Accelerating Femtech

Accelerating FemTech will support innovators to boost the development of technology solutions to address current challenges in women’s health. Accelerating FemTech is divided into two programmes:

• Inspire: engage innovators (clinicians, companies and academics) around this challenge. All Accelerating FemTech events have now taken place – you can watch back the webinars and read event summaries.

• Accelerate: deliver a targeted 10-week accelerator programme is for small / medium-sized companies from across the UK. Applications are now closed.

Accelerating FemTech is being delivered by the Health Innovation Network and partners, including: Academic Health Science Networks, CW Innovation, Mills & Reeves and others, utilising Innovate UK funding as part of the Biomedical Catalyst in collaboration with the Medical Research Council. It builds upon the experience of running the award-winning DigitalHealth.London, Propel, and other innovator support programmes from the AHSNs.

Inspire

Inspire included specialist webinars, from a range of subject matter experts and innovators, to motivate and celebrate innovative solutions, and invite-only face-to-face events, to encourage and connect innovators to solve to women’s health challenges. These events were targeted at clinicians, academic and innovators interested in tackling women’s health challenges.

Webinar: Women's pain and pelvic healthtech - Hosted by South West AHSN

This event took place on Wednesday 17 May and featured experts on women’s pain, an individual sharing her personal experience of living with endometriosis and advice on how to effectively evaluate FemTech solutions.

Read the webinar summary and watch the recording

Webinar: Health Equity by Design - Using a gender equity lens to innovate in women's mental health and menopause - Hosted by Kent Surrey Sussex AHSN

This event took place on Friday 26 May and featured an exhilarating discussion on applying a Health Equity Framework for Women’s Health, intersectionality, understanding the needs of women in relation to mental health and menopause, and reducing health inequalities by designing products and services with women in mind.

Read the webinar summary and watch the recording

Webinar: Accelerating FemTech: Accelerate 101

Hosted by the Accelerating FemTech team to provide information about the Accelerate programme.

Watch back now

Webinar: How can FemTech help reduce inequalities in maternity care? – Hosted by West of England AHSN

This webinar featured an expert in maternal and neonatal healthcare, a FemTech innovator and the Founder of Black Mothers Matter, all discussing the potential of innovations in women’s health to help reduce inequalities.

Read the webinar summary and watch the recording

Accelerating FemTech Manchester - hosted by Mills & Reeve

This event took place on Tuesday 13 June and presentations and panels discussions addressed innovations in menopause services, cancer care and support, maternity safety and reflected on the Health Innovation Ecosystem in Manchester. Read the event summary now.

Accelerating FemTech: London - Hosted by CW Innovation

This event took place Monday 19 June and featured leading experts and innovators in the field of FemTech including Professor Asma Khalil, Consultant Obstetrician at St George’s Hospital, London, and the inventor of the HAMPTON, an award-winning digital innovation enabling pregnant women to monitor their blood pressure safely at home. Read the event summary now.

Accelerating FemTech: East Midlands

Hosted by East Midlands AHSN on Tuesday 20 June, this event spotlighted the burgeoning opportunities for innovation in women's health and featured expert insights from key stakeholders. Read the event summary now.

Accelerate

This 10-week support programme is for small / medium-sized companies (SMEs) from across the UK, that have early-stage innovations addressing current challenges in women’s health.

Building on the Health Innovation Network’s experience of running the award-winning DigitalHealth.London Accelerator, the programme will provide companies developing products to solve women’s health challenges with bespoke support through expert-led workshops and mentoring. It will support them to develop their product offering, understand the challenges in the women’s health space, grow entrepreneurship skills and engage with key stakeholders across the NHS and academic landscape. The programme will be delivered in a hybrid format, with two days of face-to-face workshops in London in September and Leeds in October, and a showcase in London in November, supplemented by online support, workshops and coaching.

The programme will also support the companies to apply to the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst call in November 2023, to demonstrate their commercial and technical feasibility.

This programme is led by the Health Innovation Network with Innovate UK funding as part of the Biomedical Catalyst, and is being supported by a collaboration of partners.

Applications to the Accelerating FemTech: Accelerate programme are now closed. We may still be able to support you through our innovator support programmes – find out more.