How does the HRC Network Support Innovation?
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) HealthTech Research Centres (HRCs) are centres of excellence located in leading NHS organisations across England.
HRCs speed up the development of new healthcare technologies to improve the effectiveness and quality of health and care services. They do this by working with HealthTech companies—those creating medical devices, digital tools, and diagnostics—to help them develop, test, and validate their innovations to address pressing healthcare challenges.
This includes help to generate evidence to demonstrate financial value (health economics) and showing how they can improve NHS efficiency (real-world evidence)
Driving innovation in healthcare
HRCs drive innovation in healthcare by:
- Supporting businesses in developing, evaluating, and navigating regulatory processes for new technologies.
- Enabling earlier diagnosis and improved disease management, including conditions like cancer, dementia, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases.
- Developing real-world evidence and health economics data to demonstrate value and impact.
- Helping the NHS workforce by reducing workload and system pressures through technological advancements.
- Enhancing sustainability in healthcare, supporting environmentally conscious solutions.
Connecting industry, academia, and the NHS
Each HRC is hosted by an NHS organisation in England, bringing industry, academia and the health and care system together. A national network of 14 NIHR HealthTech Research Centres (HRCs) supports the development of digital technologies to enable people to:
- better monitor their health
- diagnose ill health sooner
- improve management of conditions including cancer, dementia, cardiovascular and respiratory disease
The HRCs also work with companies to develop and test products to support rehabilitation and help those with social care needs to maintain their independence. They work closely with carers, patients and users at all stages.
The HRCs keep the UK at the forefront of research and the place companies want to come to in order to invest in the development of health technologies.
The HRC Network works with the NIHR Coordinating Centre to provide leadership and HealthTech expertise.
HealthTech Research Centres locations
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Health
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Injury
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Cardiovascular and Respiratory Medicine
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Community Healthcare
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Devices, Digital and Robotics
- NIHR Healthtech Research Centre in Diagnostic and Technology Evaluation
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Emergency and Acute Care
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in In Vitro Diagnostics
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Long Term Conditions
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Mental Health (MindTech)
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Rehabilitation
- NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Sustainable Innovation
