News

A first-of-its-kind partnership has been formed between health innovation leaders in Yorkshire and the Humber and an innovation powerhouse in St Louis, Missouri, USA.

A collaboration agreement has been signed by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber with BioSTL, the nonprofit organisation at the centre of St Louis’ bio-innovation ecosystem, representing the region’s leading academic, healthcare, industry and civic institutions.

A delegation visited the region to formalise the transatlantic partnership, bringing leaders from BioSTL, Washington University and St Louis Mercy Health to start planning next steps.

In Leeds, the visitors spent a day meeting partners from the NHS, industry and academia followed by a morning taking part in a masterclass for innovators on the Propel Healthtech scaleup programme – delivered by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The visit also included attending the biggest NHS event of the year, ConfedExpo in Manchester, and meeting key stakeholders and innovators supported by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and fellow health innovation networks (HINs) from across the country.

The partnership creates a formal framework for collaboration, giving innovators from Yorkshire and the Humber access to BioSTL’s network of investors, industry partners, healthcare providers and research institutions. The focus is on practical support – market entry, mentorship, investor readiness and connections to US healthcare buyers.

Joint initiatives are planned, including delegations and knowledge exchange activities aimed at equipping innovators with the insights and connections to compete internationally.

Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber said: “The benefits that health innovation brings to patients go beyond borders. Collaborating internationally in this way helps to bring the best global innovation into Yorkshire faster, as well as helping us to support our vibrant local companies to expand into new markets such as St Louis and the wider US system.

“It’s been fascinating to uncover the cultural, geographical and economic similarities between Yorkshire and St Louis, and I’m delighted to be cementing our relationship with the superb BioSTL team in this way.”

BioSTL Global Lead Vijay Chauhan described the visit as just the start of an evolving international collaboration. He said: “The idea for this collaboration started a year ago when Richard and I met at NHS ConfedExpo in 2025 when he was Chair of the national Health Innovation Network. He had that vision and we said, let’s test drive this idea.

“We are both regions that are punching way above our weight and we really believe that the wonderful work that’s happening right now can be taken to the next level through this collaboration.

“Also, we both have a vision for health and economic vitality as two sides of the same coin. Richard and team are actually way ahead of us on this topic with the ten years of wonderful, trustful convening that’s been going on with the mayoral combined authorities, with the health care organisations and with the innovation support that is a model for us to learn from and leverage.”

In the same week, the BioSTL delegates also signed collaboration agreements with Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex and Health Innovation Network South London.

The BioSTL delegates were: Global Lead Vijay Chauhan; Healthcare Innovation Advisory Manager Noah Wolthausen; Global Advisor and Managing Director of Health, Washington University in St Louis, Patrick Aguilar; Global Advisor and CEO of Peregrine3, Krischa Winright; and Vice President, Clinical Innovation, Informatics and Precision Medicine, Mercy Hospital, Dr Damon Broyles.

Innovation facts about St Louis:

• St Louis punches far above its weight in life sciences discovery and healthcare delivery: the city’s Washington University was responsible for mapping 25 per cent of the human genome and St Louis is home to leading hospital systems, insurance and health services companies with combined revenues of $520 billion
• Washington University is at the top of the list of research institutions that receive federal funding (from the National Institutes of Health) to address the most pressing medical needs of the day.
• Startups in the area came up with the world’s first blood test for Alzheimer’s disease (C2N) and Wugen (a new CAR-T treatment for some cancers), among others.