Our primary role is to provide strategic and operational leadership across NHS Grampian for innovation activity.

We are most concerned with innovation activity focused on the development of ideas, testing prototypes, and evaluating products in real life clinical environments.

Our role usually doesn’t involve procuring products or implementing new devices as part of business as usual.

In almost all cases, our projects and programmes relate directly to significant healthcare delivery challenges, usually aligned with national or local strategic priorities.

Major areas of activity include medical technology devices and data science.

A key aspect of our role is to bring together consortia consisting of NHS staff, industry and academia to secure external funding to generate and test solutions to healthcare challenges.

Our partners

• Scottish Health and Industry Partnership Group

The Scottish Health and Industry Partnership Group (SHIP) is an initiative hosted by the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of the Chief Medical Officer Directorate and the Enterprise and Innovation Division of the Economic Development Directorate. It is aimed towards strengthening Scotland’s innovation activities in health and social care in order to solve real problems and improve quality, efficiency and sustainability of healthcare.

Find out more about the Scottish Health and Industry Partnership Group

• Scottish Health Innovations Ltd

Scottish Health Innovations Ltd (SHIL) work in partnership with NHS Scotland to identify, protect, develop and commercialise healthcare innovations to improve patient care. Formed in 2002, SHIL is a private company registered in Scotland (SC236303) and limited by guarantee with three shareholders – Scottish Minister’s through the Chief Scientist Office, NHS Tayside and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

Find out more about Scottish Health Innovations Ltd

• Health Innovation Assessment Portal

The Health Innovation Assessment Portal (HIAP-Scotland) was designed to encourage prospective providers of new and/or innovative products and solutions to put them forward. This will allow NHS Scotland to assess how the solution might support NHS Scotland’s strategic aims, and what the associated costs and benefits would be. This initiative forms part of the response to the Scottish Government’s ‘Statement of Intent for Health and Wealth’

Find out more about the Health Innovation Assessment Portal

Opportunity North East (ONE) is the private sector leader and catalyst for economic diversification and growth in north east Scotland, developing and delivering transformational projects in the region’s key sectors. Through ONE, the private sector shapes the region’s low-carbon economy, maximises business growth opportunities and creates high-skill, high-value jobs.

In life sciences, ONE develops, funds and delivers dedicated business growth, leadership and innovation programmes, working with partners including the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University and NHS Grampian. These include a pre-commercialisation programme, the ONE Life Sciences Accelerator, the ONE Life Sciences Network and the ONE Life Sciences Leadership Forum.

The University of Aberdeen’s internationally recognised disciplinary strengths in translational medicine, applied health sciences and economics, nutrition and psychology research provide the foundation for our close partnership working with NHS-Grampian on our shared Foresterhill Healthcare Campus.

The University’s Aberdeen 2040 strategy places challenge-led interdisciplinary research at the heart of our engagement with external stakeholders, including the NHS. The University’s commitment to knowledge exchange and innovation drives a clear impact strategy set in the context of our healthcare environment; across a range of examples, interdisciplinary research is successfully addressing a range of major health challenges, for example spinal fusion surgery, prostate cancer and the development of Field Cycling Imaging, a next-generation medical imaging technology. Our Trusted Research Environment, the Data Safe Haven, is the catalyst for partnership working with NHS colleagues on the application and assessment of artificial intelligence approaches to clinical radiology.

The University of Aberdeen is a committed Triple Helix partner, working closely with NHS-Grampian, Robert Gordon University and Opportunity Northeast to identify innovation opportunities focused on challenges identified in everyday clinical practice, and then to catalyse the research-and industry-led solutions that ultimately transform healthcare.

Robert Gordon University (RGU) is an innovative, inclusive, professionally focused University that has a positive impact on those we serve. Our mission is to transform people and communities by providing excellent teaching, research and enterprise opportunities to contribute to economic, social and cultural development and environmental sustainability.

RGU is undertaking high quality, internationally-recognised research that is relevant and responsive to real-world challenges; delivers significant social, cultural and economic value; and makes a contribution to sustainable economic growth, improved service provision, and increased innovation.  Through the objectives of our recently launched Research Strategy, we will develop a vibrant, collaborative and inclusive research environment that can deliver high quality outputs and public value in order to continue to strengthen our overall reputation and profile for excellence.

Our strategy in relation to research is to grow the quality and impact of our globally recognised, innovative and interdisciplinary research. We see our involvement in the Triple Helix group as one of the ways that we will do this by collaborating with public, private and third sector organisations through knowledge exchange to develop partnerships that create societal benefit.

This also supports our aim to contribute significantly towards Scotland’s economic and social regeneration: stimulating economic development by supporting organisations to be more successful, driving community interaction and engagement and fostering a vibrant culture of enterprise among our students and staff.