INSIGHTS / News

Following the success of the Health Innovation Programme’s last year, entrepreneurs and health sector professionals in the South are being offered the opportunity to meet and learn from seasoned entrepreneurs and investors first-hand to help them start and grow successful health innovation businesses.

The training programme will be run by SETsquared, which is ranked as the world’s best university business incubator and the Wessex Academic Health Science Network.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from experts from SETsquared’s network, who have collectively helped over 1,000 companies raise more than £1b in investment, as well as creating over 9,000 jobs. The programme closes with the opportunity for delegates to pitch their innovation to a live panel of investors and entrepreneurs to get feedback and advice for taking their venture forward.

Simon Bond, innovation director at SETsquared, said: “It’s fantastic to be able to bring back the Health Innovation Programme and our experts to the Wessex region after it was so successful last year. The programme delivers world class training to support healthcare professionals, health and life science academics and small businesses and focuses on innovators with a clear business proposition or innovative idea that has application in the health sector.”

The Health Innovation Programme is running at the University of Southampton Science Park on 10, 14 and 18 March as a three day course. The agenda includes training attendees on core skills in entrepreneurship and developing skills in the areas of customer and market analysis, funding strategies and building a business case. Entrepreneurs and health sector professionals have until 21 January to enter and can do so at: localhost/setsquared-live/wessexahsn

”Wessex AHSN is helping to develop strong businesses and bring new solutions to market,” said Andy Burroughs, director of wealth and enterprise at Wessex AHSN.  “This initiative supports companies on their journey and boosts innovation in the region to improve the health and care of our local population.”

A recent example of the Health Innovation Programme’s success is getUbetter, a business that is using the skills gained on the programme to launch its first app to guide recovery from back pain.

SETsquared joined forces with four Academic Health Science Networks in the South of England in November two years ago to set up the revolutionary new programme that could see more effective and better value healthcare technologies benefitting patients quicker than ever.