s experience of running the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator, the programme will provide companies developing products to solve women’s health challenges with bespoke support through expert-led workshops and mentoring. It will support them to develop their product offering, understand the challenges in the women’s health space, grow entrepreneurship skills and engage with key stakeholders across the NHS and academic landscape.
The programme will be delivered in a hybrid format, with two days of face-to-face workshops in London (September 2023) and Leeds (October 2023), and a showcase in London in November 2023, supplemented by online support, workshops and coaching.
Accelerating FemTech has been made possible through Innovate UK funding as part of the Biomedical Catalyst in collaboration with the Medical Research Council. The programme will also support the companies to apply to the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst call in November 2023, to demonstrate their commercial and technical feasibility.
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