Health Care Pillar
The Healthcare & Innovation Pillar is one of the Three Pillars in the Strategy for Success. The Region’s healthcare economy employs over 140,000 people in biotechnology, healthcare, life science, NHS and associated organisations. Through the Strategy for Success it is our ambition to develop capacity to enable the research, and related activities being undertaken by the Region’s Universities, the NHS and business, to be developed for a wider economic purpose through commercialisation and the establishment of new ventures. Central to achieving this goal is the development of translational research facilities, so providing the infrastructure necessary for knowledge transfer to take place.
Pillar activities are particularly focussed on Ageing and Health (including Assistive Technology), Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, Health Informatics, Medical Devices and Diagnostics.
In these areas, North East England has high quality and often world-leading research excellence that offers significant opportunities to develop new technologies, products and services for emerging market sectors.
The Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences (CELS) plays a significant role in the delivery of this ambitious agenda, along with other key stakeholders including; the Centre of Excellence for Nano & Micro Photonics (Cenamps), University Institutes (e.g. North East Stem Cell Institute, Institute for Ageing & Health, Institute of Human Genetics, Northern Institute for Cancer Research), Life Knowledge Park, RTC North, NHS and private healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
The Business Innovation & Development team and Business Support teams at One North East work with regional stakeholders to provide strategic direction and deliver projects in line with policy. Examples of activities include identifying and improving knowledge on market drivers through projects such as the Healthcare Innovation Development Programme, delivered through CELS, virtual and physical networks being assembled to provide appropriate conduits for information flow i.e. the CELS Healthcare Network, and initiation of projects into the exploration and development of innovative products i.e. the Assistive Technology Laboratory project draws on the combined experience of academic institutions (such as the Institute of Ageing and Health at Newcastle University and design expertise at Northumbria University) with the aim of bringing specific assistive products to market.
The Newcastle Science City programme promises to bring a major boost to North East England's infrastructure capacity and initial activities will focus on the Healthcare Pillar agenda: including, building upon the recent successes at the Centre for Life, and the academic strengths of Newcastle and Durham Universities in the fields of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. The Institute for Ageing and Health, already the largest in Europe, will be built upon to develop new research capacity and will address the issues of an ageing population, particularly the development of assistive technologies.
