The West Midlands '6D' Innovation Accelerator will unite universities, hospitals, industry, and government-backed manufacturing experts to speed up the journey from a medical prototype to a product that patients can actually use. The problem is straightforward: the UK's healthtech and medtech sectors are worth £17 billion annually and projected to reach £21 billion by 2027, but heavy regulation makes it slow and expensive for new companies to bring technologies to market—hampering growth compared to global competitors. The accelerator targets these regulatory and logistical "pinch-points" with a coordinated programme: diagnosing company needs, defining NHS challenges, developing prototypes, deploying innovations in real-world hospital settings, diversifying collaborations, and demonstrating economic benefit. If successful, the project will create a self-sustaining commercial cluster centred on Birmingham's new Precision Healthcare Technology Accelerator, attracting up to £80–100 million in additional private investment by 2026/27. Local patients would benefit first from new technologies aimed at reducing regional healthcare inequalities. The accelerator also aims to transform NHS delivery by focusing on digitally-enabled innovations, with strong proof-of-principle in secondary care and pilot work in community and primary care settings.
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The Healthcare Technology and Medical Technology sectors are currently worth £17billion per annum to the UK, and with the ageing population and poor health following the pandemic, are projected to grow to £21billion per annum by 2027\. However, the relatively high levels of regulation in these sectors, can make it slow and expensive for new companies to bring their technologies to the UK market, something that has hindered growth comparative to other global competitors. The West Midlands '6D' Innovation Accelerator (6D-IA) will unite key players across the region (universities, hospitals, industry and government-funded 'Catapults' for manufacturing innovation) to address these problems by creating a supportive environment to accelerate new technologies towards commercialisation. The partners will run a centrally coordinated series of activities that will help companies to navigate "pinch-points" in the process of medical translation. Our '6Ds' include diagnosis of company needs; definition of NHS or corporate challenges to respond to; development and refinement of prototype products or services; deployment of innovation in real-world NHS settings; diversification of cross-sectoral collaborations; and demonstration of economic benefit for our interventions. Together, this will create a cluster of commercial activity in this sector, helping to drive regional economic growth and enhance resilience. It will also ensure that local patients will benefit first from new medical technologies targeted at reducing significant regional healthcare inequalities. The 6D-IA will also provide a national focus for the development and deployment of new healthcare technologies, growing a vibrant and self-sustaining cluster of activity centred in the new Precision Healthcare Technology Accelerator, leveraging major recent private investment alongside significant regional assets to attract and support medical innovators. The 6D-IA will place the West Midlands at the forefront of UK medical innovation by supercharging a cluster of activity in the Greater Birmingham area with strong regional and national links. It will boost economic activity within the region, attracting up to £80-100million in additional private investment by 2026/27\. It will also facilitate the transformation of the delivery of healthcare by creating a strong focus on the development of new digitally-enabled innovations, providing strong secondary care proof-of-principle with associated pilot work in community and primary care.
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