News

We are pleased to announce that applications for the fourth edition of our digital accelerator programme Propel@YH are now open.

This year’s programme will be aimed at early-stage SMEs who would benefit from a wide range of support, mentoring and masterclasses. We will also be working with the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and their Sustainability Leads to support the SMEs to help improve their environmental sustainability impact. Innovators who can clearly articulate how their product addresses both the environmental sustainability and health inequalities challenge will be of particular interest.

We are interested in working with SMEs that make a commitment to growing and spreading their innovations into the Yorkshire and Humber region. We are looking for innovators that can support the NHS deal with some of the most pressing challenges such as the increasing patient backlog, tackling health inequalities and improving service delivery.

The first phase of the programme will run from October to December and will involve 10 days of in-depth masterclasses covering the following topics:

• Introduction to the NHS, local system and delivery partners
• Growth and spreading your product and services into the NHS
• Sustainability and the NHS green agenda
• Stakeholder Management and selling into the NHS
• Legal masterclass
• Funding, finance, grants and procurements
• Governance and clinical safety masterclass
• Evidence and evaluation masterclass
• Inclusive design and addressing technology inequalities
• User centric product design, interfaces and interoperability

Talking about joining last year’s Propel@YH programme, Matthew Booth, a physiotherapist and co-founder of PhysioBuddie, commented:

“The Propel@YH programme has been excellent for PhysioBuddie. It has given us the exposure we need and monitor its success using a health economic review.

“We have had great support from the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN to grow and develop. The AHSN have always been on hand to answer any questions and support us with our implementation into the NHS”. PhysioBuddie is an innovative online therapy service that provides its users with remote step-by-step progressive rehabilitation.

From January 2023 until the end of the programme in April 2023, we will support the SMEs with some sessions dedicated to ‘Growth Planning’ and ‘Support Surgeries’ and conclude with the ‘Propel Showcase’ afternoon.

Whilst taking part in the programme, the chosen companies will receive support from several expert partners: Hill Dickinson (legal advice); Nexus, University of Leeds (networking opportunities); Barclays Eagle Labs (funding guidance), Thrive By Design will curate and run the programme of masterclasses with us  and Leeds City Council will bring networking contacts to the programme.

The Yorkshire & Humber AHSN will also provide mentoring support consisting of 1-2-1 and group sessions. This year we are aiming to run face-to-face sessions, with plenty of time for networking and building local and national relationships with key stakeholders.

Neville Young, Enterprise & Innovation Director at Yorkshire and Humber AHSN, said:

“We are really pleased to be able to offer this unique level of support to healthtech innovators. The value and level of support they will receive on the programme will put them in a really strong position to grow and spread their offering into the NHS”.

Tim East, Digital Navigator at Yorkshire and Humber AHSN, added:

“Propel@YH is one of the leading digital healthtech accelerator programmes in the UK, and we are really pleased to offer this to another cohort of SMEs. The Yorkshire and Humber region is a great place to support our local NHS system and I look forward to working with the SMEs.”

Applications are open until 4pm on Friday 2nd September

Applications are made through an online portal, where progress can be saved over time. The web address is https://yhahsn.awardsplatform.com/

If you experience any technical problems please email PropelYHAHSN@yhahsn.com