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The Health Innovation Network’s Prospectus highlights our role in accelerating the adoption of innovation, strengthening the NHS and contributing to economic growth.

Introduced by NHS England Chair Dr Penny Dash, it describes the unique strength of health innovation networks, combining local expertise with the collective power of a national network.

From AI-enabled diagnostics to technologies supporting more personalised and preventative care closer to home, innovation is essential to delivering the NHS three strategic shifts, and improving productivity, outcomes and sustainability across the NHS.

As one of 15 local organisations that make up the Health Innovation Network, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber is embedded within the local health and care system, bringing together the NHS, industry, academia, local government, charities and communities to find, test, implement and scale innovations that can improve patient outcomes, increase productivity and drive economic growth.

At a time when the NHS is facing unprecedented demand, workforce pressures and financial constraints, innovation has never been more important.Yet healthcare’s biggest challenge is not invention. It is how to achieve the adoption of innovation at scale. It is vital to move beyond isolated pilots to bring the best solutions into everyday practice, improving outcomes for patients throughout the NHS and driving a vibrant health and life science sector. The Health Innovation Network and its regional networks exist to solve that challenge systematically across the NHS.

Since 2020, health innovation networks across England have:

• Supported programmes that have benefited more than seven million patients and released over 740,000 hours of healthcare staff capacity.
• Contributed more than £4.4 billion to the UK economy through support for innovators and helped create or safeguard more than 12,600 jobs since 2018.

Within Yorkshire and the Humber, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber continues to make a significant contribution to this impact. Over the past 12 months alone, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber has:

• Supported more than 500 healthtech companies with 7,000 hours of tailored expertise, helping them to bring their transformational innovations into the NHS.
• Supported 67 global healthtech companies through its Propel International programme, helping them take practical steps towards entering the UK healthcare market.
• Helped secure £8,097,470 through 10 successful funding bids awarded in 2025/26 following support provided to applicants during 2024/25.

Successfully implementing new technologies and approaches across health and care systems is complex and requires specialist expertise. Health innovation networks provide hands-on support to help organisations adopt proven innovations at scale. They also work with innovators to develop adoption-ready solutions that address the system’s most pressing challenges and help build the partnerships needed across the ecosystem, including with industry, to create the conditions for successful implementation.

However, addressing the adoption challenge is a collective responsibility and opportunity. While there are many examples of innovative practice across the NHS, proven solutions are not always spreading and scaling as quickly as they could. Health innovation networks play a vital role in helping overcome these barriers, ensuring that effective innovations can reach more patients, clinicians and communities.

Read the Health Innovation Network Prospectus to learn more about the unique capabilities of health innovation networks.

To find out more about how Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber can support your innovation journey, contact us at info@healthinnovationyh.co.uk

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