New medical technologies—from advanced sensors to novel materials—often stall before they ever reach a patient’s bedside, blocked not by poor science but by a gulf in understanding between the physicists who build them and the clinicians who would use them. This project builds a bridge across that divide. It funds a programme of workshops and dedicated staff—Knowledge Transfer Fellows and Associates—to bring physical scientists and NHS clinicians together from the start, so that new tools are designed with the real-world constraints of clinical trials, ethics approvals, and patient interactions already in mind. The work plugs into an existing regional commercialisation network in North-East England, including the Angel Alliance between Durham and Newcastle universities and the regional development agency. If it succeeds, the immediate impact will be a faster, more reliable pipeline for turning fundamental science into practical healthcare tools—things like better diagnostic devices or smarter surgical sensors. The project does not itself develop any new technology; it creates the conditions for that development to happen, and for it to happen where it currently does not.
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There is strong pressure from the Research Councils (on behalf of Government), industry and consumers to pull new developments in materials, sensors and physical techniques through into the healthcare sector. However, there are serious barriers to adoption of new techniques, particularly in clinical practice. A major reason is the lack of understanding by physical scientists of the practical constraints to adoption of technology by clinicians. These include the whole process of clinical trials, including regulation, ethical approval, methodology and relations with volunteers. The aim of this KTA is, through development of collaborations and working relationships between physical scientists and clinicians, to provide a bridge across the clinical/non-clinical divide and thus facilitate the exploitation process of basic science and technology.The KTA will provide a pipeline into the existing North-East Regional commercialisation framework, which has recently been enhanced by the establishment of the Angel Alliance between the Universities of Durham and Newcastle and the Regional Development Agency, One-North East. We propose a regular programme of workshops to identify new collaborations, which will then be nurtured and managed by staff appointed within the KTA. As part of the Technology Transfer structures of the two universities, they will develop these relationships through the use of KT Fellows and Associates to condition the projects ready for external commercialisation. We will also develop the use of KTPs within the healthcare sector, particularly with NHS Trusts.
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