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.
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.
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.
HEE launches a pilot programme to help train ‘Innovation Scouts’ working within the NHS to identify, capture and evaluate innovations within their own Trust.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
HTE supports client to obtain product listing on the NHS drug tariff with a health economic evaluation to demonstrate cost-effectiveness.
Open Medical have developed a novel teledermatology platform aimed to enhance the triage of dermatology referrals, particularly for suspected skin cancer. This tool holds the promise to considerably shorten the journey from referral to final diagnosis, optimising the utilisation of healthcare resources. The team worked with HTE to generate real-world validation in clinical settings, helping them to scale their solution across to a national level.
Dr John Scott Frazer, working in Anaesthetics & Intensive Care at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, has developed Pediject, a device for administration of medication in a medical emergency. The device aims to improve patient safety in paediatric medicine by quickly and accurately setting the required dose of medication. Scott worked with HTE to access the expert advice he needed across all aspects of the product development pathway.
Thermology Health, a spinout from the UK's world-renowned National Metrology Institute, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), has developed a unique, patented thermal imaging technology for the prevention of diabetic foot ulcers. Diabetic foot ulcers are one of the biggest complications of diabetes affecting over 20% of all diabetics worldwide. Thermology Health approached HTE to perform health economic evaluations for the US and UK (NHS) markets.
Medovate is a company dedicated to the development and commercialisation of innovative medical technologies from within the NHS to provide a route to market for clinician-inspired medical device innovations. A prime example of this is SAFIRA® (Safer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia), a technology invented by four Anaesthestists at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust and developed in collaboration with Medovate.
Maternal Newborn Health Innovations (MNHI) is a mission-driven Public Benefit Corporation focused on enabling a gentle and safe way for obstetricians to assist the birth of newborns during circumstances of prolonged, complicated labour. Over the last several months HTE has helped MNHI conduct a health economic analysis to simulate the real-life impact that its OdonAssist™ inflatable obstetric device for assisted vaginal birth could have in the maternity space.
Health Tech Enterprise is a trademark of Health Enterprise East Ltd.
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