Report states need for more transparent collaborations to drive post-Brexit growth

Health innovation collaborations must be more transparent and diverse if they are to become drivers of post-Brexit economic growth, a report by Future Care Capital indicates. 

“Enterprise in Health” has examined the extent to which a subset of academics and clinicians are involved in enterprise activity and has found identifying those involved to be extremely challenging. The report also found that the health innovation landscape is heavily male dominated, with 80-90% of the companies found being linked to men.

In addition to this, only a very limited geographical overlap between the sectors of universities and NHS Trusts was identified, despite the stated need for collaboration between different aspects of the R&D ecosystem.

Innovation and enterprise in the healthcare sector has long been a priority of the current government and those before it. The Life Sciences Industrial Strategy described it as a key sector for consolidating UK economic success post-Brexit, only behind the US globally in terms of health R&D investment. The chancellor announced plans in 2020 plans to increase investment to £22 billion per year by 2024-5, to make the UK a ‘science superpower’ and a more attractive place for entrepreneurs to invest and operate.

The report recommends an appropriate body to have access to information about the financial interests of clinicians, linked to the General Medical Council register. It also recommends that Academic Health Science Networks extend their current focus on diversity in innovation to put greater emphasis on encouraging and supporting women.

Dr Josefine Magnusson, senior research officer at FCC, said: “Today’s report builds on our previous work, particularly around exploring the potential to leverage NHS data for the purposes of research and innovation in healthcare.

“We believe this area ought to be explored further, not only to compare our findings against enterprising activities in less prolific and research intense Trusts and universities, but also to assess the performance of support for enterprise and innovation for the government’s levelling up agenda.”

This publication is available to download at futurecarecapital.org.uk.