The RIC Hub ⸠Connecting Innovators
Innovation Support
A lot of innovation involves working in partnership with other agencies, whether they be public, industry, academic or third sector. See below for a list of different agencies with a keen interest in taking innovation forward.
Business Support
Armâs Length Body of Welsh Government that exists to catalyse innovation and collaboration between industry, health, social care, and academia. Clear mission to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative solutions for better health and wellbeing.
How can LSHW help you?
The Hub has a pivotal role to play in helping healthcare providers to understand whatâs possible from industry – and in focusing on understanding the impact and sustainability of buying decisions. Also:
1. Accelerating the development and adoption of innovative solutions that support the health and social care needs of Wales.
2. Partnering with industry to advance economic development across the life sciences sector in Wales, driving business growth and creating jobs.
Visit lshubwales.com to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
Welsh Government (WG) funded innovation centre that aims to accelerate and translate respiratory innovation by drawing together the NHS, Academia and Industry to accelerate and translate respiratory innovation.
How can RIW help you?
Its vision is to be a world leading gateway for respiratory innovation, a âfront doorâ to co-creating innovation for impact on the health and wealth of Wales. It seeks to add value by acting as a gateway for commercial and academic partners to engage with the NHS to identify and support innovative respiratory solutions that involve new ways of working and or using technology in response to tackling Covid19. Beyond that it looks to:
⢠Enhance and develop respiratory products, services, or treatments;
⢠Seek real world insights through advanced data science and digital engineering;
⢠Expand its research and innovation activities.
Visit riwales.com to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
The Welsh Wound Innovation Initiative was established to tackle the challenges associated with acute, traumatic and chronic, non-healing wounds and their treatment and prevention, in addition to other skin health issues.
How can WWIC help you?
Focus is on transforming the management and delivery of better wound health care (prevention and treatment) via a coordinated, facilitated network approach to meet the wound healing needs of stakeholders and customers through:
⢠general consultancy regarding market trends, key opinion leaders and product & service requirements
⢠focus groups bringing clinical and patient experience together
⢠product development and evaluation
⢠review training materials intended for clinical and industry staff; and
⢠develop state of the art e-learning packages to better educate customers and clients upon wound healing issues.
Visit www.wwic.wales to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
The TriTech Institute, aims to provide solutions to unmet needs in healthcare by applying innovative medical technologies to benefit patients, staff and the wider health economy. It sits between the Clinical Engineering and Research & Innovation departments at Hywel Dda University Health Board and is staffed by a dedicated team of experts from a wide range of specialities including engineers, scientists and clinicians.
Visit tritech.nhs.wales to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
Funded through the WG, DHEW brings together industry, clinicians, policy makers, academics, innovators, and funders to create an environment of digital innovation in Welsh healthcare. DHEW is a collaboration between the Life Sciences Hub Wales (LSHW) and Digital Health & Care Wales (DHCW).
Visit digitalhealth.wales to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
The SBRI centre based at Betsi Cadwaladr UHB funds the research and development of new exciting, innovative solutions to address unmet needs within health, where no readily available market solution exists.
Visit sbriwales.co.uk to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
Advisory & Appraisal Support
Works with businesses to realise the potential of an idea, product or research. Team of experts help take your âIntellectual Propertyâ to the marketplace and help make it a commercial success. Clear focus, and does not involve giving awards of money but can work with the innovator and funds activity towards a shared outcome. Only supports opportunities that make commercial or economic sense. Based at Swansea University.
Visit www.agorip.com to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
The Welsh Health Innovation and Technology Accelerator is a collaboration between Life Sciences Hub Wales, Cardiff University, Swansea University, and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. It offers enterprises bespoke innovation expertise to refine and validate their health care solutions and speed up their adoption into the health sector in Wales for economic benefit.
Visit www.swansea.ac.uk to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
ATIC is a partner in the Accelerate project which helps innovators in Wales turn their ideas into solutions. It is a research centre with expertise and experience in user centred design, user-experience evaluation and analysis, 3D data and motion capture, as well as prototyping in a range of materials.
Visit www.uwtsd.ac.uk to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
A national body working to improve the quality of care in Wales. Funded by Welsh Government and hosted within NHS Wales but sees itself as independent of both. Remit covers appraisal of any technology or model of care and support in health and social care that isnât a medicine. For health, this could include medical devices, diagnostics, procedures and psychological therapies. For social care, this could include equipment, or different models for supporting families, children, adults and the workforce.
Visit healthtechnology.wales to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
Value-Based Health Care is a transformational approach to designing and delivering care solutions that offer the greatest value to a person receiving them at the lowest possible 15 cost to health and social care systems. It is rapidly gaining global popularity as an effective way of improving patient experience, health outcomes and sustainably using finite resources.
It is recognised that radical steps are needed to redesign care around the changing needs of our aging population, while using limited available resources more effectively.⯠The ViH Programme provides leadership, support, expertise and strategic direction across NHS Wales that drives better outcomes for patients.
Visit vbhc.nhs.wales to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
Thought Leadership Support
Walesâ leading health and care think tank, looks to challenge, change and champion thinking and practice to ensure sustainable health and care that is fit for the future.
CHALLENGE – harness independent and new insights to challenge policy and practice, acting as âcritical friendsâ to help leaders make informed decisions on health and care in Wales, across the UK and beyond.
CHANGE – support individuals and teams to design, try out, test and deliver new methodologies and approaches to transform health and care.
CHAMPION – the adopt and spread of innovative ways of working through research, training and wider exploratory and collaborative work, with a wide range of local, national and international stakeholders.
Visit bevancommission.org to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
The ILA Programme is intended to help transform the delivery of health and social care across Wales, and beyond. These academies are delivering academic courses, while offering research and bespoke consultancy services to support individual organisations in the adoption and delivery of meaningful innovation across health and social care.
Part funded by Swansea University, Bangor University, University of South Wales and Welsh Government, the ILAs are the first institutions in the world to offer dedicated qualifications that focus on value-driven innovation for those working across industry, health, and social care.
The core provision is targeted at the professional leadership capacity and capability, and the offer is consistent across each academy:
⢠develop management and leadership skills and expertise in priority areas
⢠support NHS and social care leaders to work with external partners, including universities and industry, and internationally
⢠share knowledge and good practice across the system to drive strategic transformation.
There are four academies:
‘The Value-Based Health and Care Academyâ at Swansea University offers educational courses, research opportunities and consultancy services for Value-Based Health and Care, it is the academic partner to the Value-in-Health programme in Wales, and part of the World Economic Forumâs Global Innovator Hub for Value in Healthcare.
Bangor Universityâs âALPHAcademyâ has been developed in collaboration with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. It is focusing on accelerating the promotion and adoption of preventative health into practice across an integrated healthcare ecosystem (such as health and social care, third sector, housing, education, and life science industries) and within a bilingual context. It will develop a network of informed, dynamic leaders equipped to drive change to address health and linked social challenges.
The âAll-Wales Intensive Learning Academy for Innovation in Health and Social Care‘ at Swansea University, which is developed in collaboration with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Cardiff University, and the Bevan Commission, focuses on innovation and transformation within health, social care and the third sector.
Leading Digital Transformation University of South Wales working with Powys THB aims to bring together a community of digitally focused leaders and aspiring leaders from across health, social care and the 3rd sector. The Academy is focused on helping leaders to better understand the use of digital technology to instigate and drive transformational change within organisations.
Visit lshubwales.com to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
Health Boards and Trusts should use strategic analysis to identify areas of opportunity for research, innovation, training and education, for example through considering: need and demand, health outcomes inequality, service pressures, areas of strength, and key stakeholder and partner interests.Â
Visit www.gov.wales to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
Collaborative Services
Within context of public health its aim is to support the creation of the best quality health and care system for Wales so that everyone has access to safe, effective and efficient care in the right place and at the right time. Works with the local strategic partnerships (housing, education, police, fire and rescue and the voluntary sector) and hosts cross-organisational networks.
Focus is on:
⢠building & mobilising knowledge and skills
⢠supporting the development of sustainable health system based on prevention & early intervention
Visit phw.nhs.wales to find out more or Email the RIC Hub team on wwric.hub.HDD@wales.nhs.uk
The RICs were established in 2019 as an action funded under the umbrella of âA Healthier Walesâ, they are a key component of the Innovation, Technology and Partnerships Programme due to their central purpose being to strengthen the alignment and co-ordination of innovation activity that happens within the health and social care system, with wider research and transformation policies and strategies being developed across the whole system.
Links to the Hubs:
The West Glamorgan Regional Partnership Swansea Bay
Welsh Ambulance Service National Lead
