Sharing northern innovation and life sciences with a national audience

The launch of the Pledge in March marked an incredibly exciting step forward for the region and next week we will come together to celebrate our achievements so far at our final Pledge event of the year. The event is also an opportunity to hear about the North East devolution deal and the opportunities this presents for the health and life sciences infrastructure.

Speakers include Adrian Dougherty, Head of Education Improvement, North of Tyne Combined Authority; Colin Bell, Business and Sector Growth Director, North East Local Enterprise Partnership; Dr Séamus O’Neill, Chief Executive, Northern Health Science Alliance; and Michelle Duggan, Inward Investment Manager, Invest North East England. If you haven’t booked your place, you can register here.

From the entire Pledge team, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support this year and we wish you a wonderful Christmas. Read our final newsletter of 2023 below.

Communication and Collaboration with a National Audience

Jody Nichols, Associate Director at Health Innovation North East North Cumbria (HI NENC), recently had the honour of visiting Westminster, to take part in a North East showcase event on behalf of NEPIC.

The event was hosted by Mary Glindon MP and was a fantastic opportunity for Jody to highlight the strengths of our region within the health innovation and life sciences space.

Speaking on the event, Jody said: “It was a honour and a privilege to represent HI NENC and the Health and Life Science Pledge at Westminster and the House of Commons on the 6th of December. Working with key Health and Life Science partners we were able to highlight the strengths of our region on a national level focusing on our world-leading assets.”

Celebrating Life Sciences and Med Tech in the North

Last month, the four northern NIHR Local Clinical Research Networks (LCRNs) hosted the first-ever Great North Research Conference. The event was designed to highlight the high-quality life sciences and medical technology research happening in the north and to demonstrate why external partners should consider collaborating with the NIHR’s northern infrastructure to deliver their future pipeline research.

Lord O’Shaughnessy, who led the government-commissioned UK review of commercial clinical trials last year and was keynote speaker on day one of the conference, said: “There is so much great practice in the north – the outstanding growth in commercial trials in Greater Manchester, the focus on digital innovation in Yorkshire, the primary care research strengths in the North West Coast, and the excellence in Med Tech in the North East, to name a few.”

Pledgees Collaborate on Innovative Cookbook

An innovative new cookbook was launched last month, that aims to help patients who have undergone cancer treatments discover new ways of enjoying food again.

Beth Halliday, Speech and Language Therapist for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) found there was an unmet need to help patients who are struggling to eat and taste, following cancer treatment.

Working with the Innovation Team at STSFT, photography staff, and students from the University of Sunderland and Sunderland Creatives Agency, Beth created a cookbook that includes inspiring stories and recipes from patients who have previously undergone similar treatment.

Find out more

Bridging the Net Zero Gap With Innovation

In November, innovators and NHS stakeholders came together for the Eastern Health Innovation: Bridging the Gap NHS Net Zero event. The event saw a collaboration between our Pledgee, Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC), and other Health Innovation organisations from across the country.

The event was a unique opportunity for innovators to engage with NHS stakeholders in the field of net zero initiatives, as well as showcase their net zero innovations to a national audience.

Hannah Gibson, Sustainability Project Manager for HI NENC, said: “With events like these, we can provide infrastructure to enable innovators, whether that be industry-based or NHS, the means and knowledge to continue to promote innovation and the role it plays in reaching Net Zero targets.”

Keep an eye out for the next Bridging the Gap event, which will be held next year.