Innovation in European healthcare – what can Sweden learn? - LIF

The NIHR has also established Healthcare Technology Co-
Operatives (HTCs) to address clinical areas of high morbidity and
unmet clinical need
• HTCs address clinical areas by providing leadership
in developing new medical devices, healthcare
technologies, or technology dependent
interventions.
• HTCs will engage with Academic Health Science
Networks to accelerate adoption and diffusion of
new technology-related health interventions
throughout the NHS
• HTCs will be led by a clinical director and involve
multidisciplinary teams working collaboratively with
patients, charities, industry and academia
• In January 2012, the NIHR launched a new
competition for HTCs, inviting clinicians and
researchers to bid for infrastructure funding. This
was to support collaborations between the NHS and
industry, to lead the development of medical
devices and healthcare technologies.
• The new scheme is built on a pilot scheme that
funded two HTCs in 2008 through the Invention for
Innovation funding programme, in partnership with
the Technology Strategy Board, the Engineering
and Physical Sciences Research Council and the
Medical Research Council:
– The Devices for Dignity HTC – focused on assistive
technologies to help people with long-term debilitating
conditions affecting their dignity and independence
– The Bowel Function HTC –focused on new
technologies to improve lives of people with Crohn’s
disease, ulcerative colitis, bowel cancer and other
disorders affecting the bowel
Key Successes:
– NHS Innovation Award, 2009: awarded for
an HTC innovation of a dignity bidet commode for
stroke survivors
– Cutlers Surgical Award, 2011: a
prestigious award for the development of the
APPEAR and SMART surgical procedures and
instrumentation for bowel surgery
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