Accelerating HealthTech innovation for better patient care
Technological innovations have the potential to revolutionise healthcare services for everyone. The NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Sustainable Innovation (HRC) - hosted by the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with the University of Exeter - is one of 14 research centres across England driving innovation in health technology.
About Us
We bring together researchers, clinicians and medical technology companies to develop, test, and improve medical devices, diagnostics and digital technologies.
Our vision is for patients in the South West and beyond to have access to healthcare innovations that will benefit them. Working across the NIHR infrastructure and with the region’s NHS services, we identify patient needs and respond with cutting-edge solutions, either by developing new technologies or optimising existing ones.
Read on or visit our website to find out more.
Innovation in Action
More About Us
Our work focuses on five core themes centred around the needs of the population of the South West Peninsula. These are:
Iona Mind: We worked with the experts behind Iona Mind to create a digital platform which expands access to personalised, inclusive and evidence-based mental health support.
Type 1 Diabetes Genetic Risk Score (T1D-GRS): We developed a simple, inexpensive and robust genetic test to predict and classify type 1 diabetes with 97% accuracy.
Walk Safe®: We collaborated with NRS Healthcare, and the Universities of Exeter and Salford to co-develop Walk Safe® – a CE marked, redesigned walking frame that offers double the stability of standard frames during turning.
Capture & Recycling of Volatile Anaesthetic Agents: We are working with SageTech Medical to develop an innovation that recycles anaesthetic gases, reducing harmful waste.
What We Offer
We have access to some of the best clinicians, academics and researchers, with specialist interests across a wide range of healthcare and HealthTech fields.
We co-develop, evaluate and scale cutting-edge health technology for deployment across clinical and community settings.
We’re helping develop more sustainable and cost-effective technologies, accelerating NHS efforts to reach Net Zero and introduce solutions that are better for people and planet.
As well as working with the NHS and healthcare bodies, we have partnerships in place to enable fast evaluation of new technologies including: NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC), Clinical Research Network South West Peninsula, NIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility the VSIM and Gillings Centre.
We place patients and the public at the heart of what we do, ensuring that people have the opportunity to make decisions, shape, and learn about research. Find out more about our PPIE approach here.
Events
Our events bring together clinicians, researchers, industry leaders, and innovators from across the region to shape future healthcare innovation. Watch the video below to see what we got up to at our recent LEAP event.
If you're looking to access leading HealthTech research infrastructure, clinical and academic expertise, and a fast track route to NHS adoption, get in touch by emailing rduh.uoe.hrc@nhs.net
