With the National Centre for Healthcare Photonics now under construction in the North East, the region is set to become a global hub for transforming photonics innovations into successful healthcare solutions.
CPI
Light is playing an increasingly significant role in next-generation products and manufacturing. In the UK in particular, the industry’s growth is more than twice the national average, and in 2017, photonics contributed more than £12.9 billion to the economy. From manufacturing to environmental monitoring, to telecommunications and aerospace, photonics technologies are used across a wide range of applications.
However, it is healthcare that is the application of significant interest – thanks to the ability photonics has in delivering non-invasive, cost-effective, rapid, and personalised treatment. In healthcare photonics, light is used to diagnose and treat a wide range of acute and chronic conditions. This ranges from accelerating wound healing, to imaging in cancer care, to diagnosing and monitoring brain injury, and re-correcting vision in cataracts patients.
Despite the UK’s research capabilities in healthcare photonics being world-class, many early-stage inventions fail to reach commercial stages due to lack of expertise, or cost associated with product development, manufacturing and commercialisation. With the National Centre for Healthcare Photonics due to open in December 2018, innovators will soon be able to overcome these barriers thanks to a variety of open-access facilities, including laboratories, equipment and office space, and expert advice services. In preparation for the new building, activities of the Centre, including recruitment in key technical roles, are already underway. Photonics technologies available at the centre will encompass high frequency x-rays, through UV and visible light, to infrared all the way up to the terahertz part of the light spectrum.
The National Centre for Healthcare Photonics is being built as part of the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), the UK’s technology innovation provider for process manufacturing. The centre will enable small- and medium-sized companies to increase their chances of commercialisation, at reduced risk and with increased capital efficiencies. Technology readiness processes will be safeguarded thanks to CPI’s link to the academic, medical and clinical communities, supply and value chain partners, as well as key players within the healthcare innovation ecosystem.
Developing healthcare photonics in this assisted environment will help to improve the range and utility of photonic methods available, including biomedical imaging, diagnostic methods and therapies, whilst reducing manufacturing costs. Ultimately, the National Healthcare Photonics Centre will not only place the North East of the UK as a global leader in the field of healthcare photonics, but will dramatically assist modern healthcare in moving away from inconvenient hospital-based and delivered services, towards more desirable patient care that is local and personalised.
