Fourteen innovative companies in the north have secured a combined £1.9 million from a fund tailored to the region’s strengths in Life and Health Sciences.
Innovate UK’s ‘Launchpads’ programme (www.iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/launchpads) supports clusters of SMEs and helps the most innovative businesses to progress their projects towards commercialisation.
And a new Northern Ireland Life and Health Sciences Launchpad has just been developed through a partnership between the national innovation agency, Innovate UK, and Invest NI.
This first competitive round of investment attracted a huge response from businesses and innovators in the north.
The businesses funded are to develop innovative technologies such as diagnosis of sports-related injuries, stroke recovery, cancer therapeutics, 3D imaging and regenerative medicine.
Funding has initially been offered to 14 projects, across digital health, biotech therapeutics and diagnostics and medical technologies disciplines (two are collaborative R&D projects and 12 projects are solely for SMEs).
The regional cluster will be managed by the Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI), which was established to strengthen the life & health sciences ecosystem by maintaining a clear vision and strategic direction, and to act as a single voice for the sector in the north.
It’s chief executive Professor Joann Rhodes said: “Our strategic sector-specific insights over the last three years has established a roadmap to connect and promote the strengths and capabilities in the health and life sciences sector for better health and prosperity in Northern Ireland.
“This fantastic place-based Launchpad opportunity from Innovate UK will be transformational to nurture health and life sciences businesses of all sizes to unleash their full potential and help embed the pipeline of talent through creating quality highly skilled jobs.
“It is Northern Ireland’s distinctive capabilities in precision diagnostics, biomarkers and AI that help to set us apart from the rest along with world-class assets on our doorstep. However, these latest grants are just the beginning when it comes to our ambitions for our area: this is the fastest growing sector in Northern Ireland, with over £200 million infrastructure investment and over £1 billion of new projects still to unlock.
“We are well positioned between the UK-EU and with strong relationships in the US to exploit this investment – and are ready to seize every opportunity that comes our way.”
Dean Cook from Innovate UK said: “We are committed to supporting regional innovation capabilities and nurturing technology clusters across the UK and are delighted to announce details on the businesses and innovations to receive the initial investments through our Launchpad programme.
“This significant funding strengthens Northern Ireland’s renown life and health sciences cluster, with a number of businesses benefiting.
“The investment in this cluster is complementary with the centres of excellence being developed as part of the region’s City and Growth Deals and Economy Minister Conor Murphy’s Economic Vision, with the potential to deliver jobs, growth, higher productivity and support levelling-up.
“The initiative underscores our commitment to fostering innovation, driving economic growth and the transformative potential of collaboration within the robust technology clusters across the UK.”