26 Sep Liverpool City Region’s Innovation Board: supporting local HealthTech innovations
Earlier this year, our CEO Bernard Ross joined the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Combined Authority’s Innovation Board to champion early-stage innovations and drive investments helping to accelerate businesses growth and competitiveness across various industry sectors, including Health and Life Sciences.
An environment for innovation to thrive
LCR’s Innovation Board is the UK’s first sub-regional body dedicated to innovation. Its principal objective is to secure annual R&D investment equal to 5 percent of LCR Gross Value Added by 2030 – an ambition that doubles the UK target. The Innovation Board supports innovators and entrepreneurs on their missions to transform an idea, product or service into a successful and widespread business, contributing to more jobs in the region and adding to UK plc’s bottom line. This is achieved via targeted and scalable funding that complements larger scale investments.
Collaboration across the board
Bernard is joined by 25 other board members, including Lorna Green, CEO of LYVA Labs – a non-profit organisation that supports early-stage HealthTech start-ups in the LCR. Previously Commercial Director at the Innovation Agency – one of the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN) – Lorna has a track record of helping HealthTech innovations get shared across the wider healthcare system, ultimately helping enhance patient outcomes on a broader scale.
Lorna previously worked alongside Bernard to extend the reach of the geko™ device beyond the hospital. She was intrigued by the geko™ device and its various potential applications: “The interesting thing about Sky Medical Technology is that it is one device that can apply to multiple significant medical issues. Electrical stimulation of the leg to generate additional blood flow can not only help reduce the risk of life-threatening blood clots in a hospital setting but can address complications related to post-operative and trauma-based oedema and accelerate leg ulcer healing in the home setting.”
Sharing an appetite for innovation
For Bernard, contributing to the development of budding start-ups in MedTech is driven by experiencing first-hand the challenges of developing a MedTech start-up for himself. Bernard understands the importance of giving innovations a helping hand, not only with funding but with commercialisation, adoption, and expansion.
Bernard comments: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Sky, and you will find it at the core of every MedTech start-up looking to transform the future of healthcare delivery.
“On a regional scale, innovation is critical to driving both local and national economic growth. It helps attract investment in the region that translates to highly skilled and well-paid jobs. More importantly though, the innovations have the power to save healthcare systems money while saving lives. Leading a MedTech start-up through the hurdles of adoption, regulatory approval, affordability, and every other challenge, has helped me make key decisions on the Innovation Board to drive growth in the region.”
Read about the innovation initiatives in Liverpool and hear more from Lorna Green on TechBlast.
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