Launch of Innovation Space at Pinderfields Hospital

A new Innovation Space at Pinderfields Hospital will boost innovation and research within the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust and forge collaborative links across the region.

The space has been officially opened today by West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin.

The new innovation space operated by the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust and MY Innovation Space will provide a creative environment for innovation and research, bringing together local businesses and entrepreneurs with clinical teams to cross fertilise ideas and improve business potential, in collaboration with the University of Huddersfield.

Based within the Trust’s Clinical Research & Innovation Building (MY CRIB), it will act as a local hub for people and companies in the region, including Wakefield and Kirklees, and will help improve collaborations with other Trusts such as Leeds Teaching Hospitals with its Innovation Pop-up, and organisations such as the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (3M BIC), Nexus, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and Medipex.

MY CRIB also houses a clinical research space, where a team of over 40 dedicated staff is engaged in studies from testing new devices and drugs to those helping improve understanding of health issues.

MY Innovation Space forms part of the Huddersfield Health Innovation Partnership, a collaboration between the University of Huddersfield, 3M BIC, Kirklees Council’s Business Kirklees, the NHS, and other local and regional health and wellbeing partners, including Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and Third Sector Leaders.

This ecosystem of public, private and third sector organisations offers business support initiatives, such as industry-related events, 1:1 mentoring, grants for product development, proof of concept and employee wellbeing, as well as access to its Health Innovation Network.

The proposal forms part of a wider Huddersfield Health Innovation Partnership programme that provides organisations with access to mentoring, grants and exclusive industry-related events designed to drive innovation across the region. Other parts of this programme include the Huddersfield Health Innovation Network which creates a dynamic ecosystem of NHS, private, public and third sector organisations that work together to increase health innovation.

The Huddersfield Health Innovation Partnership (HHIP) is being delivered by the University of Huddersfield. The National Health Innovation Campus in Huddersfield, part of HHIP, is part funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Investment Zone programme. In West Yorkshire the West Yorkshire Combined Authority leads the implementation of the Funds as part of the Mayor’s ambition to make West Yorkshire the best place to work, learn and live.

MY Innovation Space will also help cement links with the National Health Innovation Campus and a new health and wellbeing innovation centre that will be situated in the second building on the campus, due for completion in 2025. The new centre will offer offices, labs, co-working and event space and a Health Innovation Maker Space and Visualisation Suite offering access to bespoke equipment and facilities for product development.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said : “West Yorkshire has a proud history of innovation, and devolution is giving us the chance to go even further.

“We’re building on our high growth sectors like advanced manufacturing and the green economy, and our multi-million-pound Investment Zone will help us turbocharge our healthtech and digital tech businesses.

“This new innovation space in Wakefield will be vital for our plans for a stronger, brighter West Yorkshire, and it will help to transform healthcare for millions of patients around the world.”

Len Richards, Chief Executive of Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, said : “As a Trust, every innovation and clinical trial we undertake has the ultimate aim of improving patient outcomes and transforming lives.

"This dedicated innovation space will support us in our ambition to work with partners to create new treatments, therapies and ways of working that will improve the healthcare landscape for our communities.”

Cllr Michelle Collins, Wakefield Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Health, said: “We’re very pleased to see this new Innovation Space open at Pinderfields Hospital. It is brilliant that partners will be able to come together and collaborate in this way to ensure the best healthcare possible for the residents of our district.”

Professor Tim Thornton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Huddersfield, said: “This new Innovation Space at Pinderfields Hospital will play a pivotal role in driving innovation in regional healthcare. It will help broaden the ambitions of the University of Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Campus to tackle health inequalities, improve healthcare delivery and help transform lives across the region, through academic, clinical and industry collaboration.”