CLUSTER NEWS – July 2024
Our cluster organisation an Innovation Thought Leader!
We are delighted that, following hundreds of nominations, the West Midlands Health Technologies Cluster has been shortlisted for the Innovation Thought Leader (Organisation) award in the prestigious Innovation Awards.
Backed by Make UK, NatWest, the IoD, Innovate UK, the West Midlands Combined Authority, Warwick Manufacturing Group, BCU, and others, the Innovation Awards recognise, celebrate, and reward businesses, organisations, and individuals dedicated to innovation.
Now in its fourth year, the Innovation Awards has grown year-on-year attracting an increasing number of nominations from across the UK. While some nominate themselves, most nominees are put forward by others. This is either someone who knows them well or has supported them with innovation such as a university or a professional service provider.
In each of the 18 categories, a shortlist of 10 will be put to the public vote. Would you be willing to vote for us, please?
Voting is now open through the web site https://innovation-awards.co.uk/ and closes at 6 pm on Friday 9th August. Voting will reduce the shortlist from 10 to 5 finalists in each category.
Finalists will be notified on Monday 12th August. They will be invited to attend a 15-minute interview with 3 independent judges on Thursday 12th September in Birmingham. The judges assess them against five criteria. Based on the interview, the judging panel will determine the winner and a highly commended in each category. The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony on Friday 8th November from 6pm at the Eastside Rooms in Birmingham.
You can find last year’s finalists and the 2023 digital brochure here: https://innovation-awards.co.uk/winners-2023-2/
CLUSTER’S EVENTS
At July’s Topical Tuesday Rafiah Ansari and Clive Summerfield presented on Guidance for the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare. There is no escaping the growing reliance on AI in all walks of life and at the Cluster we see it as a vital service to help members, where appropriate, introduce AI in a safe and ethical way.
Missed it? Watch the Video recording of the July TT Session here!
We shall take a break from Topical Tuesday in August and be back again on Tuesday 10 September, where we will be talking with George Kowalski, Vice President of Business Development at MiiCare, further details coming soon! Register to attend here.
In September, Emma will be hosting the IHWG in-person event along side Tech WM and HIWM on the 17th at iCentrum for the Innovation Alliance. The event will focus on Inclusive health technology in regard to digital health solutions and tools that are designed to be accessible and beneficial for all users, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, age, abilities, backgrounds, or circumstances.
Register now to attend, click here.
We had our display stand and Emma had a panel speaking role at the Combined Authority’s Adult Learners Awards at the ICC.
I attended the Combined Authority’s Skills and the new Investment Zone at Aston University. I have some slides about the Investment Zone and the thinking around the skills offer – let me know if you want any further information.
HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES SECTOR NEWS
Manifesto for the WM Health Technologies sector
We produced a manifesto for sharing with the political parties in the run up to the General Election. You can read the manifesto on our website.
New West Midlands Mayor
As you might expect, I wrote on behalf of the cluster to the new Mayor, Richard Parker, to welcome him to his new role and to introduce him to our region’s health technologies sector.
I am pleased to report that Richard has agreed to meet me to talk about our sector’s prospects – my appointment is on 21 August, let me know if there is anything you want me to raise with him.
Richard also wrote encouragingly about the work of our cluster and the other WM cluster organisations. In part, he says:
As you know, the West Midlands is a region of pioneers and inventors. This was true in our industrial heyday, and it is also true today. Maximising the opportunities, we are hoping for our young people, our high streets, our communities, will only come from a flourishing, inclusive economy.
As part of the West Midlands Growth Plan, our goal is to make the West Midlands the best place in the UK to do a better kind of business. We will create a modern West Midlands Growth Plan to grow our economy, support smaller independent businesses, remove the barriers to growth and boost jobs. This includes areas of our economy with the highest potential for productivity growth and the more foundational parts of the economy.
Upcoming Healthcare Mission to India with DBT
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) India, UK governments’ global trade and investment promotion arm is organizing a UK-India Healthcare Trade Mission in November this year. The mission aims at bringing 10 – 15 innovative British healthcare companies to India on basis of their export potential, offering an exclusive platform to present their solution to CXO / senior level Indian healthcare providers and network with them face to face in a well-organized and curated setting.
DBT is looking to on-board healthcare companies providing innovative solutions within the areas of AI & Digital Health, Remote Care and Monitoring, Screening and Diagnostics, Education and Training, Medical Technology & Devices, Clinical Decision Support Tools, Diabetes, Oncology & Cardiovascular, Clinical Services.
Are you interested?
Dates and the cities to be covered this year:
26th November – Mumbai
27th November – Bangalore
28th November – Delhi
Participants will:
- Interact one-to-one with potential buyers/partners from the Indian healthcare industry across three major cities in India – which shall give coverage to most of the country.
- Meet the key stakeholders from Indian Healthcare Providers, Hospitals & Home Health Care Providers, diagnostic companies and medical devices manufacturers, digital health companies, associations and more
- Understand key trends and market access stories from high-profile industry speakers.
Participation details – there is an Application Fee of £220 +Vat, Participants shall have to pay for their visa fees, international and domestic flights in India along with accommodation costs. Our team shall be evaluating all the applications by mid-September, and our team shall update and get in touch with the selected participants for this year directly via email.
To find out more Contact richa.misra@fcdo.gov.uk
British Business Bank – Midlands Engine Investment Fund II
The Midlands Engine Investment Fund II will deliver £400 million of new funding to small and medium-sized businesses across the Midlands.
The fund aims to build on the success of the first Midlands Engine Investment Fund and will drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating opportunities for new and growing businesses in the Midlands.
The Midlands Engine Investment Fund II offers a range of commercial finance options with debt finance from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investment up to £5 million. The fund covers the whole of Midlands, including the West Midlands, East Midlands and South East Midlands.
WEST MIDLANDS REGION NEWS
The West Midlands Tech Sector Brand Narrative
Like many other stakeholders, I took part in a series of workshops earlier this year, which led to the development of an overview narrative for the West Midlands Tech sector.
In case you haven’t yet seen the products of this work, allow me to share with you:
The West Midlands Tech Narrative Video
The Brand Narrative Storybook.
Please feel free to share these on your own social media outlets and don’t forget to tag us and TechWM so that we can amplify your postings.
The West Midlands: Making Tech Succeed, In The Most Human Of Places.
Meet, Make, Manufacture
Meet, Make, Manufacture is a speed networking event designed for the manufacturing industry by the manufacturing industry and hosted at the MTC, Coventry: Thursday 8th August, 9:00am, Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre, Ansty Business Park, Coventry, CV7 9JU.
Delegates will have the opportunity to meet a number of technology suppliers, service providers and industry experts. Upon securing a place at the event, you will be offered pre-booked meeting slots to ensure that you get time to speak with event partners. The event is open and free to attend for anyone operating in the manufacturing and engineering sector, from engineers working on the shop floor to senior manufacturing managers and business leaders.
What Next? Careers & Employment Fairs
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) in partnership with the West Midlands Careers Hubs is inviting businesses to consider taking advantage of a free exhibition stand at their What Next? Careers & Employment Fairs this Summer.
You may recall my report of having attended the first of this summer series of “What Next?” events aimed to inspire and inform young people and adults of career pathways, local opportunities for training and jobs and provide insight on health and community support services. I found the event very rewarding indeed and over 3,000 people came through the door.
As part of the WMCA focus on Youth Employment the events will be targeted at 16-30 year olds (older residents will be welcomed too) who will visit your exhibitor stand to access information and hear more about what is on offer locally. A great opportunity to showcase your organisation and help enable residents to get into training or employment across the West Midlands.
To submit your request for a free exhibition stand, please register here for any of the below dates
WMCA What Next? Summer Careers Fairs – Exhibitor registration
Wednesday 21st August 2024 | COVENTRY | President Kennedy School
Tuesday 27th August 2024 | WALSALL | Walsall Football Club
Thursday 29th August 2024 | WOLVERHAMPTON | Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club
Monday 9th September 2024 | SANDWELL | Brasshouse Community Centre
All events timings for vendors and exhibitors – 08:30 – 17:00 / attendees – 10:30 – 16:00
For information or to discuss the event please email Isobel.Taylor@wmca.org.uk
BCU Employer Engagement offer
A brief reminder of last month’s news that BCU’s Employer Engagement team look at sourcing placement opportunities for the university’s Computing, Engineering & Built Environment Faculty. The team covers managing vacancies through to coordinating employability events or embedded academic activity. They also run a fully funded micro-placement project where they can place students with your organisation for 4-8 week placements – all paid for by BCU. There is a similar placement scheme operated in the Health, Education & Life Sciences Faculty. If you might be interested in BCU’s services, let me know and I can put you in touch with the engagement team.
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Local Growth Plans
In its manifesto, Labour said it will ask places across the country to come up with Local Growth Plans. The intention is that local politicians will set a plan for growth that aligns with a national industrial strategy.
We know, from his own election campaigning, that new WM Mayor, Richard Parker, is an enthusiast for this approach. Therefore, we need to take this development very seriously and do what we can to influence a Local Growth Plan for the West Midlands.
To start us off in our thinking, you may find interesting this Centre for Cities blog, which sets out a suggested guide to their creation of eight principles. In my view, the eighth might be better worded!
People with Long COVID three times more likely to leave work
A study of more than 9,000 people, who were in work before the pandemic, has found that people with Long COVID are at three times higher risk of leaving employment compared to those without COVID symptoms.
Covid infections have once again been on the rise, and while for many people they will recover fairly quickly, for others, complications can start after the initial infection and symptoms last for more than 5-12 weeks.
Now, a new study from the University of Birmingham and Keele University, published in PLOS One, has found that those with Long COVID symptoms lasting for more than 28 weeks, which is beyond the maximum period of statutory employment protection in the UK, are more likely to leave employment than those without symptoms.
For a summary of the findings and their implications, here is University of Birmingham’s news release.
Independent investigation into state of the NHS
The new Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, has ordered a full and independent investigation into the state of the NHS, to uncover the extent of the issues facing the nation’s health service. Mr Streeting says he wants a ‘raw and honest’ assessment that will deliver ‘the hard truths’.
To lead the investigation, the Secretary of State has appointed Professor Lord Darzi, a lifelong surgeon and innovator, independent peer and former health minister. Lord Darzi has been set a deadline for his rapid assessment, which will be delivered in September. Its findings will provide the basis for the government’s 10-year plan to radically reform the NHS and build a health service that is fit for the future.
Let me know if you would like my help in contributing your thoughts and ideas to Lord Darzi.
Spotlight on…
I visited Kimal this month, one of our region’s big-hitters in our health technologies sector. With a factory at Bromsgrove and distribution centre at Worcester, Kimal is an innovative and trusted manufacturer and supplier of specialised procedure packs and vascular access devices to hospitals across the world. Nearly 600 jobs depends on the company and saes of its products reach 70 markets around the world.
Kimal works with universities and clinicians on its R&D&I activity and is always looking at ways for the business to become more sustainable. I discussed with CEO Matthew Press ad P&D (pick up and delivery) Director Gail Hatfield. We talked about exports, regulation and skills and I learned a great deal about Kimal’s growth strategy.
I hope you enjoy reading my e-bulletin. Feel free to contact me personally with your feedback and suggestions for future activities at david@wmhtc.co.uk
Regards,
Executive Chair.
