Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber welcomes 12 Indian SMEs

Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber’s Propel@YH Boot Camp, a five-day digital health accelerator programme, is welcoming 12 Indian SMEs to the UK who will bring healthtech solutions to the region’s population.

The Boot Camp builds on the Propel@YH programme and seeks to bring the best health innovations from around the world into the UK. It is promising for the Yorkshire and Humber region whose patients will get to benefit from the best technology first, and the region also benefits from the inward investment that the programme secures.

This is the first time the Boot Camp for Indian innovators has been held in Leeds and follows the Propel@YH’s trip to India earlier in the year, sparked by an invitation from the British High Commission, following mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin’s visit in September 2022. The visit’s success was due to collaboration with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, who supported both the delivery of the Propel programme in India in March earlier this year and the Boot Camp in Leeds this week. The combined efforts have ensured the success of the programme, ultimately bringing jobs and investment into the region through innovation.

During this visit, the team met with 30 innovators and delivered a taster of the programme. Following this, 12 SMEs have been selected to join the 2023 cohort including an oncology platform supporting cancer care, an AI powered cardiac health monitor and an app supporting brain health.

Twelve SMEs were selected for this year’s cohort including:

• Avay Bioscience
• Cutting Edge Medical Devices
• Karkinos Healthcare
• Manentia Ai  
• Larkai
• AarogyaAI
• Ibrum Technologies
• Green Ocean Research Labs
• Marbles Health
• CoRover
• DigiHeal Solutions and Services
• MedTel Healthcare

The Boot Camp is delivered alongside the Propel@YH programme partners, who provide expert advice in key areas of the NHS and wider UK health system, including:

• Hill Dickinson (legal advice)
• Nexus, University of Leeds, (networking opportunities)
• Barclays Eagle Labs (growth support)
• Leeds City Council (networking contacts across the city)
• Leeds Teaching Hospitals Innovation Pop Up will provide NHS insight and strategy, amongst other support
• Par Equity (investment advice)

SMEs take part in a five-day programme of support and masterclass content, provided by the expert partners, that gives innovators a crash course on the UK healthcare market. The cohort will have access to subject matter experts and the opportunity to directly engage with local NHS stakeholders as well as the wider healthtech ecosystem in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Dr Neville Young, director of enterprise and innovation at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber said: “We’re delighted to welcome the Indian cohort to Yorkshire.

“The programme offers international innovators the opportunity to access the UK healthcare market and establish a base in Yorkshire and the Humber.

“It supports innovators with tailored content and knowledge in five key areas: the NHS, legal, finance and funding, networking, growth and spread.

“It's great to see innovative companies from across the globe wanting to bring their products to the UK, particularly here in Yorkshire and the Humber.

“If we can successfully support these innovators to establish themselves in Yorkshire, we can use the great regional assets available to us combined with the strength of the Health Innovation Network to spread these innovations across the country, securing investment, jobs and health and wellbeing benefits for the whole of the UK.”