The Digital Health Enterprise Zone (DHEZ), a £13m programme designed to accelerate digital health innovations in Bradford, is leading the way in digital health innovation.
With a vision across the Leeds City Region to create a community of businesses, academics, health and social care professionals in collaboration with the public, working together to understand the health and care issues facing our population, the DHEZ will develop digital health solutions and models of care that address current and future challenges faced by the NHS.
DHEZ is a partnership led by the University of Bradford with BT and the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CBMDC). The University of Bradford is a technology university specialising in research and teaching in vocational, professional and applied fields. CBMDC is the fourth largest metropolitan District Council in terms of spend, with 65% employment, an economy of £8.3bn and 15,000 businesses providing 192,000 jobs.
The programme includes a £3.8m investment from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills under the University Enterprise Zones pilot scheme and £500,000 of resources from Digital Catapult to establish the Digital Catapult Centre Yorkshire Hub which will carry out collaborative projects focused on the use of personal data. The remainder of the investment is provided by the founding partners.
BT’s unique contribution to this partnership includes access to its well established innovation process, skilled people, core networking and technical solutions and also access for SME’s into a global market through its own networks. BT recognizes the importance and contribution small and medium sized businesses can make to a regional economy and in line with this partnering is at the center of their health and social care strategy.
In addition to our programme and funding partners, DHEZ has extended support and backing from local, regional and international public and private stakeholders. At the centre of the DHEZ ecosystem are two physical facilities, the Digital Exchange SME incubation centre and the Health and Wellbeing centre.
The Digital Exchange is a high quality business incubator that brings small and start-up companies, with a focus on healthcare related information and communications technology together in an open innovation environment. The companies will have access to onsite support from BT specialists, university academics and the council’s Business, Investment and Enterprise team plus partner and associate partner organizations who can help with a range of services including advice and funding sources.
The nearby Health and Wellbeing Centre will consider six themes, optometry, training, digital diagnostics, Health informatics and trials & evaluations and Health Promotion What distinguishes the DHEZ from other incubation and research centres is that it offers an end-to-end innovation process and will enable researchers and students to work with patients, healthcare professionals and SMEs to identify real pain points and challenges in the NHS.
Once identified these challenges will be put into the eco system of the DHEZ, where they will be analysed by academics, systems specialists and SMEs who will consider whether there are new operating models that will help, or whether there are potential technology solutions that could underpin any necessary transformation. Requirements for technology would be fed into the SMEs to develop solutions, which may then be trialed within the health and wellbeing environment.
DHEZ will bring its community's innovations within the reach of millions of patients by 2018, stimulating job creation, driving innovation and generating investment and funding in the regional health economy; making a significant contribution in reducing the predicted NHS £30bn funding gap.
'DHEZ is about creating a community of businesses, academics, health professionals, and people. It will work together to understand the health and care issues facing our population and create, innovate, and shape proven digital health solutions and models of care,' says Dr. Trevor Higgins, BT Partnership Director and DHEZ Chair. 'It will provide clear routes to market and a fully functioning digital health eco-system that has real impact on people’s lives.'
The programme has strong global potential with links already established in Europe, the US and China. DHEZ will be finding local solutions to national problems and looking to apply these globally. For Bradford, and the Leeds City Region, DHEZ will become a driver for regeneration and economic growth and foster a sense of pride within the City and its surrounding areas as a thriving and self-sufficient business community with an improved health and health care infrastructure.
The vision for the project, ultimately, is to make the Leeds City Region the go-to region in terms of digital healthcare, something that will benefit not just businesses, but more importantly patients, carers and families.
