06: Celebrating 6 months of LIHE
The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering opened its doors in February – it has been a very busy few months and we are proud to share with you some highlights of what we have achieved so far.
Why? Because future patients deserve it!
In MedTech, most of the innovation is generated by smaller start-ups or university spinouts, while translation at scale is achieved by a few large companies with the resources to do so. Bringing both sides of this equation together is the key to creating positive impact. The London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) was born out of this realisation and is an all-encompassing framework that can make this possible.
Unique in the UK, LIHE draws on King’s commitment to deliver world-class research and outstanding clinical services and provides this knowledge, access and training to young spinouts.
LIHE’s co-location within St Thomas’ Hospital is crucial. It allows our innovators to readily engage with clinicians and patients. Further, they can take advantage of the advanced research facilities we have developed within the hospital, and world-leading scientific, regulatory, market access, and commercialisation capabilities.
“We can be excited about a new piece of technology, but if this technology doesn't reach the patients that need it, it makes no difference. So fundamentally, there is only one metric we judge our efforts on, which is how many lives are touched by the technologies we have supported at LIHE.”
Professor Sebastien Ourselin FREng FMedSci, Director of LIHE and Head of School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
Growing our community
LIHE is a unique institute for pioneering start-ups and SMEs that are advancing new medical technologies.
We believe that magic happens when people from key members of the healthcare community such as clinicians, academics, engineers and industry partners come together, and we are committed to not leaving these encounters to chance. This is why we have been organising and hosting dedicated events to bring together the MedTech community at LIHE, and also why we are constantly looking at expanding our team and attracting talent.
LIHE can call on such elements of our ecosystem as the King's Technology Evaluation Centre (KiTEC), the national facility for the Manufacture of Active Implants and Surgical Instruments (MAISI), the King’s Health Partners Digital Health Hub (KHP DHH) and a dedicated Quality Management Systems team to name but a few.
LIHE brings together like-minded individuals that want to contribute to accelerating positive impact to patients, bringing value to every one of our members with every meaningful interaction.
We have been excited to welcome industry leaders and burgeoning start-ups to take up residence in our building over the last 6 months. These include leading industry organisations such as NVIDIA, scaleups such as deepc, and start-ups and spinouts including Innersight Labs, Hypervision Surgical, and Fraiya.
Launching world-leading and UK-first programmes
The MedTech Venture Builder
We launched our ground-breaking MedTech Venture Builder programme, funded by Research England. In a UK-first, 12 companies were selected from our partners and from across the UK to join this intense programme. It provides the structures critical to building a robust MedTech company. The companies have been receiving hands-on executive support in developing regulatory plans, clinical evidence roadmaps and stakeholder mapping, all within a fit-for-purpose, medical-grade Quality Management System (QMS).
The MedTech Venture Builder is delivered at LIHE. It is a collaborative effort delivered by a consortium made up of four partner institutions, with King’s College London as the lead and working in partnership with Queen Mary University of London, City University of London, and St George’s University of London to create a Collaborative Centre of Excellence (CCoE) for Medical Device translation.
We are glad to report that the programme has already been attracting international attention. King’s College London has announced the signing of an agreement to become a member of the prestigious Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange (MCIE) as their first UK-based collaborator.
The King’s MedTech Accelerator
We recently launched the first King's MedTech Accelerator programme, a 6-month, part-time programme for King's researchers and staff focused on transforming research innovations into viable healthcare ventures. The inaugural cohort includes members of 21 project teams developing novel medical technologies across four Faculties at King's.
The programme provides an acceleration stream with specialist support for aspiring entrepreneurs in medical devices, including medical software and AI. A key goal is to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in King's staff geared particularly towards overcoming the complexities of this challenging industry.
Training, connecting and celebrating innovators
LIHE is committed to hosting world-class healthcare and MedTed-specific events, giving our community the chance to meet and learn from leaders in the field.
Over the past 6 months, we have hosted an impressive 170 events at LIHE, with some highlights being:
NVIDIA 'AI in Healthcare' Meetups
The healthcare industry is digitally transforming, resulting in deep virtualisation and expansive AI adoption that lower costs, improve security, and enhance care. We have been delivering a series of events with NVIDIA at LIHE that explore key technologies that are accelerating this transformation.
Surgical & Interventional Challenges: Masterclass in Acute Pulmonary Embolism Management
The Surgical & Interventional Challenges are part of a running series of study days open to all clinical and surgical staff, interventionalists, undergraduate and postgraduate engineering and medical students, and educators.
For this study day, a multidisciplinary team of experts shared their experiences of current management and future trends in acute pulmonary embolism care.
Educating the next generation of MedTech Entrepreneurs
LIHE hosts the King’s MSc in MedTech Innovation & Entrepreneurship, embedding students within the vibrant MedTech ecosystem and providing students with unrivalled access to MedTech innovators, funds, and advisors.
Students are introduced to the entrepreneurial journey ahead of them, and can be assured that the teams within LIHE are there to support them as they pursue a career in MedTech innovation.
“What’s special about this programme is how the dots have been connected to bring together medicine, business, and engineering, all areas of excellence at King’s. There isn’t another programme that takes the same approach. It creates a link between the modules across these areas and unites experts to help ambitious minds look at the bigger picture of MedTech.”
Professor Prashant Jha, Professor of MedTech Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Contact our team or register your interest here.
