Spinout News / UCLB News

Six new ventures join the Health Social Innovators Programme in London

17 March 2016

The second cohort of social entrepreneurs tackling healthcare and wellbeing challenges in England have joined the accelerator in February 2016.

Health Social Innovators, a pioneering accelerator programme for social ventures in health, has welcomed six exciting companies on to the second cohort. The programme is a collaboration between UCL Business PLC and Numbers for Good, together with strategic investors Trafford Housing Trust, and Janssen Healthcare Innovation, with backing from the Cabinet Office’s Social Incubator Fund.

The companies have been carefully selected, based on the entrepreneurs’ experience in building innovative healthcare solutions and their ability to create significant and long-term social impact at the community level across England. From preventing obesity to early diagnosis of dementia the accelerator shows the growing role technology is playing across the health and social care spectrum.

Ventures participating in the second Health Social Innovators programme include:

  • BrainMiner – an innovative medical imaging solution provider that is capitalising upon state of the art expertise in quantitative neurological imaging arising from the Translational Imaging Research Group (TIG) at UCL, in order to provide automated analysis and interpretation of patient brain scans, initially within a dementia context.
  • Mapping for Change – uses geospatial technologies to increase participation in community life and support the integration of individuals from different groups and backgrounds. They are developing an interactive mapping tool for local authorities and healthcare commissioners that will show and inform design of how patients are engaging with health services.
  • Memrica Prompt – a personal digital companion, which helps people live well with memory problems such as early dementia or as a result of stroke or brain injury.
  • Trim Tots – the only evidence based and clinically developed, healthy lifestyle programme for preschool children and their families to develop the knowledge and skills needed to establish healthy dietary and activity patterns for the whole family. It has been developed by a team of child health professionals from the UCL Institute of Child Health and community artists.
  • Walk with Path – developing wearable insoles that reduce the risk of falls in vulnerable individuals and improve confidence when walking and ultimately help these individuals to maintain their independence and quality of life for longer.
  • Yomp – utilising industry-leading practices from gamification and behavioural economics to help users create healthy habits in a fun, social and engaging way delivering health and well-being benefits at the individual level, increased productivity and reduced absenteeism at the workforce level and delivering savings and reducing the burden on our healthcare system.

The programme is supporting these early stage innovations through an accelerator that establishes an enabling environment within which entrepreneurs can challenge and learn from each other and scale their reach and impact.

HSI brings together a unique set of partners hailing from a diverse range of sectors and backgrounds  with a shared mission to scale new technologies that hold the potential to improve the health of patients in England. In addition to UCL Business, Numbers for Good, Trafford Housing Trust, and Janssen Healthcare Innovation, the initiative has also received support from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London; Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology; and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust and University College London.

Andy Maud, Numbers for Good Health Lead said “Our health system faces serious budgetary and demographic challenges, meaning investment into preventative and earlier stage interventions is vital. Our diverse cohort of ventures all hold the potential to improve patient outcomes and provide cost savings to the NHS, and it’s very exciting to play a part in their growth. It won’t be an easy road for any of them, but through Health Social Innovators’ we hope to help them overcome some of their common challenges such as developing robust and sustainable operating and financial models at scale and in navigating the procurement landscape.

Rodger Cairns, Managing Director for Independent Living at Trafford Housing Trust, said: “Health Social Innovators provides Trafford Housing Trust with a unique opportunity to develop social ventures that hold the potential to improve the lives of our tenants while simultaneously delivering a financial return. We hope that our involvement pioneers the way for more housing association to become social investors.

Ana Lemmo Charnalia, Social Enterprise Senior Business Manager at UCL Business, said: “We are delighted to continue supporting the development of social ventures through the Health Social Innovators’ Programme as a further mechanism to translate UCL and its associated hospitals’ innovative knowledge base into products and services that can deliver substantive benefits to society.

For further information, please contact Matt Black, matt@numbersforgood.com

About UCLB
UCL Business PLC (UCLB) is a leading technology transfer company that supports and commercialises research and innovations arising from UCL, one of the UK’s top research-led universities. UCLB has a successful track record and a strong reputation for identifying and protecting promising new technologies and innovations from UCL academics. UCLB has a strong track record in commercialising medical technologies and provides technology transfer services to UCL’s associated hospitals; University College London Hospitals, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Royal Free London Hospital. It invests directly in development projects to maximise the potential of the research and manages the commercialisation process of technologies from laboratory to market.

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