Our role in the West Yorkshire Launchpad

Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber were selected by Innovate UK to act as the cluster management organisation for the West Yorkshire Health Technologies Launchpad. Working in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, our role was to support the HealthTech sector in West Yorkshire, grow and manage the HealthTech cluster and ensure a sustainable legacy and strong economic growth trajectory for the region.

In our role as Cluster Management organisation, we have focused on convening, consolidating, aligning and promoting the region’s HealthTech cluster. This has included mapping the support available to businesses in the region, helping companies access Launchpad funding and infrastructure across West Yorkshire, and working closely with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to further embed and deliver their HealthTech strategy. We have also worked to raise the international profile of West Yorkshire’s HealthTech sector and to ensure that entrepreneurs and enterprises led by underrepresented groups are proactively supported.

Our support

HealthTech Navigator Platform

We mapped the organisations and stakeholders across the West Yorkshire HealthTech ecosystem to create the HealthTech Navigator platform. An interactive tool that acts as a virtual ‘front door’ to the region’s health and life sciences ecosystem, helping innovators identify and access the most relevant support quickly and effectively.

Webinar Series

We delivered the Accelerating HealthTech Innovation in West Yorkshire webinar series, a ten part webinar series supporting innovators, researchers and companies at all stages of development, from early ideas through to adoption and scale. Each session focused on a different stage of the innovation journey, from concept development and accessing early-stage funding, to regulation, reimbursement, adoption, and scale.

The series featured over 40 expert speakers, attracted nearly 200 registrations, with the recorded sessions viewed over 230 times so far.

It was designed to be accessible and flexible, open to a wide audience from students to established companies, with recordings available as an ongoing resource.

Driving the Future of Innovation, West Yorkshire’s HealthTech Cluster

In November 2025 we delivered the ‘Driving the Future of Innovation, West Yorkshire’s HealthTech Cluster’ conference, a large 300 delegate event in partnership with the West Yorkshire HealthTech Cluster, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board’s HIVE Network. The conference showcased the strength of the West Yorkshire HealthTech cluster and created a unique forum for innovators, the NHS, research, government and wider ecosystem partners to come together and collaborate. The event also achieved strong media coverage, with a combined publication audience of 163,000 and over 9,500 estimated views, supporting the ambition of the West Yorkshire Health Technologies Launchpad to promote the region as a leading centre for HealthTech and innovation.

Investing in Success: Scaling West Yorkshire’s HealthTech Sector

In March 2026 we delivered ‘Investing in Success: Scaling West Yorkshire’s HealthTech Sector’, an event to celebrate the achievements of the West Yorkshire Launchpad programme and bring together high potential companies with investors and funding organisations. The event included talks and panel discussions on the impact of the Launchpad programme, company success stories and funding opportunities, alongside insights from investors. It also featured a keynote from the Mayor of West Yorkshire and a facilitated networking workshop to directly connect businesses with relevant investors and funding support. The event also had a focus on improving access to funding for female founded and led businesses, an underrepresented group in funding statistics. This included a keynote talk from Lifted Ventures, and 40 percent of innovators attending were from female founded or led companies.

We have also worked closely with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to support delivery of the HealthTech strategy and the development of the region’s HealthTech Cluster Action plan.

Impact

Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber were a key partner in the West Yorkshire Health Technologies Launchpad, working closely with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to secure £7.5m funding from Innovate UK for innovative Health Tech businesses in the region. Several large investments are yet to report, but to-date the businesses have reported over £5.5m additional private investment and 22 FTE roles created as a result of getting Launchpad funding.

In our role as Cluster Management organisation for the West Yorkshire Launchpad, we have supported the Innovate UK Launchpad funding competitions, including promotion of the funding competitions to our network of innovators. Innovate UK received 283 applications for funding, with almost a third of those business applying to Innovate UK for the first time. Of the 34 businesses offered funding, 14 were not known to Innovate UK before the launchpad.

In our role as Cluster Management organisation for the West Yorkshire Launchpad we have also supported over 46 companies. This has included providing expert advice and guidance, supporting funding applications, connecting businesses with key stakeholders across the cluster, providing exhibition space at launchpad events, communications support, giving feedback on investment pitches and connections to investors.