Organisations came together to join Medilink Midlands in celebrating the success delivered under the three ERDF funded programmes, INSTILS, SoLSTICE and ACTIS and to find out what is next for the region.
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Chief executive, Melanie Davidson, advised that a total of £3.5 million in grants was achieved. This funding was able to leverage investment equating to £47 of private investment for every £1 of public funding. Alongside the funding distributed, Medilink Midlands’ Advisers delivered over 8,000 hours of innovation support to regional life sciences organisations.
The business support projects have delivered funding, support, advice, and networking opportunities to companies during the eight years the projects have been in operation.
Davidson said: “The funding has been instrumental in the creation of over 208 high level jobs, and we’ve been able to support 391 businesses on a one-to-one basis, with a total of 66 new enterprises created.”
Success stories from East Midlands businesses that have benefited from the funding include BlueSkeye AI, a company that has developed facial recognition AI to be able to detect depression; Neurotherapeutics, creators of a stimulation and monitoring device aimed at alleviating the symptoms of Tourette’s; Blum Health, which offers bespoke specialist recruitment solutions throughout the healthcare system, and JT Rehab Limited, inventors of the S-Press, which allows patients the ability to continue with their physiotherapy at home.
Paul Cable, CEO of Neurotherapeutics (Neupulse), creators of a medical device aimed at helping sufferers of Tourettes manage their tics, comments on the company’s progress: “We carried out a clinical trial that started in March 2022 and completed in March 2023 and the results of that trial have been absolutely phenomenal. Short term, our goal is to get this device out there. There are so many people who want this device. It will really make a big difference to their lives.”
Other East Midlands-based funding recipients included iethico, a business that has created a technological solution to the supply and distribution of medicine shortages; MumPod, which provides safe and convenient spaces to employers and service providers supporting pregnant and breastfeeding parents; Spirit Health, which works with the NHS to deliver a new way of delivering healthcare to those in the community, and VUIT, a company providing data analytics to healthcare providers to allow better understanding and more targeted practice of health in the community.
