20 years of Health Tech Enterprise

In November 2024, Health Tech Enterprise (HTE) is celebrating its 20th anniversary. We look back at our progress since formation and what's coming next for the organisation and our partners.

Introduction

Welcome to our celebration of our 20th birthday. We look back at our major milestones over the years, what’s changed in the rapidly evolving health innovation space and look forward to what’s coming next for Health Tech Enterprise and our partners.

Major Milestones 2004 – 2024

November 2004

HEE launches as a spin-out of Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with a mission to support the identification, development and commercialisation of new medical technologies that address unmet needs in healthcare.

November 2005

Within 12 months we had run our first annual innovation competition and launched the first of many new products and services to emerge from the NHS. These included equipment specifically designed to support cervical smear tests, a multimedia campaign to support best practice in hand-washing and a drug-cabinet designed to facilitate the safe disposal of used needles.

October 2008

HEE launches a pilot programme to help train ‘Innovation Scouts’ working within the NHS to identify, capture and evaluate innovations within their own Trust.

May 2009

SBRI Healthcare regional pilot launches with funding for medical technology companies developing solutions that meet unmet NHS needs. HEE would go on to run the national programme between 2011 and 2019, distributing £90m of funding to over 180 projects.

July 2013

July 2013

HEE expands it’s geographical remit beyond the east of England, delivering innovation management support services to NHS Trusts in the midlands, London and the south of England.

November 2015

November 2015

HEE achieves it’s first trade sale of a portfolio company with the sale of Northwood Medical Innovation, a spin-out of WestHertfordshire NHS Hospitals Trust, to Allergan PLC, a leading global pharmaceutical and aesthetics company.

July 2017

July 2017

The Medtech Accelerator, an HEE joint venture company, announces the first award winners under its £2m proof of concept award scheme for development of new medical technologies originating from within the NHS.

December 2017

December 2017

HEE launches Medovate backed by £9m of funding to boost NHS medtech innovation. HEE would licence 3 innovations to Medovate for development including Safira®, a safer injection system for regional anaesthesia, and LUMEVAC, a novel EVT technology.

February 2019

February 2019

HEE and Health Innovation East co-run the Clinical Innovator Forum event to provide guidance and mentoring to health professionals with an innovative idea. Since then, over 110 clinical innovators have participated.

March 2020

March 2020

HEE wins £1m ERDF innovation grant to launch MedTech NAVIGATOR programme. Designed to facilitate knowledge transfer between innovative SMEs and the NHS, the programme supported 84 SMEs providing access to insights, knowledge exchange events and innovation grants.

April 2022

April 2022

HEE relaunches as Health Tech Enterprise (HTE) to better reflect the business’ international reach and breadth of expertise in market insights, health economics, regulation, funding and technology commercialisation.

February 2024

February 2024

HTE supports client to obtain product listing on the NHS drug tariff with a health economic evaluation to demonstrate cost-effectiveness.

Improving People’s Health through Technology and Innovation.

During the last two decades we have been proud to work with many leading HealthTech entrepreneurs from the NHS, industry and academia and have been honoured to play a role in their development as they have grown. In the coming weeks, we’ll spotlight some of these remarkable companies and NHS innovators, highlighting their successes, incredible journeys, and the support HTE has provided along the way.

The Future

The future of healthcare is expected to be shaped by several transformative trends and technologies. Innovations in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Personalised Medicine, Wearables and Health Apps, 3D Printing and Bioprinting, Nanotechnology, Virtual Reality and Sustainable Healthcare practices are all likely to have significant impact. For innovators in the healthcare industry, navigating the highly regulated and complex marketplace in different territories can be challenging. At HTE we aim to support even more innovators to successfully achieve market access and realise the benefits of new health technologies.

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